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The absolute best time of year to buy a car is December.
To understand why December is the absolute best time to buy a car, you need to first understand the process and mentality of the humble car salesmen.
Like any other salespeople, they have quotas. They often come in the shape of monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals for the number of cars they have to hit.
This means that your car purchase could determine the difference between their dealership hitting their sales goal and the salesperson receiving a nice annual bonus or…well, not doing those things.
That’s why December (more specifically, the last week of the month) is the best time of year to buy a car. According to Cars.com, the final days of December see the highest amount of incentive spending. Sometimes this even extends to the first day or two of January, depending on what day the end of the year falls.
get the absolute best deal on a car, you should see if you can negotiate a car deal on December 31st, New Year’s Eve.
According to TrueCar, you can end up saving up to 8.3% off the price of a new car if you visit the dealership on New Year’s Eve instead of any other day. This is because this is the last day a dealer has in order to make both their quarterly AND yearly goals. As such, they have a fat bonus on the line so they want to get the cars out the door as soon as possible.
Let’s say you were looking at a nice used car going for about $20,000. If you went in on New Year’s Eve, you stand to slash $1,660 just because you went in on that day alone. Imagine what you could earn if you compounded it with great negotiation tactics.
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What if I can’t wait for December to buy a car?
Sometimes, you can’t wait until the end of the year to buy a car. If this is the case, you can still get a great deal by buying on the last day of another quota.
The next best thing to the end of the year is the end of the quarter. For those of you who don’t think in financial quarters, this basically means:
March 31st (last day of Q1)
June 30th (last day of Q2)
September 30th (last day of Q3)
And of course, December 31st (last day of the year, and Q4)
You’ll get a good deal on a car anytime during the last week of a quarter, but it’s best if you can go on the exact last day.
If that’s still too long to wait, then the next best thing is to go on the last day of the month.
According to Mike Rabkin, owner and founder of From Car to Finish, the end of the month is great due to the aforementioned quotas that car salespeople have to hit.
“When a vehicle needs help selling, the end of the month is a good time to buy if negotiating the vehicle yourself,” he says. “Because sales managers at dealerships have a monthly quota to hit and get compensated on whether they hit it or not.”
If you can’t wait until the end of the month … then you need to take a hard look at your life! Going on the last day of any given week isn’t going to be much more beneficial than normal, if at all. In fact, Sunday is one of the worst days for savings.
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My local dealership is having a Labor Day/Memorial Day/4th of July/Hanukkah blowout sale. Is this a scam?
While those huge blowout sale days might seem more like slick advertising than anything else, they actually offer solid savings if you choose to buy then.
According to Autotrader.com, many car companies offer cash-back deals and good financing for holiday weekends — which allows the dealers to take advantage and try to lure you in to buy a car with sales.
So instead of heading to your buddy’s BBQ for Labor Day weekend, you might want to make a trip down to the car dealer to see what sweet deals you can snag. Then, of course, go to the BBQ after in your new ride.
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