Damn, Not Even Rental Car Companies Are Buying Cars

Here’s some depressing news — not even rental car companies — the largest purchasers of automobiles, are buying cars this year, says CNNMoney.

Pat Farrell, a vice president at Enterprise Rental Car, said the company started trimming its purchases last summer as the slowdown in the economy became evident. The company, which also owns the National and Alamo brands, is the world’s largest purchaser of cars — it buys about 800,000 vehicles bought in a typical year.

When Enterprise experienced an even sharper drop in demand in October, it further cut back on its orders, a pullback that took three months to implement and will be felt in its January sales numbers.

Farrell would not disclose how much purchases were cut at the privately-held company, but he said it would be more than 10%. He said the company is holding onto vehicles about two months longer than normal to make up for the reduced purchases.

So, not only are our car companies in trouble — your rental car is going to suck, too.

Car sales: From bad to worse [CNNMoney]

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