Looking for the Best Deals of the Year? Get Shopping!

“Now is the best time to buy a car!” It’s a marketing phrase that, oddly enough, car dealers tend to use throughout the year. It seems like it gets blasted over TV and radio waves on a daily basis. From a car dealer’s perspective, the best time to buy a car is always today. Consumers, though, may become numb to that message and write it off simply because they hear it so often. So when we write a blog that says now may be the best time to buy a car, we get that you may not pay too much attention.

But it’s true. If you’re in the market for a new car, now might be the best time of the year to buy.

There are many reasons why you might score a better deal on a new car right now than waiting for the new year, but they all boil down to one thing:

Demand.

Fewer people are buying new cars this year than last. That’s in spite of automakers’ best efforts to spur more sales by offering discounts. In fact, the average discount offered in November was $3,886, up 15 percent from November 2015.

So what do we get when we see a drop in demand and a rise in incentives?

Bargaining power!

That extra bargaining power comes on top of typical end-of-the-month and end-of-the-year pressure that dealers, and salespeople, face to sell more cars. To stack the odds even more in your favor, visit a dealership just before it closes. Salespeople, finance people, and managers may be eager to head home and might be willing to cut a better deal toward the end of the day to speed up the process.

Demand for new cars fluctuates and will almost certainly rise again as we approach warmer months. For now, though, prepare to get your best deal by researching the MSRP of the car you want, factoring in available rebates, then using your negotiating acumen to see just how low the dealer is willing to go.

Hurry, though, because it won’t be the best time to buy a car for long…

Will you buy a new car before the end of the year?

-tgriffith

Find Certified Pre-Owned Cars and Used Cars in your area at CarGurus.