Economic slump means less spending on vehicles in Calgary

In what is surely a sign of the times, it seems more Calgarians are trying to get out of their car leases,foregoing new car purchases and reconsidering that new off-road vehicle.

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At Raph's Motorsports, which sells quads and snowmobiles, marketing manager Stacey Bird is a little reluctant to talk about the slowdown, but she does say things have dropped off.

"If people are suffering they do tend to spend their money more on parts and maintaining their current vehicle," she said.

They're also less likely to drop wads of cash on the counter.

"As opposed to writing a single cheque for a unit, they might take advantageof financing options."

Passing on new cars

Jim Gillespie is the executive manager of theCalgary Motor Dealer's Association and says last year was a record for car sales.

This year?

"We're not having a record year, but, you know, it's not on fire either, as bad as the oil price is," he said.

"I believe consumers are leaning towards buying pre-owned vehicles at this time."

Escaping leases

Some are not only avoiding a new purchase, they're trying to get out from under an existing lease.

That's good news for Jim Matthews, president of Leasebusters, a company that lists and markets vehicles in order to find someone to take over the lease.

"The people that are listing their vehicles with us in Alberta, those leases are being taken over. So, there's still activity and there's people who are doing okay," he said.

"Typically, Alberta would represent about 10 per cent of our business. Now it has crept up to about 15 per cent of our business, which is very significant for us and certainly significant for the Alberta market as well."

He says there are about 500 Albertanstrying to get rid of their lease compared to an average of 200 to 300 in other provinces.

"People are sitting back and assessing, you know, their financial position," he said. "Christmas is coming, winter is coming, so on and so forth."