I’ve been noticing a faint squeak when I pause my car just outside my garage to make sure the door closes behind me. I asked my mechanic about it.
Though he advised I could wait on replacing the brakes, I’m about resolved to go ahead and get it done. My thinking is that if U.S. trade tariffs play out the way they look to be as I write this in mid-April, including those on auto parts, it would be best to lock in today’s cost.
Like more people nowadays, I hang onto my cars longer than the average consumer. If tariffs on imported parts and new vehicles continue as the White House ordered in late March, that will likely be how some steer through the inevitable vehicle and car maintenance price increases that follow.
Even if automakers get a break, as President Donald Trump hinted at in April, there are still the U.S. tariffs on imported aluminum and steel that could affect auto production costs and therefore vehicle prices.
Many auto consumers were already stretching their wallets to afford new vehicles before tariff action got under way. Edmunds reported that in the first quarter 84-month loans reached an all-time high at 20% of new-vehicle financing. There wouldn’t seem to be more room to run for those on a budget.
It makes sense, then, for auto dealers to meet people where they are, and that could mean marketing the service drive to keep current vehicles in smooth working order or gap insurance for new buyers. Those profit centers will be all the more valuable to dealers in this year’s environment, at least until we see how the tariff dust settles.
As many consumers rushed to dealer lots in the spring to beat what they expected to be tariff-induced vehicle price increases, others will be scheduling service appointments, or at least open to the wisdom of doing so, to beat a potential push on parts prices.
Even if there ends up being an auto industry tariff reprieve, consumers will be feeling the effects of duties on other goods, including clothing and household appliances.
Meet them at your door, or better yet, anticipate their instinct to get ahead of a possible new inflation wrinkle.
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Hannah Mitchell is executive editor of Auto Dealer Today. A former daily newspaper journalist, she honed her craft covering politics, business and more for publications that included the Charlotte Observer and the Orange County (Calif.) Business Journal. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, and her first car was a hand-me-down Chevrolet Nova.
