Gympie car dealers struggle to meet buyer demand for new, used vehicles

How nationwide shortage is blowing out wait times for new vehicles and driving up used car prices in Gympie region

Pacific Gympie general manager Joel Reeman said the shortage of new cars had made an impact on the used car market, with used cars becoming limited and prices soaring.​

Residents in the market for a new car had best be prepared to wait due to the effects of a nationwide vehicle shortage, which one Gympie dealer says is the worst he’s seen in 20 years.

Dealerships across Australia have been struggling to meet customer demand and some wait-times have blown out to as long as six months due to a shortage of new cars and components.

As a result, many buyers have turned to used cars, but now some Gympie dealerships are struggling to keep up with demand for second-hand cars as well.

Pacific Gympie general manager Joel Reeman said the shortage of new cars had made an impact on the used car market, with used cars becoming limited and prices soaring.

“With limited new cars coming out the door, you have a limited number of trades, and then there’s a limited supply for the used car market,” he said.

He also said while it appeared to be a good time to sell your used car, potential sellers needed to be aware of the amount of time it could take to purchase a new car.

The shortage of cars is the worst crisis Mr Reeman said he had seen in his 20-year career, and with the end of the financial year approaching, he was being forced to ask customers to reconsider their options as waiting lists for some new cars extended into February 2022.

“We’re very transparent very early on in the sales process,” Mr Reeman said.

“When a customer starts talking about a car, the second or third thing we’re discussing with the customer is their realistic time frame to supply a car right now.

But for dealer-principal of Gympie Mazda and Madill Suzuki, Adam Madill, the situation is the opposite.

He said in his experience, used car sales had normalised after the peak of the pandemic.

However, like Mr Reeman, he was also experiencing wait times as long as six months on certain cars.

“We have some longer waits on particular models, and some parts as well,” he said.

“It’s just getting the supply out of the factories.”