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I was out of country for 3 years because of my job, and just got back in the states. I need to buy a new car and was wondering if I should be able to get the car registered and issued a new licence plate over the weekend in MA. Seems like MA doesn't have temporary tag. Also, I have no trade in to transfer the licence plate to a new car. Thanks in advance!
Most dealers have plates that they can issue to you just like the registry. When I sold cars we could do everything that was needed to get you rolling on a Saturday but Sunday had to wait until Monday.
The main stumbling block was if your insurance company was open so they could stamp the paper work.
Since it is Sunday morning now you might be out of luck in getting a plate but you can certainly shop for your new car and get it all buttoned up tomorrow during normal business hours.
Sort of slightly off topic, but I find you get WAY better pricing if you wait until the very end of the month. I bought a new car a couple of months ago and I had two dealerships literally fighting for my business because it was the last day of the month and they needed to make their quotas. If you're able to wait a week, it could potentially save you thousands.
Sort of slightly off topic, but I find you get WAY better pricing if you wait until the very end of the month. I bought a new car a couple of months ago and I had two dealerships literally fighting for my business because it was the last day of the month and they needed to make their quotas. If you're able to wait a week, it could potentially save you thousands.
But that's only if they need to make some goal. If they met their goal on the 20th, forget about it.
Sort of slightly off topic, but I find you get WAY better pricing if you wait until the very end of the month. I bought a new car a couple of months ago and I had two dealerships literally fighting for my business because it was the last day of the month and they needed to make their quotas. If you're able to wait a week, it could potentially save you thousands.
Maybe, maybe not. When I bought my truck, I tried to work a deal with a local dealer that was unwilling to negotiate more than about $3k off the sticker. It was around the 25th or so of the month. I walked and went to another dealer, found the exact same truck and saved about $5,000 more than the other dealer was offering. Big difference. I even called the salesman at the first dealer, saying I'd rather buy from them as they were closer. He never even returned my call, so I bought at the more distant dealership. Who knows, maybe he had met a quota, and dealer #2 hadn't?
And yeah, the dealer handled getting the plates and registration.
Thank you so much for all your comments. Well. I actually went to a dealer yesterday, and found the car I wanted. I already negotiated price of the car over the emails and decided to purchase. I filled out my application for the finance and called Geico for a new policy. Then, all of sudden the sales guy tells me I can't take the car because their business office is booked and it will take forever to get the paperwork faxed back to them from Geico. He told me since I also don't have a license plate to transfer, I should put down a deposit and come back to pick up the car on Monday. I am frustrated and just hope they don't pull something stupid to screw me over on Monday.
Based on what Cape Cod Todd said, they could have given me a car yesterday....so now I will have to decide if I should take my business elsewhere.
Sort of slightly off topic, but I find you get WAY better pricing if you wait until the very end of the month. I bought a new car a couple of months ago and I had two dealerships literally fighting for my business because it was the last day of the month and they needed to make their quotas. If you're able to wait a week, it could potentially save you thousands.
This is absolutely true. I bought the last weekend in March this year. I bought from a good friend who is a finance manager (not just a "guy I know"- but a really good friend) who suggested that if I come at the end of a slow month he would have the most flexibility in terms of pricing. In this case, I bought my new car for close to cost because it was more important to have the sale in the March books than it was to tack on a few extra $k for the month. It was a Sunday (Sunday is better than Saturday as weekends are far and away their busiest days and going on Sunday gives them a little more incentive to negotiate as the weekend is almost over). Obviously the caveat is that it has to be a slow month and you'll have to figure out a way to find out (most of the guys will tell you it's been a slow month and that they'll do anything to get the sale, but they'll also tell you that your choice of vehicle is flying off the lot and you need to act NOW), but as MikePRU said, the end of the month is the best time typically.
