Best Time To Buy Leftover Cars
As a result, car shoppers today face a limited selection and price hikes from either dealer-added (often non-negotiable) accessories or "market adjustments." Discounts of any sort are scarcer than the cars themselves, leaving the buyer with no negotiating power. There's also a greater sense of urgency to make a quick decision on a deal because the car may not be there if you take the time to think about it.
best time to buy leftover cars
This means that these are far from normal times in terms of both the selection of cars available and the lack of discounts you may encounter. If you need a new vehicle today, we suggest starting your shopping process sooner rather than later since the chipset shortage will likely affect pricing and inventory at least through 2022.
If you're shopping for a new or used car in today's difficult marketplace, please see "Car Buying Tips for 2022" for our experts' targeted, data-driven advice. Note that the article below was originally written before the chip shortage when vehicle prices were relatively stable and predictable. If the shortages continue, there may be a so-called "best time to buy" for the foreseeable future. The best time in the current market is when you find a dealer that has the vehicle you want and is willing to sell it to you at MSRP or better, without any additional options that you may not need.
Buyers are always looking for a way to game the system and save money on major purchases. Much of this thinking revolves around zeroing in on the best time to purchase a particular item. Need a new TV? Shop on Black Friday or around the Super Bowl. Need a new winter coat? Shop in January.
It's no different for cars. Ask anyone, "When is the best time to buy a car?" and you'll get answers ranging from the end of the month to "wait until the new models come out." There are as many theories on this topic as there are days in the year. And, oddly enough, there is a grain of truth to many of them.
Simply put, here's our advice: The best time to buy a car is when you need it and feel ready to buy, regardless of the time of year. Car buying can be stressful, and it can take more than a month to go from deciding what to buy to actually closing the deal. Why add to that pressure by trying to squeeze your shopping into a certain day of the week or a holiday weekend when everyone has the same idea?
When the month is coming to an end, dealers might be a few cars short of a sales quota that would win them a big bonus. Salespeople will have more motivation to make a deal with a buyer and might deeply discount cars, making up any money lost with the bonus. This is the time when you shouldn't sleep on the car deal. Keep in mind, however, that if the sales team met its quota earlier that month, salespeople may not be as motivated to give you the screaming deal you might be expecting. This is difficult to know ahead of time. But if you're in the midst of negotiating and the dealer offers you a super-low price, take a moment to ask your salesperson why the dealer is willing to potentially lose money on this sale. If the reason makes sense to you, and the price is considerably better than your research says it should be, it could be a sign the dealer is trying to make a sales goal.
While the data shows that December is the best time of the year to buy, there are also a few other viable months. In other words, if you need a car in January, there's no need to wait 11 months to get a good deal.
If you need a car in October and want to get the best deal, you might want to wait until December, even though you'll run the risk of having fewer cars to choose from. Waiting will give you more time to do more research on the right car for you. You'll also be able to gather more price quotes.
All the new model-year cars used to debut in the fall, making the end of summer a good time to shop for leftovers. These days, however, there is no unified new model-year season. For example, we see cars from the upcoming model year debuting as early as March of a calendar year. Even so, Edmunds data indicates that the end of the summer is a sweet spot for outgoing model-year vehicles.
Sometimes the manufacturer announces that it will stop making a car altogether. There's potential in this situation for even bigger savings. You should know that the car will depreciate steeply if it's being discontinued, but if you plan on keeping it for a while, it won't affect you. It's also worth looking into why the automaker pulled the plug on a given vehicle. Is it a matter of changing tastes, or was the car truly bad in terms of performance or reliability? In recent years, for example, SUVs have surged in popularity and many domestic automakers have discontinued (Ford dropping all but 2 cars from its North American dealerships) many of their sedans. Going further back, vehicles such as the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet never really found an audience and the Pontiac Aztek had a face only Walter White could love.
