The Best and Worst Time of the Year to Buy a Used Car

People looking to buy used cars have to overcome the fear of buying it at the wrong time, and they’ve got no idea what the right time is and how does any of it make a difference in the end. Their suspicion is how could they save money or lose money by postponing the decision or doing it a week or month in advance. Seriously. There are the right and wrong days to buy a used car. It sounds bizarre, but what if it’s true. The market experts have concluded that there are periods when you can buy the same vehicle at a discounted rate.

The Best and Worst Time of the Year to Buy a Used Car 2

The first time buyer car, especially in the case of used cars, should gather information than believing or rejecting things based on lack of knowledge.



1. The Festivities, Discounts and the World of Used Cars

You expected this one. The festival season is the best time to shop for a used car. Top dealers expect higher sales during the festive period and willing to offer discounts to entertain more queries. They’ve got the marketing strategy planned for it.

The year-end period always welcomes surprises at the consumer end. How can we forget about car salespersons? They have got performance-incentives. They have got their reasons to sell more cars.

Selling more cars means offering discounts which you wouldn’t find on other days or months. As a buyer, you need to hold your ground and try to act like a tough buyer only to sweeten the deal by the dealer in the end.

2. Buy Yourself a Gift of a Used Car on New Year

Dealers feel itchy to get the existing models cleared off the roof. They want the last batch to move so they can bring new inventory. The tables turn at this time of the year. Buyers can experience a similar approach during each quarter. The year-end deals are one-off situations. You can expect to gain on the loss of the dealers.

Is December the right time to buy a car? Does it also imply other months are the worst ones to invest your money on used cars? We take the New Year situation out of the case for a minute, and you can still grab good deals throughout the year. It’s about knowing when the dealers are in a soft spot about the sales numbers and how to leverage the situation in your favor.

3. Holidays Offer an Extra Sweet Deal on Used Cars

Dealers wait for the Veteran’s Day, Martin Luther King Day and Columbus Day all year long. They find it a strategic advantage to materialize a marketing campaign to sell cars around these holidays. What works in favor of dealers is low expectations.

People don’t associate them with big sales or consumers going on a shopping spree. Think of the potential of two holidays falling on Monday every year and a long weekend to entice customers to walk into a dealership and buy cars. The extra discount is what the dealers offer to car buyers.

4. Select the Off-Season Models

Our parents have been buying things off-season to have an extra season-end discount. It applies to all sectors and used cars are no exception. Buyers need to select the models carefully. They need to match the time of the year and the car model to qualify for a better deal.

Think of buying open-air models during winters and you’ve got a winner on your hands. It may not occur to you that seasons play a role in the sales of some car models. You need to plan the schedule in a way that the used car model is not in high demand during the buying period. It’s not a strategy, but how the market works.

We’re approaching the dreaded time to discuss the worst time to buy a car. Is there such a thing? Missing the opportunity to buy during sales marks the beginning of a period when you need to pay the market price. It means you have no edge or negotiation base to strike a deal.

We can use the same analogy of buying at the end of the month, quarter or year and apply it with the opposite of it, which is buying at the beginning of the month, quarter and year. It’s at this time smart shopping comes into play. You need to do the planning in advance. You feel losing power or even in some cases, the right to strike a deal on your conditions.

5. Experts Condemn Buying at the Start of the Year

Buying a used car with the new model year makes you spend extra. It defeats the purpose. Doesn’t it sound a bit naive, inexperienced? You don’t want to put yourself into a situation where you have to spend extra because you didn’t plan or bothered to manage the budget to buy before the start of the New Year. It may appear a coincidence in nature, but you have squandered the opportunity and now find yourself in a precarious position. 

Buyers can walk into the dealership on weekdays than weekends. There isn’t much to lose between weekdays and weekends as recent studies have concluded.

There was a time when people followed a strict no-weekend deal. To buy used cars online is another option to find a better deal. The trend has gained momentum. You’ll find more people buying cars online than groceries or entertainment subscriptions.

Buying pre-owned cars online strengthens your case as you can do a background check without feeling vulnerable or giving in to the pressure of the sales techniques. You can broaden the search pattern and check models you might not have done while doing business at a dealer’s place.

You should have the satisfaction of buying a car that fits into the lifestyle. The budget part marks an ideal beginning to drive the car home. It’s only a beginning, and you should look towards the future to have happy times together.