Toyota’s U.S. sales chief, Jim Lentz, said Thursday that a lack of credit is not the reason why Toyota’s sales have dropped recently and that the U.S. is headed for a recession if the current crisis is not resolved quickly, reports the Detroit News.
"The vast majority of our customers are able to get approved for loans," Lentz told reporters Thursday. "In our case, credit is not the biggest challenge. Our biggest challenge is consumer confidence."
Lentz (pictured above) and other dealers say that the lack of consumer confidence, not a lack of credit, is the reason why sales are down. September’s U.S. auto sales were down 26.6 percent.
The media has been reporting lately that people can’t get car loans, even those with prime credit ratings. This seems to be scaring people and keeping them out of dealers’ showrooms. There have been consumers reporting that this is definitely the case, but then again, there have been consumers who have had no problem finding financing for their next car.
"There’s no issue at all with above-average credit," said Alan Helfman, owner of River Oaks Chrysler Jeep in Houston. "Hurricane Ike was a bigger problem for us than the credit crisis."
Helfman said he is still able to find financing for customers with bad credit, but not as many as he was a year ago.
Bottom line is, if you need a car loan, you might want to try, since you never know what the outcome will be. You might just get a good rate.
Photo via autoobserver.com.
