PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The automotive industry is keeping a close watch on tariffs as they are set to take effect on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump is hoping to strengthen United States car manufacturers by placing a 25% tariff on imported cars and certain automobile parts.
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"Everything goes up when the car goes up too, the insurance goes up, the payment goes up," said Rita Case, the president and CEO of Rick Case Automotive Group.
Last week they launched a pre-tariff savings event, to give consumers an opportunity to save money on their selection of cars not impacted by the tariffs.
"We have a 60-day supply of cars in stock, but the selection, of course, is going to dwindle," said Case. "We might as well let the customer know, come on in, get a car, pre-tariff."
They said the tariff cost increase will depend on the car, but based on the brands they supply, at most it will be up to $10,000 on what the same model currently runs for.
She said the from the campaign, the dealership saw a 25% increase in car shoppers.
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"We will be selling out for sure of our pre tariff cars first," said Case, "because who is going to buy one unless its exactly what they wanted — the color they wanted and we didn't have it pre- tariff."
Case said she's been reaching out to senators and state representatives to get a message to Washington, worried about the impact tariffs will have on consumers, but also businesses who will have to pay more on repairs as parts will also have tariff pricing.
According to White House officials in 2024, of the 16 million cars bought by Americans, 50% were imports and only 25% of the vehicle content can be categorized as "Made in America."
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"Today, he (Trump) could say we're going to do 25% on all imported cars and Wednesday comes and goes you know what, maybe will be 10, maybe it'll be 5, or maybe we'll wait for another three months to go by," said David Zerfoss, who was shopping for a used car at Classic Cars of Palm Beach.
John Giasullo, the owner of the dealership, said they're already starting to see a demand for people shopping for used cars.
"Just this past weekend we were slammed on Saturday, no time for the guys to eat lunch, just constantly busy," said Giasullo. "I popped in Sunday to help one customer; we ended up selling four cars in a three-hour period. So, they're nervous, they're afraid that there's going to be a run on used cars like we saw after COVID."
He has cars ranging from $5,000 to $200,000 and anticipates his inventory will be impacted with the price of repairs and inventory.
For now, Giasullo said he's not planning on raising his prices, instead focusing on making sure his locations are stocked up on cars.
