Americans have been hitting dealerships trying to snag a new vehicle before tariffs drive up prices. But prices aren't the only consideration potential electric vehicle buyers should take into consideration. Kelley Blue Book Lead Editor Sean Tucker shares some buying tips for those looking to buy an EV.
To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here.
What is the decision tree, the kind of checklist that people need to go through now if they are thinking about purchasing an electric vehicle?
You want to be sure that it fits into your lifestyle. Uh, I would not buy one. Americans tend to overbuy, buy too much car. Uh, we look at range and and the Department of Transportation says that the average American drives about 39 miles in a day. So every EV on the market will meet your daily needs. I would be a little cautious if I were someone who took long road trips regularly or with hurricane season coming up. I always caution folks. I wouldn't buy one if I were in a situation where I might need to evacuate.
And so with that in mind, as we're thinking about some of the companies that are just looking across their models and and their fleets and how their pricing might also need to take into consideration what tariffs could still be on the table as they're trying to sell new fleets or as they're building them out. What are you hearing from companies and and what's seeming to be effective right now in their communication to consumers?
The tariffs are taking time to really impact prices. Um, you'll see a lot of stories indicating, oh, the tariffs kicked in April 3rd. That means every price goes up by 20 25% on April 3rd. That's not the case. If the car pricing is very complicated, there are, you know, the automakers sell to distributors who sell to dealers, who sell to you. And at every point along that chain, there's a little bit of flexibility to absorb some of the tariff. And we expect that prices will continue to shift throughout based on inventory levels. So there's not really a single predictable response yet.
And so if customers, if buyers are going to a dealership or looking to purchase online and and they hear some of these advertisements saying, hey, these are tariff free vehicles that you're seeing on your screen right now. What are the questions they should be asking when they go into a dealership or have conversation with any salesperson?
Right now there aren't really tariff specific questions. Um, the issue of tariff free vehicles is that most of the cars on dealer lots today were imported at pre-tariff prices and they can still sell it to you at something like a pre-tariff price. However, if you are the dealer, uh, you know that for every car you sell right now, you're going to have to pay more to replace it. So it is fair for them to negotiate a little bit of a higher price in order to be ready for that world.
And so what about on these standard and internal combustion engine that is really been the driver for markets that EVs are still trying to take some of that share from?
Um, in terms of tariffs, the there's not really a major difference between the two at this point. It's a matter of, you know, can you negotiate that price down and and would you be satisfied with the driving experience of an EV?