When is the Best Time to Buy a Car?
Posted on 26 June 2008 by Michael Callaway
When is the best time to buy a new or used vehicle? Is it at the beginning of the month, the end of the month? Maybe it is in January or in December? When is the best time to buy? The answer, of course, is now. Now is the absolute best time that there ever will be.
Of sure, there have been great sales in the past and it is possible that cars will be sold at a discount in the future, but right now they have got to sell….today!!! Today is the perfect storm of savings that we will never see again. It always amazes me how they can always sell the idea to people (myself included) that you need to act and that you need to act right now.
At the beginning of the month they want to sell to get things on the right foot. At the end of the month they have to sell to close out the month with a bang. You can take the same rational for both January and December it applies, January gets the year off right, December closes the year out with bang.
The ones that drive me crazy are the baloney stories that they all come up with. The accountant was up late last night watching the ball game; he meant to order 100 new cars but accidentally placed an order for 1,000. Now we have got to have the “Accountant Needs To Get More Sleep Sale!!!” Never again will the accountant lack sleep and never again will we have so many cars that we have got to sell BELOW COST!!!
Who is in charge of inventory control at these dealerships? They need to be fired right now. Send in the Donald and let him fire them all. Just once, I would love to see a car commercial that says, come and buy a car if you need it, but be prepared to pay. If you will not buy there is always someone else. We have the perfect amount of inventory so leave us alone with how much you think you should pay because we do not care, you will pay what we tell you.
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June 26th, 2008 at 11:57 am
The correct answer is never. Cars are a horrible investment. As much as I love to go look at them, test drive them and dream about owning a Lamborghini some day, in the end it is just a hard lesson, one which I am learning myself. If you MUST purchase a new car, just be well-informed. Do your research. My dad paid for a subscription to Consumer Reports which is a very valuable service for this topic. It tells you the price that dealerships put on their windows and the price at which they purchase the car from the manufacturer. You would be surprised to learn that the “sticker price” at the dealership already has a ~12% mark-up built in. The car that my dad just bought for my sister is the exact same car that a friend of mine recently bought, and my dad paid ~$4,000 less than her, even though my friend’s dad is “buddy buddy” with the owner of the dealership. You are right, though. The “time to act” sales always get you, even at the grocery store when you see “5 for $3.00,” you feel that since it is a deal, you MUST buy it.