WSET.com - ABC13Wintry Weather Impacts Car Sales

Reporter: Mark Kelly l Videographer: Parker Slaybaugh

Lynchburg, VA - The city of Lynchburg's got its snow plows ready to go. About 100 dump trucks and 50 contractors are on standby, ready to clear area roads.

Crews were checking equipment Friday, attaching plows and spreaders and even loading some trucks up with salt. And they're not the only ones in Lynchburg getting their vehicles ready. Car dealers have their 4-wheel drives lined up and ready to go too.

One car dealer we talked to says this has been a tough winter to sell 4-wheel drives, and that the weather really impacts the type of car he sells. Until now it's been too warm for customers to be thinking 4-wheel drive, but this weekend's forecast shows that could change soon.

"The snow has a big impact," said James Dronso, general manager at Auto Connection in Lynchburg.

James Dronso says with the weather as warm as it's been, it's not easy getting the 4-wheel drives off the lot. It needs to get a little snowy first.

"It hasn't snowed like that in three, four years really, so people tend to change their minds a little bit towards four-wheel drives," said Dronso.

To sell a car designed for the winter, Dronso says first it's got to feel like winter.

"A big part of it is when the cold weather first hits, when you are getting below 40 degrees. And the other big factor is when people are starting to see that snow first hit, even that first dusting - that's when people start to get more motivated,"said Dronso.

That first snow could very likely happen this weekend. If it does, you're going to see a lot of these vehicles on the road too.

"We started yesterday and finished up just a few minutes ago," said Dave Owen.

Public Work's Director Dave Owen has his trucks already filled with salt, two days early. The mild winter weather has had his snow plows collecting dust and Public Works saving a lot of "snow dough."

"It's been a very nice winter from our perspective," said Owen.

Public Works has only tapped in to about 10% of this year's snow removal budget. But, that could change very soon. Because we hardly had any snow this year, Public Works has gotten some other projects done like street maintenance and leaf collection.

And, if the snow budget's still in tact by the end of the winter, it's certainly not going to waste. They could use that to cover rising fuel costs and other repairs in the city.