The Covid-19 pandemic is changing an entrenched aspect of car shopping in America: finding your new ride on the lot and driving it home that day.

For months, dealer stocks have been running about 25% thinner than normal, a hangover effect from two months of pandemic-related factory closures last spring. The shortfall is requiring many buyers to order their cars and wait a few weeks, running counter to the American car shopper’s desire for instant gratification, and dealers’ impulse to send the customer home in a new car that…

This post first appeared on wsj.com

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