Sioux Falls car dealerships seeing rise in sales during pandemic

If you're thinking about buying a new car, you're not alone. Car dealerships in Sioux Falls are seeing an influx of customers right now.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit: "Everybody was scared that like in other parts of the country where car sales just absolutely shut down and stopped. They were trying to prepare by having really good incentives, actually for us the best incentives we've ever had,” said Mike Schulte, Owner of Schulte Subaru.

That's why you may be seeing more car ads lately for deals such as, "Zero percent for a really long time, up to four months without having to make a payment,” said Schulte.

And is one reason Schulte believes more people are buying cars.

"Luckily, Sioux Falls didn't slow down quite as much as the other part of the country. So the combination of not slowing down and the incredible incentives, It's been a great combination,” said Schulte.

"We are on pace to break an all-time record on new and used this month."

Staff at Vern Eide Honda in Sioux Falls have also been busy.

"We're running out of cars faster than we can get them in,” said Steve Eggebraaten, Sales Manager for Vern Eide Honda.

For one Vern Eide customer: "I have had my old car for a long time and I'm financially stable enough to get a new car with getting my tax return and getting the government money,” said Samantha Albers.

As more people stop in to look at cars, both dealerships continue to focus on sanitation.

"Hired a crew that comes in every morning and sanitizes the entire dealership and then we have hand sanitizers at every office and we take our temperatures two times a day and we have actually been testing the whole staff for COVID every fifteen days,” said Schulte.

“Making sure that we sanitize everything. Making sure the employees wear masks,” said Eggebraaten.

And they want customers to know test drives are available.

"Before they come in we will sanitize the car, spray down with some alcohol, clear it out,” said Eggebraaten.

During the pandemic, car manufacturers shut down for a bit. So Eggebraaten wants people to know that supplies at dealerships could be lower and some cars might be harder to find right now.