Buying a modern car before tariffs raise prices?

I am a recent graduate and was planning to aggressively pay off debt while saving. The recent tariffs have thrown a wrench in my plans as I currently have a very unreliable car above 260k miles. Am I dumb to try and buy a new vehicle before they affect prices? I am currently looking for a used Ford Maverick hybrid as it will suit my personal needs perfectly while remaining fairly reasonably priced and getting excellent gas mileage. I work for a financial institution and get an employee auto loan rate of 5.5%. Would an auto loan for 28-33k be stupid? I feel like it is, but looking at the used market currently I feel like anything below 20k is in poor condition and will drop me right back where I started with an unreliable vehicle in a hostile auto market. Some further background: me and my partner both have salary jobs with a household income before tax of ~110k a year. State: Tennessee. Income: 70k base salary + 8%-12% variable bonus based on company-wide performance. Pay: $3880 a month after tax and 401k contributions. Debts: Federal student loans: 25k total; Loans 1-4: 14.5k at 2.75-4.99 APR; Loans 5-8: 10.5k at 5.5-6.53 APR; Credit card: 2k total at about 22% APR. Note: I have already paid 3k off since New Year’s. Total debt: 27k. Expenses: Rent: 425 a month; Utilities: 150 a month give or take; Grocery: ~500 a month; Gas: 40 a month; Insurance/phone/internet: 0 covered by partner or parents currently. Savings/debt: $2100. Monthly total: $3215. Remaining for misc wants and needs: $665. Savings: Cash: 2k (planning to propose soon and will likely use the majority of this on a ring); 401k: ~10k. This post has been a bit long and directionless, but I’d love to hear anyone’s input or advice.

The formatting was butchered by Reddit mobile, my apologies.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but a used car will not pay the duty tax as it’s already here in America. Now auto parts after the initial batches are sold will be more expensive since the majority come out of Canada or Mexico. Source: I used to be an Assistant Manager at O’Reilly’s. Most boxes said ‘Hecho in Mexico.’

Economics is not my strong suit, but I imagine as new car prices rise, more people will buy used and raise the demand and consequently the price.

Harley said:
Economics is not my strong suit, but I imagine as new car prices rise, more people will buy used and raise the demand and consequently the price.

Fair point!

That—or supply shocks in general. That’s what happened with Evergreen and Covid. I had a leased car that had negative equity from my previous two leased cars rolled into it. I had decided that was going to be my last leased car and was ready with savings to cover the shortfall I expected in the balloon payment. I was pleasantly surprised by being offered a few $K over my balloon payment when I handed the keys back. And I was very fortunate! That supply shock bailed me out of three cars of negative equity and gave my wife and I a little bit more to go towards our home deposit.

Find a used Toyota car (2-5 years old) instead. Not sure if the tariff will last long…