The logic is pretty simple. Salesmen are commission driven and dealers are bottom-line driven, so most of the time they're going to focus on squeezing you for all that you've got. But meeting quotas are important for dealerships (especially branded dealerships), and extremely important for salespeople (turnover is high and low sales can mean a quick end to a job). If a dealership hasn't met its target sales, they'll work harder to get you in one of their cars.
So if you can go next week, you may end up saving a bunch.
So if you can go next week, you may end up saving a bunch.
It can be true, but it isn't absolute. When I bought my truck earlier this year, I put a deposit down over the weekend much like the OP did, but ended up leading into a new month due to a transfer from Maine. When I came back the next week, they offered me two options: 1. The deal that I had agreed upon, or 2. The deal that I had agreed upon plus 0% financing due to incentives changing.
I picked option 2. Sometimes the end of the month means a much better deal due to quotas, sometimes that isn't the model they use, sometimes the incentives change.
Maybe, maybe not. When I bought my truck, I tried to work a deal with a local dealer that was unwilling to negotiate more than about $3k off the sticker. It was around the 25th or so of the month. I walked and went to another dealer, found the exact same truck and saved about $5,000 more than the other dealer was offering. Big difference. I even called the salesman at the first dealer, saying I'd rather buy from them as they were closer. He never even returned my call, so I bought at the more distant dealership. Who knows, maybe he had met a quota, and dealer #2 hadn't?
Some dealerships are definitely more motivated than others and which dealer that is will change from month-to-month. You absolutely have to put in some legwork to discover who that is the month you want to buy a car.
What I like to do is go in a week or two before the end of the month. Usually I go to a dealership that has a relationship with the Costco Car buying program. Being in the program (IMO) indicates a willingness to deal. Before I was a Costco member, I would go to a dealer that had a pricing relationship with a website like TrueCar or Edmunds. Then I go in and negotiate the best price and trade in value I can get. Then I walk and shop that deal to every dealer in the area to see who will either match or beat it. The ones who will beat it are the motivated dealers. If other dealers won't match or will only match then right away I know I've negotiated a good deal. I'll still wait for the end of the month to agree with anyone as inevitably one of the dealers will call and sweeten their deal a bit. This method has never failed to get me deals that other people say "Wow!" about who have the same car. The key is to find the two most motivated dealers and to play them off each other. Eventually one will raise the white flag and you have to decide which offer you like better. Sometimes I'll pay a little more to get the car that's closer to what I want, but the key to doing this is you have to take a car that's on the dealer's lot. You're not going to get the best deal on a car if the dealer has to trade to get it on the lot that costs them money (transportation) or if they have to order it from the factory.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wolfgang239
It can be true, but it isn't absolute. When I bought my truck earlier this year, I put a deposit down over the weekend much like the OP did, but ended up leading into a new month due to a transfer from Maine. When I came back the next week, they offered me two options: 1. The deal that I had agreed upon, or 2. The deal that I had agreed upon plus 0% financing due to incentives changing.
I picked option 2. Sometimes the end of the month means a much better deal due to quotas, sometimes that isn't the model they use, sometimes the incentives change.
Unless the car business is booming, if you look hard enough you can always find the dealer that needs to meet their numbers. I once had to drive up to Nashua to get a car but usually I can find one more local. I almost had to go to Warwick, RI this time but I was able to get a deal I liked better from a local dealer.
The end of the month only guarantees the best deal if you work hard enough to find it. Who knows what incentives the next month will bring. You can only do the best you can do now. The incentives could have just as easily have been worse the next month.
The end of the month only guarantees the best deal if you work hard enough to find it. Who knows what incentives the next month will bring. You can only do the best you can do now. The incentives could have just as easily have been worse the next month.
Agreed on all counts. My point was just that it isn't a guarantee, and that there are a lot more metrics to sales than just monthly quotas. A much more reliable method is to leverage offers against multiple dealers.
There is no “one size fits all” to any of this. Even comparing different manufacturers changes your buying strategy.
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