California car buyers are waiting for the Terminator, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Times reported in a story by staff writer John O'Dell that auto sales in the state tumbled about 25 percent in October from September as consumers delayed their purchases. Potential buyers are hoping that Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger will honor his campaign promise to knock down the state's newly tripled auto registration fees, the Times said.

Burt Boeckmann, owner of Galpin Ford in North Hills, Calif., the largest Ford dealership in the United States, said his Ford sales fell almost 40 percent in October compared with a year ago. Sales at all of Boeckmann's dealerships, which include the Volvo, Mazda, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Lincoln brands, dipped about 33 percent in October.

"Customers are telling our salespeople that they don't want to buy until they're sure that the tax hike will be revoked," Boeckmann said, according to the Times.

Auto sales normally drop in October as consumers begin girding for the holidays. In addition, dealer inventories run low as the new model year kicks in and deliveries slow for some popular models. But even with attractive incentives still available from automakers, the sales drop in California was far sharper than the national slowdown, the Times said.

For the first three weeks of October, new-car sales in the state plummeted 23 percent — nearly double the 12.4 percent national sales drop — compared with the first three weeks of September, according to market research firm J.D. Power & Associates. California is the biggest auto market in the United States, accounting for about 12 percent of national sales, or an estimated 1.9 million passenger vehicles this year, the Times noted.

"We know that there's something peculiar happening here" to make sales tumble so fast, Jesse Toprak, market analysis director at automotive information provider Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, told the Times. "From our talks with dealers and with feedback from users of our site, we know it is the car tax."

On Oct. 1, California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) registration fees were increased to 2 percent of a vehicle's purchase price, up from 0.65 percent. The fee increase was part of efforts by outgoing Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature to help plug the state's skyrocketing budget deficit. As a result, the registration fee for a $20,000 car went from $130 to $400.

During his gubernatorial campaign Schwarzenegger won votes -- and more than $800,000 in contributions from auto dealers -- with his promise to repeal the car tax increase.

Some political observers are now questioning Schwarzenegger's resolve to keep his pledge in light of the huge expenses state and local agencies have encountered battling the recent wildfires that have ravaged huge portions of Southern California.

But Schwarzenegger spokesman H.D. Palmer said, "It is the governor-elect's intention that one of the first acts of his administration will be to repeal the tripling of the car tax, and to make the repeal retroactive," the Times reported.

Although auto dealers said they realize that the sales slowdown is temporary, they still worry that business won't pick up until mid-November, when Schwarzenegger is sworn in and can act on repealing the registration fee increase.

"For the auto retailing industry, it has been a disaster," said Fritz Hitchcock, chairman of Hitchcock Automotive Resources Inc., which operates six dealerships in Southern California.

Hitchcock, whose dealerships include Ford, Toyota, VW, BMW and Hyundai brands, said that his sales were off about 30 percent and that the unsold cars on his lots were running up thousands of dollars a month in interest charges, according to the Times. Car dealers usually finance their inventories with loans from automakers, and monthly "floorplanning" interest can run as much as $200 a car. As that interest builds, it cuts right into the dealer's bottom line.

To try to stimulate sales, General Motors Corp. recently bought full-page ads in California newspapers offering $250 to $750 "car tax" rebates, on top of already large incentives. For example, a new 2003 GMC Envoy XL sport utility vehicle -- which dealers want to clear from their lots because 2004 models are out -- has a $5,000 discount from its base sticker price of $33,000, plus $375 in registration fee rebates, according to the Times.

Nevertheless, GM's October sales in California fell about 25 percent, according to Mike Jackson, the automaker's Agoura Hills-based general manager for the Western region.

Ford Motor Co. is also offering "bonus cash" that buyers can use to offset registration fees. But Ford dealers are reporting sales declines of 30 percent and more because of hesitant shoppers waiting for Schwarzenegger to repeal the new tax.

As customers keep waiting, even high-end dealers who normally never sully their images with rebates and incentives are jumping on the bandwagon, according to the Times. "We'll pay your DMV increase," read a recent lease ad for Fletcher Jones Motor Cars Inc. in Newport Beach, Calif., the nation's top Mercedes-Benz dealer.

"I haven't had anyone coming in specifically because of the ad, but it's probably had some beneficial impact," General Manager Garth Blumenthal told the Times. Although sales in October were not bad, he said, it marked the first month this year that his dealership's sales had not topped the year-ago figure.

Apparently, even Mercedes-Benz's high-income customers aren't immune to the tax hike blues, the Times noted.

"We'll be down about 25 percent statewide" in sales for October, Mercedes-Benz regional spokesman Geno Effler told the newspaper.