Is there a good time of year to buy a car?

WindfallWendy

So I need to replace my bucket on wheels, and obviously want a good deal. With the new registration coming up next month, would waiting be a good idea? 

I guess it all depends on dealership targets ultimately, but does anyone know anything about them? 

I'm guessing the answer is that it doesn't really matter, but any advice would be very much appreciated!!!

Frozen_up_north

I think it has more to do with main dealers needing to move stock, rather than any particular time of year.
I’ve had a dealer phone me offering to buy back our 2 year old car for the price we paid! The problem was he needed to sell an estate car that would have needed us to spend £5000 to change. We didn’t need or want an estate either. Still it was an interesting offer.
There are a lot of “smoke and mirrors” involved in buying a car from a dealer, it helps to be in no hurry and to keep your hands in your pockets.

motorguy

WindfallWendy said:

So I need to replace my bucket on wheels, and obviously want a good deal. With the new registration coming up next month, would waiting be a good idea? 

I guess it all depends on dealership targets ultimately, but does anyone know anything about them? 

I'm guessing the answer is that it doesn't really matter, but any advice would be very much appreciated!!!

There tends to be some price variances such as convertibles tend to be a bit cheaper going in to winter time and SUVs tend to be a bit cheaper going in to summer time but over and above that its very hard to predict when a dealer will price drop a particular car.

Personally, what i do is go on to autotrader and plug in the specific details of the car i want - make, model, trim, colours i'm happy with, max miles, engine size, year, number of doors etc, then sort by price (you can save searches too).  You should then fairly quickly see if a car is "cheap" or not.

If buying used and outside of manufacturers warranty then it might be best to ensure you're buying it local enough that you can take it back if it needs any warranty work, but new, nearly new and under manufacturers warranty it doesnt matter where you buy as your local franchised dealer can do the work.

Its easier to find the right car at the right price, than find the right car at the wrong price, then try to haggle the dealer down.  Its better to get £200 off a £20,000 car than £2,000 off the same car at another dealers for £22,000.

MikeJXE

If you are buying new then the time for a drop in price is when a new model/upgrade is coming out 

Newbie_John

When you not desperate to buy

Then you can wait for a better deal, haggle stronger etc.

Also when your insurance / road tax expires (if you pay yearly) as refunds come with fees and you'll save on them.

400ixl

When the right car for you is available would be the most obvious answer. No point in saving a few quid on a car that doesn't have the features you want. You will soon forget the small savings, but not the lack of a feature you want.

Main dealer tend to have quotas they have to meet for new / pre-registered cars. Trade ins mainly go to auction unless they fit the approved used scheme for that dealer so not so much of a saving there, but like the new car sales team, the used car team have quotas as well, but these can be monthly as much as quarterly.

So towards the end of the month or quarter depending on new / nearly new or used.

paul_c123

Not really, at least not that you yourself can predict. There's variations through the year and over long-term but these are mainly controlled by supply and demand issues. For example, currently prices are very strong on 4-5 year old cars, because the Covid pandemic meant new car production went down a lot (while demand didn't). And more recently, its been a very strong December for the trade (Dec is normally the quietest month), which has meant auction prices have risen for fresh stock, which means dealers are undoubtedly going to try and pass this on.

The best time to buy a car, if you have one to sell, is just before some major expense on that car. You yourself know your car better than anyone else, you must know its due some repair soon. If you leave it too late and there's ANY signs of its imminent repair needed, its value will plummet too. So, you need to sell it just before.

But if buying without trading in, you'll never know the right time.

WindfallWendy

Newbie_John said:

When you not desperate to buy

Then you can wait for a better deal, haggle stronger etc.

Also when your insurance / road tax expires (if you pay yearly) as refunds come with fees and you'll save on them.

Oo, this is awesome thank you! My problem is I get excited. I saw two today and have already named them (Tony and Tootles). I'm not particularly desperate to buy, but the more I drive my own car, the more I'd like to not have to 😄

Albermarle

MikeJXE said:

If you are buying new then the time for a drop in price is when a new model/upgrade is coming out 

I would agree that is a good time to get a good deal, but if it is clearly a bit of an outdated model when you buy it, then it will have to have a pretty low price when you resell it a few years later, when it looks more outdated.

I had a good experience buying a model that was not outdated,  but of a type that has fallen out of favour ( an estate) and the dealer was keen to move on an ex demo .

NBLondon

Albermarle said:

I would agree that is a good time to get a good deal, but if it is clearly a bit of an outdated model when you buy it, then it will have to have a pretty low price when you resell it a few years later, when it looks more outdated.

But if you intend to keep it more than a few years, that won't matter so much.

force_ten1

lf you want to buy an EV outright rather than lease or PCP there are some good deals about at the moment with lots of delivery mileage cars with up to 50% off list 

some of the cars that were pre registered to meet the ZEV mandate target are filtering through to the dealers lots 

there are lots of Corsa E delivery miles with fifteen grand off list out there. not the car for everybody but if you want an EV for around town it may fit the bill