New car models used to debut in the fall. But these days, there is no single time of year. Vehicles for the next model year can debut as early as the spring of the current year. And some cars don't debut until the spring or summer of their model year. In other words, you'll see some 2022 vehicles for sale as early as the spring of 2021. Some 2022 models, meanwhile, won't show up in dealerships until halfway through 2021.
As we've noted, you'll find many opportunities throughout the year to get a great deal on a new car. Ultimately, the best time to get a new car is when you need one and only after you have completed your research.
Anyone who has ever stumbled to the refrigerator first thing in the morning and discovered the last slice of pizza from the night before, or a hidden container of Chinese takeout, understands the pure joy of finding a well-timed leftover.
Gregg Fidan, founder of RealCarTips.com and author of the Honest Guide to Buying a Car, tracks discounts on leftover cars on his website. He said in 2018 there were already quite a few of next year's models available by late July, and discounts on the newest were typically thousands off MSRP.
Is there a best time to buy a new car? Yes, there are times that you're much more likely to get a money-saving deal than others. Knowing when to buy can save you thousands on the price of a new vehicle and its financing.
The ways we can buy cars has changed a lot over the last few years. Beyond a test drive, there's really no reason to spend a lot of time at the dealership (unless you want to). Shoppers can browse vehicles using their smartphones on breaks from work or scour the websites of dealerships miles from where they live. In fact, much of the work involving a car purchase can be done online.
It might sound backward, but the best time to buy a car is before you need to. If you have to make a last-minute car purchase or lease, you may not have time to do the research necessary to make a smart auto loan, leasing or buying decision.
When you start the car-buying process early, you can confidently decide which vehicle you want, how much you should pay and how you're going to finance its purchase. You can go into the dealership more relaxed, knowing that you have time on your side. You can even test drive multiple cars ahead of time, so you can leap as soon as you see a good deal.
In addition to certain times of the week or holidays, some months are better to buy or lease new vehicles or purchase used cars than other months. In general, May, October, November and December are the best months to visit the car dealership. Read on to learn why.
Like other holidays, do your research ahead of time and be prepared with a pre-approved loan. If you're considering leasing, be sure to understand the pros and cons of car leasing versus buying. Knowing how much you can afford with your monthly lease payments and the total cost of the lease is critical to getting the best deal.
New Year's Eve and the New Year's Day holiday are some of the best times to buy a new or used car. The days are typically packed with special end-of-year sales events and supported with great financing and lease deals from automakers.
You can find the best auto loan and rebate car-buying incentives on our new car deals page. Our lease deals page showcases the best offers in the leasing marketplace. You won't typically find cash back offers on used cars, but our used car deals page shows the best financing deals automakers are offering on certified used cars.
When a car is brand-new or is the best-selling model in its class, it's time to wait a while until its prices settle down. The same goes when there are supply disruptions or vehicle shortages. There are plenty of buyers out there willing to spend more than sticker price for the latest and greatest, but it's worth waiting instead of spending the extra money.
Economic challenges aside, car-buying experts say you can typically save some money by buying a new vehicle at a specific time of the year, month, time of day or even day of the week. Timing your purchase accordingly could really be worth it. Here are the best times of year to buy a new car:
Everybody knows you shouldn't pay sticker for a new car. You can get a vehicle between 7.5 percent and 8 percent below MSRP, depending on the year and the type of car. If you're looking to maximize those discounts, when is the best time to find the best deal?
To find out when incentives are highest, we checked with TrueCar.com, which monitors millions of sales from thousands of car dealerships all over the country. TrueCar tracks sales incentives by the day, week, and month, and publishes the average discount for each. It also tracks the best times to buy certain types of cars, such as SUVs, pickups, and sedans. This slideshow is based off of TrueCar's analysis of the 2015 vehicle market.
When those discounts peak is sometimes surprising. The best times are usually not on the big holiday weekends when dealers run the biggest ad campaigns trumpeting their discounts. Presidents' Day weekend and the Fourth of July are particularly bad times to buy a new car, if you want to get a good deal. 041b061a72