On the UAW sentiment tracker, the needle has moved back from its more moderate position of “deeply inadequate” to “insulting. On a livestream yesterday afternoon, UAW President Shawn Fain declared potential strikes at Detroit 3 auto plants, citing "insulting" wage increase proposals from automakers. Amid rising tensions, Ford and Stellantis claim the UAW hasn't responded to their latest offers, while GM emphasizes its commitment to workers through beneficial offers.
- Since the last check in, the offers from all of the Big 3 have gotten better. Recent proposals from automakers include 20% wage increase from Ford, 18% from GM, and 17.5% from Stellantis. All three proposed cutting the time for new hires to earn top wages from eight years to four.
A new CDK study of consumer satisfaction with the car buying process is good news for dealers but offers a lot of room for improvement as 83% find purchasing straightforward, yet satisfaction drops drastically if the transaction takes more than three hours.
- It revealed that while 83% of consumers found it easy to buy a car, satisfaction dropped to 54% if the transaction exceeded three hours.
- 77% of customers were highly satisfied with a purchase process of two hours or less, but their willingness to recommend the dealer dropped significantly with longer transactions.
- Despite online car-buying options, 66% of respondents preferred in-person dealership visits, especially among first-time buyers.
- Key findings: Only 44% found their desired vehicle in stock, 43% visited two dealerships, and factory orders have decreased from 28% to 18% since June 2022.
As rental car company Hertz set out to increase EV adoption by buying a lot of Teslas, they didn't make fans of two first-time EV drivers as a mother and daughter found themselves stranded in an undercharged Tesla.
- Becky Liebau and her daughter from Gurnee, Illinois, were stranded in a Tesla Model 3 they rented from Hertz, despite initially reserving a gas-powered vehicle, as it was provided with less than 50% charge.
- Hertz provided a first-time EV driver with a Tesla that was under 50% charged, failed to include an adapter for non-Tesla charging stations, handed over a vehicle with low tire pressure, didn't educate the renters on the vehicle's operations, and failed to offer immediate roadside assistance when they were stranded.
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