Dealers are seeing more traffic that expected countywide.
The more upbeat tone in San Diego has been mirrored across the state. All 160 dealers who responded to a survey released Wednesday by the California New Car Dealers Association said their showrooms are open and 94 percent reported increased traffic.
“There’s a lot of pent-up business,” said Campos, who estimated his dealership has brought back about 90 of the roughly 100 employees it laid off or furloughed. “Customers are tired of being locked up indoors, they’ve been wanting to buy a car for months.”
But the survey also highlighted the financial impact of the shutdown. Since mid-March, 54.5 percent of the dealers reported decreases in sales of between 30 to 60 percent. Another 25 percent said sales had fallen between 60 and 80 percent.
“Those are Great Recession numbers,” said Brian Maas, the president of the new car dealers group. “And it took 2 1/2 years for that drop to occur and this happened in eight weeks.”