Best time of year to purchase from dealer?

maggots_123

Hi, when is traditionally the best time for approaching a main dealer and buying a car off the forecourt? Is it the end of the month, end of the quarter, end of the year?? Is it worth waiting, could I expect a decent discount?

pandabat

You might pick up a good deal on a pre-reg at the end of Q1 depending on how many the dealer is lumbered with. Sometimes if a model changeover is happening and you're happy with the old model then there could be deals to be had if that older inventory needs clearing. I imagine margins are pretty damn tight for dealers now though with the arse having fallen out of the market. This could be bad as they may have little scope to lose much money on a deal or it could be good because there may be stuff that they're desperate to shift. YMMV

bazz26

I don't think there is any written rule or previous trend to go by with this year due to Covid-19. Budget announcements on Tuesday throws things up in the air a bit too in an already unpredictable year. If your buying brand new and willing to buy now from stock then you might get a good deal but I cannot imagine many buying brand new now this late into 2020. Used cars sales are brisk by all accounts as is importing despite Covid.

Heres Johnny

I got 2k off sticker price on the 18th December 2018! I felt great about myself for about 13 days until I realised car had a very quick birthday

Honest answer is there is no best time but if I was really looking for best price I could get I would be hovering around sellers towards the end of each quarter but you really dont know each dealers sales strategy to take advantage of their needs to shift metal at any given time.

MarkN

If buying new, last week in March, no doubt about it.

Idbatterim

Heres Johnny wrote: »

I got 2k off sticker price on the 18th December 2018! I felt great about myself for about 13 days until I realised car had a very quick birthday

Honest answer is there is no best time but if I was really looking for best price I could get I would be hovering around sellers towards the end of each quarter but you really dont know each dealers sales strategy to take advantage of their needs to shift metal at any given time.

On a new car, unless it was like a 14k purchase, id happily pay the ectra 2k. Nowhere near a big enough discount imo, unless its a very cheap new car!

Heres Johnny

Idbatterim wrote: »

On a new car, unless it was like a 14k purchase, id happily pay the ectra 2k. Nowhere near a big enough discount imo, unless its a very cheap new car!

Should have said it was used car, sorry. It was a 2014 A6 so probably evened out really.