New-Car Destination Charges Are Absurd: Here’s Why
Consumer Reports examined the rise of destination fees and found they've climbed from an average of $839 in 2011 to $1,244 in 2020, a massive 48% increase in less than a decade. Over the same period, the price of an average new car has risen "just" 27%.
Even if integrated into MSRP, another issue would linger: The distance to a buyer's destination. Cars are big, heavy things that need to travel thousands of miles to buyers - except when they don't.
How many people in suburban Detroit live a few miles from the Ford plant in Wayne, Michigan, but paid the same $1,195 destination fee on a new Ford Ranger that they'd have to pay in San Francisco? The same might be asked of new Hyundai Sonata buyers in Alabama who paid $1,005 to ship a car that was made in Montgomery, Alabama.
Read the article at Roadshow.
High Rental Car Prices Expected to Last Until 2022, at Least
Rental-car agencies sold off their excess vehicles during the early days of the pandemic and were caught off guard when demand returned sooner than expected
Experts are offering different predictions for when the rental scene in the U.S. will get back to something more normal. Some say it will be at least 2022 before prices come down.
Rental companies are changing their policies to keep their cars longer before they cycle them out of the system. Vehicles are being moved away from locations that used to cater to business travel—which is returning, but still not as high as before the pandemic—and into southern vacation hot spots.
Read the article at MSN.
An Update on COVID-Impacted Transport Challenges
By Teri Ross, Vice President of Sales & Client Relations at PARS
The impact of COVID-19 has cascaded throughout our world to affect just about every aspect of our lives.
Likewise, in the transportation industry, even after 18 months challenges remain. COVID disruptions touch many of the services provided to our clients and we must face the fact that some of these disruptions are going to resolve slowly.
In the following sections, I detail the lingering pandemic’s impact on each aspect of the delivery cycle and how to adapt. One thing is clear, we are now living in a world where patience is a true virtue.
Rivian’s Electric Truck Gets All the Attention, But its Fate is Tied to Amazon
Rivian shared new details of the Amazon deal. The e-commerce giant will have exclusive rights to Rivian’s delivery vehicles for four years after receiving its first one, and it gets right of first refusal to buy the vans for two years after that.
PitchBook analysts forecast the total Amazon order could bring more than $4.5 billion to Rivian and, more importantly, additional commercial customers.
The unknown price of each van is just one part of the equation. The agreement also includes provisions for recurring revenue for fleet management, such as software updates and running diagnostics. Amazon currently is testing a handful of pre-production vans in cities across the U.S.
Read the article at Autoblog.
Chevrolet’s Electric Silverado Debuting at CES 2022
Chevrolet officials confirmed the brand will debut its all-electric Silverado at CES 2022 during GM CEO Mary Barra’s keynote address on Jan. 5.
The electric Silverado will offer customers a GM-estimated range of more than 400 miles on a full charge.
Designed as an EV from the ground up, the Silverado EV harnesses the best of the Ultium Platform and Silverado’s proven capability. The fleet and retail versions of the electric Silverado will offer customers a variety of options and are expected to be in high demand.
Read the article at The Detroit Bureau.
