Buying now versus waiting until Jan?

bombaybuggs

I'm looking to change from my beat up 96 polo. I have a budget of around 15k-17k. I've been looking at Mercedes CLK from 2000-2001. My question is should I wait until Jan to buy as the car will be one year older in three months time, or will that make any difference to the price? At the moment a 2001 is roughly 3k dearer than a 2000. Will I be able to get a 2001 in Jan/Feb for the same money as a 2000 is now?

Also any opinions on the CLK200. Is it a good car? Is it as good as I think it looks?

cantdecide

I'm open to correction on this but I think we're effectively on 2008 prices now. In other words, I think there's no big price drop on new years eve.

Evil_Clown

I'm not sure if it happens everywhere, but when I bought my car I waited till the end of january and the garages were full of trade ins that they wanted to get rid asap
Was able to get a very good cash deal on a second hand car, so that may be a reason for waiting

R.O.R

Dealers would still try to get 07 money from you at this stage of the year. As you are in something which isn't going to depreciate any further between now and Jan - I'd be waiting until January.

As Evil Clown said, there might even be a better choice of motors and that would drive prices down.

Cyrus

bombaybuggs wrote: »

I'm looking to change from my beat up 96 polo. I have a budget of around 15k-17k. I've been looking at Mercedes CLK from 2000-2001. My question is should I wait until Jan to buy as the car will be one year older in three months time, or will that make any difference to the price? At the moment a 2001 is roughly 3k dearer than a 2000. Will I be able to get a 2001 in Jan/Feb for the same money as a 2000 is now?

Also any opinions on the CLK200. Is it a good car? Is it as good as I think it looks?

i personally wouldnt spend the money on the clk, an e46 3 series coupe is better built and a better drive

Anan1

Cyrus wrote: »

i personally wouldnt spend the money on the clk, an e46 3 series coupe is better built and a better drive

The E46 is a better drive (for the keen driver), but I wouldn't have thought that it's better built.

Churchy

Dealers tend to be more bullish in busy times , ie January , and hold out for higher prices.

If you can find the car you want at a quiet time , negotiate hard with dealer and play them off against each other. You may just get a bargain.

Cyrus

Anan1 wrote: »

The E46 is a better drive (for the keen driver), but I wouldn't have thought that it's better built.

than a modern merc

ive been in both (and owned an e46 coupe) to me the e46 was finished to a higher standard and felt a lot more solid to boot

Anan1

Cyrus wrote: »

than a modern merc

If we were talking about the current CLK, i'd be right with you. The old one is pretty well screwed together, though. I think it was based on the W202?

colm_mcm

cars will be traded in at 08 prices at this stage, but it's unlikely you'll find a CLK that's just been traded in. more likely to be one that's in stock for a few months at this stage. not many people trading in high end cars for new similarly high end new cars in October.

I'd say wait till Jan, your own car won't lose anything between now and then.

slogue

I asked 1 dealer and he said there would be no difference, another said about €700 difference on an 06 passat

alias no.9

It depends on what kind of garage you're buying from and if you're trading in the polo or getting rid of it privately. If you're buying from a non franchised dealer, i.e. one who doesn't sell new cars, which is likely given you're looking for a seven year old car, then late in the year is a very good time of year to go looking for a straight sale.
Most second hand buyers tend to hold off till after the next batch of trade ins come in the new year. This leaves things very slow for the non franchised dealer who obviously doesn't have an order book full of new cars, ready to go in january. A cash sale towards the end of year frees up capital for the non franchised dealer to go and pick up an extra trade in from a franchised dealer in early january, the kind of thing the rest of the used car buyers will be screaming out for in late january/ early february.