When is the best time to buy cars ? End or Start of year ?

gluck

Senior member
Oct 29, 2003
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When should you buy a car ? "End of year" as they (dealers) wanna hit the sales for the year or "Start of year" as they wanna get rid of left overs of last year ?
 

ZaneNBK

Golden Member
Sep 14, 2000
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End of the year is definately good. November and December are bad car sales months due to most people having to spend more money on Christmas (presents, travel, time off, etc...) and the Salesmen need money for their Christmas and will be hungry for a deal. The dealerships are also trying to push out last year's models.
 

Nitemare

Lifer
Feb 8, 2001
35,461
4
81
Originally posted by: ZaneNBK
End of the year is definately good. November and December are bad car sales months due to most people having to spend more money on Christmas (presents, travel, time off, etc...) and the Salesmen need money for their Christmas and will be hungry for a deal. The dealerships are also trying to push out last year's models.

Yup, whenever the dealers are trying to get rid of last years models
 

Ausm

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
25,213
14
81
End by far, also I have gotten really good deals on last year models that did not sell.

Ausm
 

ajpa123

Platinum Member
Apr 19, 2003
2,401
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Make sure you google for forums and ask people who just bought that particular make and model for the exact price they bought it for under invoice, so you can haggle.

For example, check out this page for tips

Edmunds Success Stories

AJ.
 

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
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I'm thinking probably end of year. Closer to Christmas the better, because people aren't thinking of buying a car then. Course, if everybody thinks this then maybe the dealership sells a lot :(
 

ZaneNBK

Golden Member
Sep 14, 2000
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Originally posted by: Skoorb
I'm thinking probably end of year. Closer to Christmas the better, because people aren't thinking of buying a car then. Course, if everybody thinks this then maybe the dealership sells a lot :(

I work for a car manufacturer. I can honestly say that November and December are our worst sales months. I believe December is worse than November but I'm not 100% sure. So no, this line of thinking, unfortunately, hasn't led to a large increase in sales at the end of the year. :)
 

CChaos

Golden Member
Mar 4, 2003
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I suppose the time of year depends on what kind of car you want but I'd say when next years models start rolling in, especially if there are significant changes in the vehicle. Of course if the cars are selling well enough, they might not have many leftovers on the lot. We got a pretty good deal if not a great deal on a '04 at the end of September even though there weren't many '03s left on lots. It was $1500 cash back while an '03 would have been good for $2000 back. The pickins were slim in the '03s though and since we had particular options in mind we went with an '04. Also, month end is supposed to be good if the dealer is trying to hit a monthly quota.
 

gluck

Senior member
Oct 29, 2003
708
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0
Well I want to buy a new used car. Not thinking of a brand new one. But kinda new one that has less mileage. I wanna invest the least possible.