Jerry Moore, general manager of Sims Buick GMC, outside the dealership on Elm Road in Warren. Moore said the dealership remains open with skeleton crews. Staff photo / Ron Selak Jr.

Automobile sales have crashed.

As consumers stay holed up at home during the novel coronavirus pandemic, rather than haggling on car lots, auto pricing website Edmunds estimates U.S. new vehicle sales plunged 40 percent in March compared with a year ago.

The story is the same for dealers in the Greater Cleveland area, which includes Trumbull and Mahoning counties, according to an industry expert.

Meanwhile, some local dealers remain open with skeleton sales and service staffs while others have shut their doors to the public and directed customers to their website or to leave a message for any pressing needs.

Local dealers in the 21-county region of the Greater Cleveland

Automobile Dealers Association overcame lackluster sales in February to stay ahead of the sales pace they set for the first two months of 2019, albeit by a slim 0.48 percent margin, due to an increase in used car sales.

New car sales fell 10 percent for the month. Expect the March sales figures to plummet four to five times that because of what association president Lou Vitantonio said is “an unprecedented turn of events” with the COVID-19 outbreak.

“That is what I think is going to take place,” Vitantonio said.

And the timing couldn’t be worse. March is the No. 1 sales month in the region, including the Mahoning Valley, due in part to momentum coming off the association’s auto show, which marks the start of the spring selling season as dealers put out incentives to entice buyers and put on a marketing blitz, said Vitantonio.

Jerry Moore is general manager at Sims Buick GMC in Warren, which remains open with a skeleton crew of about 14 in sales, service and parts for the Buick / GMC dealership and Nissan dealership right next door. Normally, the staff is about 75.

“We’re definitely following all CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) rules and guidelines and keeping the facility clean, and the entire autopark clean and sanitized,” Moore said.

All employees, who are working voluntarily, have their temperature checked each day and complete a 12-question survey to make sure they don’t show symptoms of COVID-19, Moore said.

Business is slow, but there is some traffic from people who need help with vehicles. Also, Moore said he’s delivered about five vehicles to buyers. The sale was conducted over the phone.

“We just felt there was a necessity to be available for the customers to address any issues they may have,” Moore said.

Other dealerships across the Valley have closed, but direct customers to call a number and leave a message for pressing needs.

THE INDUSTRY

“The auto industry has had a worse year than previous years … now it’s just a matter of how far they are going to fall in the future as a result of the current situation,” said Albert J. Sumell, economics professor at Youngstown State University.

The pandemic plus the United Auto Workers strike against General Motors last year was disruptive to GM, which closed during the labor dispute, “but not disruptive to the extent that sales were still strong,” Sumell said.

“It was something that affected supply, but when you have a supply disruption in the face of relative stable demand, it’s just easier to accommodate those disruptions,” he said.

In the COVID-19 situation, demand and supply are disrupted.

“If demand is stable or growing or just OK in general, if there is an issue with the supply side and costs, we can devote attention toward that and not have to worry so much about overall profitability because it’s an isolated issue and we know we have the resources to cover,” Sumell said. “Whereas in the current situation, it’s just broader in scope because you have supply side disruptions along with major decreases in demand.”

NATIONAL SALES

Last week, Fiat Chrysler, which only reports quarterly numbers, said its U.S. sales fell 10 percent. Hyundai reported that March sales fell 43 percent and sales for the quarter dropped 11 percent.

Edmunds.com expects March sales to fall more than 35 percent from a year ago.

Quarterly sales are expected to fall about 12 percent despite a strong start to the year before the virus took root in the United States.

“The market took a dramatic turn in mid-March as more cities and states began to implement stay-at-home policies due to the coronavirus crisis, and consumers understandably shifted their focus to other things,” said Jessica Caldwell, director of insights for Edmunds.

Edmunds’ website can cannect people to its large network of dealerships. These dealerships partner with Edmunds to list their inventory.

Many automakers are rolling out big discounts, home delivery of autos, and zero-percent financing in an effort to spur sales.

rselak@tribtoday.com

The Associated Press contributed to this story.