Car dealerships say they're being as adaptable as they can be, but there's no avoiding the uncertainty surrounding future prices.
"If you're asking if I've ever seen anything quite like this, I haven't," said Mike Mason, a partner at Michael Jordan Nissan in Durham.
Mason has worked in auto sales for 36 years -- 35 of them at Michael Jordan Nissan. He told ABC11 that the tariffs on imported vehicles and parts have led to many questions from employees and customers alike.
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"We know what you know," he said. "What we have to do is react as a business to be viable and do what the people are looking for. And what they're looking for is to not pay more money, to pay less money."
Mason said they keep about a three-month inventory on their lot at any given time, but once that's all sold and the tariffs are in place, future shipments will be subject to a higher price tag. That's information that he says is motivating some buyers already.
"People are now aware, 'if I was going to make a move, I don't know if it'll be incremental business because if I was going to make a move down the road, maybe I'll push that up and make one now,'" he said.
Since it's rare for cars and their parts to be sourced and manufactured exclusively in one country, the costs passed along to consumers are likely to vary greatly.
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"I can't sit here right now and tell you, oh, car prices will be 25% higher tomorrow, but they'll probably be higher, and it'll probably be by an amount that's noticeable when you go to buy your next car," said Scott Dyreng, a professor at Duke's Fuqua School of Business.
Dyreng called himself a "textbook example" of the effects the looming tariffs are having on consumers, telling ABC11 he was planning to buy a new car himself but went ahead and bought it last week after the tariffs were announced.
"I could see the tariffs on the horizon," he said. "I thought my guess is that car prices will be higher, you know, next year or a year from now or two years from now, so I'll just buy now. So I did."
One investment firm that spoke with ABC News predicted that tariff-related price increases could be as high as $5,000 to $10,000 per vehicle.