Best Time Of Month To Buy A Car

In terms of the best time of the year, October, November and December are safe bets. Car dealerships have sales quotas, which typically break down into yearly, quarterly and monthly sales goals. All three goals begin to come together late in the year.

best time of month to buy a car

The J.D. Power predicts average transaction prices to reach $45,971 in the third quarter of 2022, which will be a 10.3 percent increase from the same time last year. A higher demand and a lower supply are contributing to this price increase.

Traditionally, car shoppers were told that buying a car at the end of the month was the best strategy to save some cash. It's common knowledge that car salespeople and car dealerships must meet quotas. These quotas affect nearly everything that happens on the sales floor: the salesperson's pay and bonuses, the dealership's bonuses and how the manufacturer feels about the dealership, which in turn affects how many cars the dealership is allocated.

In other words, a salesperson who doesn't meet quota might not be able to pay rent. A dealership that doesn't meet the quota might get stuck with a showroom full of slow-selling and unprofitable models instead of more desirable cars. Savvy car shoppers who were aware of the quota system knew that if they picked the last couple days of the month to try to make a deal, the salesperson would probably be desperate to make a deal.

The problem is, this isn't strictly true. That's because even though dealerships work with quotas, and those quotas motivate everything they do, dealerships do not work strictly on a calendar month. When we flip the page on a calendar to start the next month, a car dealership still has a couple of days of leeway to sell cars and count them toward the previous month's quota. Go too early (right at the end of the calendar month) and your salesperson might not be quite desperate enough to get you the deal you want. Go a day or two too late, and you might not have any negotiating power at all. Trying to time your purchase to the first day or two of the month might be the best bet.

This information doesn't align with the most often-repeated new-car-buying wisdom, so it might be most convincing to let the numbers speak for themselves. TrueCar, a website that analyzes car sales data, revealed that buyers who completed their car sales in the first two days of the month save an average of $390 over buyers who bought during the rest of the month [source: Tuttle].

What's perhaps even more surprising? TrueCar's analysis shows that buyers who drove off the lot on the last day of the month paid an average of $843 more [source: Kronenberg]. Keep in mind, that doesn't necessarily mean that the same car will cost more on the last day of the month as compared to the first day of the following month. One possibility for the disparity is that at the end of the calendar month, salespeople might focus on steering customers into more expensive, feature-heavy models instead of prioritizing the number of units sold.

Our recommendations are based on a combination of peer-reviewed research and opinions from experts in the field. We spoke with experts at car-shopping sites Autotrader, Edmunds and Cox Automotive about the best time to buy a car, how to negotiate the purchase price and other car-buying tips. We also scoured online articles and reviews to find out how to time your car purchase to score the best deal.

A lot of car dealerships and automakers have fantastic programs for first-time car buyers fresh out of college. These incentives often come in the form of great rebates or special financing for new grads with good credit.

Though heading to the dealership during the best time of year to buy a car is a great way to save money, you can make sure you have even more money to get the car of your dreams by implementing a Conscious Spending Plan.

We have done our honest-to-goodness best to give you a real-world view of what buying a new car is like. With that out of the way, here is a fact; Car sales have not dropped that much in volume. The U.S. auto industry will still deliver over 16 million new cars in 2023. You can be one of those folks if you want to be.

May has traditionally been a good month for car shoppers. Memorial Day is an important holiday for dealers and automakers. The deals that are created around that day are not always just one-day offers. Shoppers can often find rebates and deals in May that are related to the Memorial Day sales events.One other reason May is a fine month during which to buy a new car is the winter is over and the towns and states have had time to repair the roads from winter pothole damage. Who wants to drive out of a dealership and be behind the sanding truck on the way home? Buying in May might give you six months before you get that first windshield chip directly in your line of sight, or knock the wheels out of alignment hitting a monster frost heave.

