When’s the best time to buy a car
At some point we will need to acquire a car. The question is when. Ideally, we don’t want to leave it up to sudden, emergency situations. We also don’t want to buy something as expensive as a car because we feel like it. Cars should not be retail therapy, for example. So how do we decide?
Understanding current situations
We must understand where we are financially before we can make any large purchasing decisions. We must know our current financial status and demonstrate, to ourselves, we can work on a budget. If we are running a business, for example, we must be aware of the months where business slows down.
If we’re dependent on contract work, we need to calculate when more of that money will be coming in. Of course, a lot of us are salaried with a steady income stream, so we need to then look at expenses.
Seasons
Colder months might mean we spend more on bills to keep our homes warm. This might be a bad time to spend, since more money must go to our bills.
Unfortunately, winter is also when car dealerships tend to have lower prices. As IOL reports:
“[a] good time [to buy a car] is in the dead of winter – from July to October – when sensible car buyers stay indoors and wait for warmer weather before venturing out on to dealers’ lots to kick tyres and haggle over prices.
“It’s also when dealers are dead keen to get current models off the floor before new launches make them yesterday’s news.”
If we’re not too worried about bills, it might be the best time to venture out. Not only will there be fewer people to compete with, but dealers themselves will be willing to sell at lower rates.
Time of day
Some experts even advise us to beat the sun. By this they mean staying all day in a dealership hashing out the details with a salesperson. This applies whether we’re looking for used volkswagen cars for sale or newer BMWs.
As Autotrader notes: “New-car shoppers can often negotiate strong deals during late hours, provided the salesperson thinks he or she is dealing with a serious buyer. Staying late to close a deal doesn’t change the fact that everyone’s ready to go home, so the dealer may make concessions to speed up the negotiation.”
We should be well-rested ourselves and not have plans during this time. This is, after all, a kind of battle between ourselves and the salesperson. Each one wants a goal that conflicts with the other!
Thus, by knowing how much we have to work with, the best time of year and day, we can make the best purchasing decision. There are, of course, other factors to consider when purchasing a vehicle. But, focusing on “when” to buy shows how complicated the question can get.