Unsold Foreign Cars Hogging Space at a California Port

The New York Times has a great story about a port in Long Beach, California — one of the busiest ports in the United States — that’s piling up with automobiles. The port, and the inventory, capture the economic woes of our country. Consumers are strapped; those who aren’t strapped are retrenching and hunkering down. As a result, the Long Beach port has increasingly taken on the appearance of a storage lot. From the story:“The ships keep coming, but there’s nowhere for the cars to go,” Mr. Golledge said. He said he believed the vehicles he was loading would be his last before he was laid off, and he was already considering where he might find a new job.While shipments for some items have slowed, the cars have kept coming in at their regular pace partly because the auto factories can take months to adjust to changes in demand. Toyota is wrapping up a deal to use six acres to park cars at the port, and is seeking more space.“Toyota wants as much as we can give them,” said Gail Wasil, assistant director of the port’s real estate division.The rest of the story simply drives home the point. The United States is in a recession. Demand for cars — foreign and domestic — has fallen off a cliff. With a car purchase in my near future, I’m beginning to wonder if the deal I’ve already hammered out ($1,000 over invoice) should be renegotiated. I might be overpaying.