Often people frame a timeline to buy a new or used car. However, it varies upon the existing savings, desired vehicle, most discounted periods in the automobile industry, etc. Therefore, finding the ideal time to buy a car becomes challenging.
A 100% guaranteed car finance can help to bring home a vehicle almost instantly. However, buying before uncertain discounts can lead to a few thousand pounds, especially with cars.
Similarly, suggesting buying a vehicle on occasions like Black Friday, Christmas, New Year, etc., doesn’t seem like an ideal answer. Although manufacturers often offer heavy discounts because they are either planning to bring a new car model or replace it entirely.
5 of the Best Car Buying Times
● Launch of a New Registration Plate
Most car manufacturers offer the best price deals on cars almost two months before launching the new registration plate. The discounts might even end right before the launch. Similarly, the golden period of buying used cars is often at the end of the year.
Dealers often provide the best used car deals during the year-end because they want to achieve their targets. A few might even sell it at a loss to gain a bonus from the company. Moreover, most new registration discounts happen in March and September.
The duration for the new registration discounts referred to as motor trade clock. According to a source, two-fifths of manufactured vehicles get sold during these months. During this tenure, dealers offer additional equipment, insurance, free finance, generous deposits, etc.
All these factors help to reduce the finance payment for the buyer. Besides this, any updates about the models also arrive during these months.
● Quarter End
New car buyers can even avail heavy discounts at the end of a quarter. Unfortunately, they may not come with the same benefits as during the new registration period. However, dealers might provide reasonably reasonable prices because they want to achieve their quarter-end targets.
The four-month during which new car buyers can avail generous discounts include March, June, September, and December. Additionally, dealers might even offer the best deals on the car during the last month of the year.
As mentioned earlier, dealers want to achieve their annual targets, and therefore the last quarter month becomes an ideal sales time. However, we would advise you to avoid going for the deals offered during the first week of the quarter. It is best to wait until the third or the last quarter week.
● Announcement of a Replacement Model
Often stock dealers have registrations from people interested in different car models. However, the manufacturer might decide to bring a new version of the vehicle into the market for various reasons.
The announcement of a replacement model is an ideal time just like the new registration and quarter-end period. Dealerships offer heavy discounts or suggest to people registered on their list. These also include buyers that have previous bought a vehicle from the same dealership.
However, it is the best time for purchasing a new vehicle for people not interested in the upcoming model or its updates. Some people prefer the existing vehicle design, features, and offers compared to the replacement cars.
Also, the dealership staff finds it a suitable time to boost sales, over-achieving targets, and receive higher bonuses, or promotions. Therefore, they become even more willing to provide the best deals compared to other dealers and manufacturers.
● Midweek
Staff at dealerships faces higher crowds beginning from the weekend to the midweek. Therefore, they might not bring a lower price or variables to the table. Besides this, the staff might not have the capacity to provide attentive service.
At times, the sales staff might offer the best available deals through the pre-defined car financing schemes and a brochure. The crowd makes it difficult to converse regarding the best financing options for the sales staff.
However, during the midweek, all dealership staff, especially the sales team tries to provide the best offers available in the market. It is much less hectic and crowded time for the recruits and managers.
Therefore, the staff can understand the maximum monthly repayment capacity, offer the lowest interest rates, provide additional accessories, etc. As a result, even if the car costs slightly higher, it yields much more benefits.
● Pre-registration Tenure
Unavailable of new car buyers might make dealers go for pre-registration. It means they might have cars registered to their name for almost three months. Post this period; dealers often provide huge discounts on unsold vehicles.
According to a source, pre-registered cars come at a fifteen per cent discount compared to new ones. However, financing such vehicles doesn’t provide any relief on the monthly repayments even at the discounted price.
Moreover, finding open pre-registrations for a preferred model becomes more comfortable if there is any market news regarding replacement or facelifts. Additionally, dealers may even provide better discounts on test models.
The dealers often take demonstration cars on test drives and cover a few miles on such models. Buyers should know that such vehicles often have more miles covered compared to pre-registered cars.
As a result, demonstration cars differ from pre-registered vehicles. They may have a lower quality compared to the latter. So, such vehicles may not have a six months guarantee.
Lisa Ann has developed a well-experienced professional career. From managing the staff of more than 50+ loan experts at Fastmoneyfinance to boosting the delivery of various loan offers, she has acquired many challenging roles to come out with the best results for the company. Lisa Ann is a Senior Content Author and the Chief Financial Advisor at Fastmoneyfinance. To back her massive experience in the UK’s financial industry, she has the postgraduate degree and diploma in Business and Finance.