WEST, Texas (KXXV) — One Chevrolet of West buyer shares her experience of needing a car during the pandemic. Sabrina Cook said that without a job, she was limited in her ability to buy a car.
- March 11th marks 5th anniversary of COVID-19.
- Chevrolet of West pushes through pandemic.
- By May 2020, nearly 50 million people had worked fewer hours, lost their jobs, or had businesses closed.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“I was scared to even think about purchasing a vehicle at that time," said Chevrolet of West customer Sabrina Cook.
That was during the height of COVID-19—when Sabrina said she needed a car, but couldn’t afford one.
“I had lost my jobs about three months going into COVID and we had stimulus checks coming in that helped cover the bills but when it came to purchasing a car all the prices were going up," Cook said.
Cook remembers driving an older model car and holding on to hope amid the pandemic.
Leo Pacheco, the owner of Chevrolet of West, said surviving COVID-19 as a dealership meant sanitizing cars and workplaces every two hours and limiting contact with customers. Things also changed for their prospective car buyers.
“Now we see a lot of customers that had terrific credit and now they have bumps and bruises on their credit. We had many things happen in a row," Leo Pacheco, the owner of Chevrolet of West, said.
Cook's breaking point was when the AC in her old car went out. She then turned to Chev of West, hoping to find something within her price range.
“The lenders are much more workable and manageable, they tend to work with you. They came back with the perfect payment, and I cried," Cook said.
According to Forbes, from March 2 through May 3, 2020, franchised dealers lost 1.5 million new and used vehicle sales. Pacheco said there was a point when they only had a handful of cars on the lot. But now things have changed — for the dealer and the customer.
“To know that I can put my son in the back of my car and know that is safe and I can get where I need to go," Cook said.
