What a day it has been!
It is amazing how much the traffic has decreased in the last two years. I work at a large dealership, we are still selling a couple of hundred vehicles a month between new and used. However, two years ago we would be knocking on 400 by this time of the month. We will be lucky if we hit 200 this month. All of the hourly employees are looking over their shoulder waiting to get laid off. The salesman are hanging out front smoking cigarettes and telling stories and longing for the good old days. The managers are all trying to figure out how to get another customer.
The Good old days are gone!
We aren't going to see the good old days for a while and when traffic does start to turn around, we won't be able to do the same type of crazy loans that were. As much as the housing loans had gotten out of hand, it is mild compared to the crazy loans that we were getting done in the second chance market. Most of those banks were the first to go down in the midst of this financial morrass.
