I have a friend looking to buy an unused car. It doesn’t matter to him whether it is a new model as long as it is unused. I said wait for the summer for good deals and he said now would be a good time for deals. So when is generally the best time to get low prices on unused cars.
End of the month? End of the year? All myths.
There is no "best" time of the year as such. It all depends on your negotiating ability, knowing the "tricks of the trade", and being very patient.
It also helps not to "fall in love" with a particular make, model or color. If you have a number of makes that you would consider, and dont mind the color, it will increase your chances of doing a good deal. Dealers want to move cars that are in stock, especially if they have been there for a while, and a new shipment is imminent.
Once you have done all of your research, test driven a range of cars and have settled on a model, get a few prices to establish a starting point for negotiations.
When you are ready to buy, head to your chosen dealership about 30 to 45 minutes before they close and "hit them hard".
This will save you hours of back and forth negotiating tactics as the salespeople and managers will be anxious to head home, but cant until the last customer leaves. Therefore you will get their best deal a lot faster. If that deal is at or below your bottom line, congratulations, you have yourself a new set of wheels.
End of month is a great time to BUY your new car, but it is NOT the best time to make your first dealership visit. Salesmen do try harder to make sales at the end of the month, which is about the last five days of the calendar month.
In addition to the end of the month, there are better and worse times of the year to buy. Best time of the year to buy is the end of December, in most dealerships. Dealerships try to make specific quotas for end of month AND end of calendar year, and it is not a popular time to buy, so sales can slump seriously and they will try harder to make a sale, which means a better bargain. If you shy away from buying in the winter because of bad weather, think again: bad weather is when you WANT to be in the car, testing it’s foul weather capabilities.
Other good times of year to buy are end of August and end of September because the old models are taking up space on the dealership property, and they want to make room for the new models to come in. If your heart is not set on a brand new model, this is an excellent time to buy a perfectly good new car that happens to have been manufactured a few months earlier.
There is a very important BUT to this end of month advice: Do NOT make your very first visit to the dealership at the end of the month. Go to the dealership at the beginning or middle of the month, test drive the cars, get some info, then go home and give yourself two to three weeks to get the best financing. THEN go back at month’s end armed with full information and a buying plan. Give yourself a day or two extra in case the first dealership doesn’t work out and you need to go to another one. This is a big purchase, don’t try to do it all in an afternoon!
References :
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The best time …well August -September is the model year clearance and is when manufactures tend to put big incentives on cars but other factors most miss is even if a big incentive is added you buy it and then its titled and you own a model year old car so there is a big depreciation hit there and well the incentives help off set that.
It is true that sometimes dealers push for sales at the end of the month. It is also true that sometimes they push hard at the beginning of the month if there is a contest etc. Saturdays they want to be big days so they push for sales then too!
See my point is if your a serious buyer a dealer wants to sell a car just as bad on the 5th of the month as the 25th. Now he might really need the deal by the 25th but he still wants it on the 5th. So if your educated about the car, pricing and what others have paid in your area and know what you should pay then the best time for a good deal could be anytime!
So in short the best time to get a good deal is after you have done your research thoroughly, have compared and shopped different dealers. Negotiated for a good price and can make an informed well thought out buying decision.
Also to the whole time of month theory etc. If I had a customer on the 30th does that mean I am going to try and make less money than on the 1st? No! I am going to work every deal and try to make as much as possible, and if I have to take a short deal but I can deliver the car I will do it no matter if it is the 1st or the 31st. So if I have an educated customer that knows their stuff they will probably get the same deal on the first as the 31st.
References :
10 Years Auto Industry Experience
http://www.buyingacar101.com
Right now there are still some brand new 07 cars out there, depends on the make, that should be much cheaper than an 08. And the end of the month is the best time.
References :
End of the month? End of the year? All myths.
There is no "best" time of the year as such. It all depends on your negotiating ability, knowing the "tricks of the trade", and being very patient.
It also helps not to "fall in love" with a particular make, model or color. If you have a number of makes that you would consider, and dont mind the color, it will increase your chances of doing a good deal. Dealers want to move cars that are in stock, especially if they have been there for a while, and a new shipment is imminent.
Once you have done all of your research, test driven a range of cars and have settled on a model, get a few prices to establish a starting point for negotiations.
When you are ready to buy, head to your chosen dealership about 30 to 45 minutes before they close and "hit them hard".
This will save you hours of back and forth negotiating tactics as the salespeople and managers will be anxious to head home, but cant until the last customer leaves. Therefore you will get their best deal a lot faster. If that deal is at or below your bottom line, congratulations, you have yourself a new set of wheels.
References :
Various websites, and I have bought, or helped buy for family and friends, many new cars over the last few years.