best time of year to buy a new car?

[Coldjensens]

We have found the best time of year is shortly after the new models come out. If you wait to long all they will have left of the prior year model is cars so loaded with options, they are ridiculously expensive. However if you buy too soon, dealers are not motivated to sell them. If you do not care about color or configuration and do not mind paying extra for a bunch of options you may not want, then wait until near the end of the year and the dealers really really want to get rid of the prior year left overs.

I do not worry about the small difference in price between say a 2013 model with 100 miles on it and a 2014 model with 100 miles on it. I am not going to sell it with 100 miles on it anyway. If you keep a car for five or ten years, the difference in year models is not significant as the difference in condition, mileage, options, etc. I never buy a car in order to sell it anyway. Otherwise I woudl buy nothing but automatic trnasissions, hate the car for ten years and then sell it and get an extra $500 becuase it is an automatic.

If you buy a car with selling soon it in mind, it makes zero sense to buy it brand new.

[Ag77845]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

We have found the best time of year is shortly after the new models come out. If you wait to long all they will have left of the prior year model is cars so loaded with options, they are ridiculously expensive. However if you buy too soon, dealers are not motivated to sell them. If you do not care about color or configuration and do not mind paying extra for a bunch of options you may not want, then wait until near the end of the year and the dealers really really want to get rid of the prior year left overs.

I do not worry about the small difference in price between say a 2013 model with 100 miles on it and a 2014 model with 100 miles on it. I am not going to sell it with 100 miles on it anyway. If you keep a car for five or ten years, the difference in year models is not significant as the difference in condition, mileage, options, etc. I never buy a car in order to sell it anyway. Otherwise I woudl buy nothing but automatic trnasissions, hate the car for ten years and then sell it and get an extra $500 becuase it is an automatic.

If you buy a car with selling soon it in mind, it makes zero sense to buy it brand new.

When will 2014 models come out? I'm going to buy a brand new Japanese car, but I can wait until...late July I guess. Hopefully 2013 cars will be cheaper then.

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by TrapperL

Right after Christmas is the best time to buy. Dealers are wanting to lower inventory so they aren't stuck with a lot of taxes on it. They can actually sell it at or a hair below cost and come out ahead from saved tax money.

This really isn't true for the most part. While many dealers use the "year end clearance/inventory reduction sale" as a promotional tactic, the truth is that the vast majority of dealers don't pay for the cars until they're sold. So while a dealership might have $1 million in inventory on the asset side, it will probably be offset by $1 million in accounts payable on the liability side for a net financial impact of zero.

The best time to buy in terms of lowest price is right before the second subsequent model year of the vehicle comes out. In other words a 2013 model that's still on the lot in the summer of 2014 right before the 2015 models start rolling in. By this time the manufacturer will have cut checks to the dealership for any dealer incentive rebates these cars had on them and might have even added additional kickbacks if there were an abundance of a particular model still in the pipeline. Plus the dealers will be motivated to move them to make room for new inventory.

The downside to this is that selection will be extremely limited, and the vehicles left will likely have a few miles on them due to numerous test drives and may show a little wear and tear from sitting outside for two years.