The Best Time to Purchase a New Car
Sometimes you need a new car as soon as possible and don’t have time to wait. But if you’re in the market for a new car and can be flexible and patient, you may be able to get the car you want for less money.
How to Prepare for, and Deal With, Getting Stranded in Your Car During Winter
There’s not one single calendar day or season that’s guaranteed to save you money. But discounts are often based on when new models come out. New models are mainly released in the fall months, typically September or October.
Dealerships often offer incentives and rebates to clear out their stock around the new model year. If you don’t really care about getting the latest and greatest vehicle gadgets, you can save hundreds or thousands of dollars on a new car by buying the older model year after the newest edition is released.
Besides planning your purchase around a new model release, other fiscal calendar milestones are good times to buy a new car. Dealers are most motivated to hit sales targets at the end of the month, the end of the sales quarter and especially at the end of the year. Salespeople might be more willing and able to offer you more savings on a new car in order to meet goals or quotas. Car-buying guide Kelly Blue Book recommends visiting the dealership between the 16th and 20th of the month, leaving a few days of buffer before the end of the month to negotiate.
Dealerships also offer above-average cash rebates and other incentives on national holiday weekends such as Memorial Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Advertisements flaunt big savings on cars around Christmastime as well, and these savings are often not all marketing hype. Because this season is also near the end of the year, you can get a combination of discounts, making December the best overall month to buy a car. According to data from car resource Edmunds, December sees the year's highest incentives and the highest discount off MSRP at an average of 6.1%.
It’s savvy to shop late in the year and late in the month, but early in the week. Car dealerships are less crowded on weekdays, with Mondays being their slowest days. You’ll get more attention from salespeople as well as have more time to negotiate on price. Data from TrueCar revealed that shoppers saved the most on Mondays, 0.61% more compared to Sundays, which can add up when you’re about to spend thousands of dollars on a new vehicle.
Once you’ve snagged major savings on your new car, make sure to brush up on the etiquette rules of the road you need to know before getting behind the wheel.
