when is the best time to shop for a brand new car?

when is the best time to shop for a brand new car?


This entry was posted on Saturday, July 31st, 2010 at 9:45 pm and is filed under Car Brands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “when is the best time to shop for a brand new car?”

  1. 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.

  2. It depends on the type of car. For example, if you want a jeep or convertable, the spring is not the best time. It’s usually best to wait until the fall when dealers are getting rid of the current inventory to make way for the next model. (ie. buying a 2008 just before the 2009s come out).

  3. Stupid Flanders on July 31st, 2010 at 11:29 pm

    As a rule of thumb, December 29-31 is the best time to buy a new car. I would start the process in deciding what car you actually want far sooner than this.
    The logic around this time is that if dealers can get rid of them before the end of the calendar year, then they do not have to claim them on the following year taxes. They also want to hit their yearly sales figures for the dealer and the manufacturer.

    If you need a car before December, the next best time to buy a new car is between the 29-31 of any month. Many dealerships have monthly quotas they need to achieve and if they are close at the end of the month, they are more likely to offer and/or accept a better deal for you.

    Note that with some manufacturers that do not sell cars for under sticker (Mini) or others that offer ‘no hassle’ purchasing (Scion and Saturn), it does not matter when you purchase the vehicle. The price is the same for everyone the entire year (not including variable rebates, of course).

  4. The Eagle Keeper on July 31st, 2010 at 11:43 pm

    The last day of the month. Many dealers want to close out their numbers so they can report how many they sold to the maker. Used cars are a different story. The salesman may be easily manipulated if he/she has a monthly quota. I would walk into a delaer and ask the sales mgr that you know it’s the last day of the month and you will give them invoice price on any car. Don’t tell them which model. Do your car shopping after store hrs and write down the car stock number from the windshield. Then go the last day of the month & make that offer. Naturally, they will want to know if you have a trade. They will use that to their advantage in pricing. But tell them no trade. They must agree to your offere to buy a car at invoice price or you will go down the road to the next dealer and make the same offer until one of them agrees. That should motivate them real quick. Oh yeah, say your buying a Chevy, remind them that you are aware of how many Chevy dealers are in your area & know where they are. Have fun, do your leg work before you ever walk into a dealer. Do not payment shop. That is, don’t go in w/ a price number that you will pay per month. The best deal will always get you the best payment. Toyota is offering 84 months now on some models to pay on. Don’t do that. You pay on a car for 7 years and just imagine how it will look in 7 years. Dead or alive? Any rebates you see will always be taken off the bottom line of the deal. It’s completely taxable. Never use the rebate as ammo against the dealer. It won’t work. Only negotiate on the invoice price. Nothing more. G’luck!

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