Many brands, particularly luxury brands, don't have a steady rate of sales throughout the year. Many rely on holiday season buyers to make the year successful. Those big red bows on cars during the run-up to Christmas and New Years are a good sign that deals can be had. We suggest starting shortly after Thanksgiving. With inventory shortages, the holiday deals will likely work best if you can take the keys before December 31st.

Although the holiday deals might end January 1st, the first business day of any new year seems like a logical time to low-ball a dealer on a new car. Every business wants to start strong, and you might score a deal if you dangle a purchase on day one of the new year.

It seems obvious that those days are on hold, however Toyota had a rebate program running last month on the Prius. So, your specific model will be the determining factor here. Actively watch for rebates and discounts on the model you may want in the coming year. Be ready.

If you are driving a car today that you are leasing, rejoice! Nearly every lease written 39 months ago included a clause that allows you to buy it when the lease expires. Over that span of time, the vehicle shortage and crazy inflation have worked in your favor. Big time. The buy-out value was set back before the dollar devalued by 20% and when dealers had hundreds of new cars on the lot.

Car prices drop toward the end of the year because auto salespeople are in hyperdrive to push inventory out before the new year and meet their sales quotas so they can earn hefty cash bonuses. To earn their target incentive pay, the staff must meet sales goals during a set time frame, which could be toward the end of the month or the year.

The best time to buy a car has several answers. Your best bet is to buy between October and January 1. December is particularly ripe for deals, discounts, rebates and other incentives. This is because car salespeople are aggressively working to meet their monthly, quarterly and yearly quotas.

Black Friday and public holidays offer big car savings. So do certain months, such as October, November and December. The end of a month or quarter, like the end of the year, usually means good deals. Look out for model changeover periods too. They typically happen in the late summer into fall. Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are particularly good times. So are other low-customer-traffic times, such as early in the week.

New data from TrueCar (TRUE) shows that Dec. 31 is a great day to buy a new vehicle, with an average savings of 10.9% off MSRP. More generally, December is the best month to buy a new car. Buyers save an average of 10.3% off MSRP.

Other public and stock market holidays for the best car deals include Memorial Day (in late May) and Black Friday (in late November). In addition, President's Day, July 4th and Labor Day are some of the best times to buy. And you can expect great savings during the week of Christmas.

Don't have excellent credit? Those attractive holiday promotions are unlikely to get you a great deal, said Brian Moody, executive editor at Autotrader, an online platform for car shoppers. Even if it's one of the best times to buy a car.

Lyman calls the best time to buy a car a personal decision, one that's best made with common sense. "You can time the market but if your car is just limping along, the costs of having a big vehicle event (on your current car) might offset any saving you would get."

Additionally, automakers and dealers want to make sure they hit their annual sales goals during these months for both new and used cars. Undercoffler said this is why you always see heavy car marketing during the holiday season.

Joe Neiman, chief customer success officer at ACV, said purchasing used cars at the end of the year may allow consumers to buy at lower prices. This not only saves consumers money but helps dealers sell inventory faster, which can be especially helpful for dealerships in areas where winter months mean colder weather and slower foot traffic to their businesses.

Neiman said one of the best times to buy is at the beginning of the year. January and February are when dealers are trying to make room for newer inventory and consumers often desire to buy the next model-year vehicle.

The views expressed on this blog are those of the bloggers, and not necessarily those of Intuit. Third-party blogger may have received compensation for their time and services. Click here to read full disclosure on third-party bloggers. This blog does not provide legal, financial, accounting or tax advice. The content on this blog is "as is" and carries no warranties. Intuit does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, and completeness of the content on this blog. After 20 days, comments are closed on posts. Intuit may, but has no obligation to, monitor comments. Comments that include profanity or abusive language will not be posted. Click here to read full Terms of Service.

So, when is the best time to buy a car? Well, the ideal time to buy a car is in October, November, or December because salespeople are typically racing to meet quarterly and annual quotas. Other advantageous times to save when buying a car are Mondays as well as major three-day holiday weekends and Black Friday. 041b061a72