Overhaulin'

When is the best time of the year to start shopping for a new car? How can I deal with those aggressive sales

man?

Public Comments

1. Fall time when they are trying to get rid of the previous Years models to make room for the new Year Model
2. Fall
3. These days there is no one right time since new models come out all year long. Technically the best time, if you are really serious, is near the end of the month when they may be trying to get a monthly quota in. The best way to deal with an overly aggressive sales person is to try to do as much of your homework on the car you want ahead of time. Visit a lot of web sites, get the details on the car and the options you want, spend some time getting to know the car before you get there so they can't catch you off guard with the details. Try to know what your price points are ahead of time so they can't push you into a car you don't really need. It is also good to let them know when you are serious and ready to make a move but it never hurts to ask for a better price. Try to have some fun with the negotiations without it getting too frustrating.
4. Do your homework on the internet - A lot of advice out there for teaching you how haggle a price for a car and dealing with car dealers - also do lots of research on the car you want to determine what is a fair price.
5. I agree with LongBen
6. Well, if you were in Maryland, it should have been Yesterday before the Devil, martin O'Malley decided to raise the taxes on everything he sees. But anyway, it should be right around now or in the next couple of months. Dealers are trying to get rid of their 2007 and prepare for the 2008's to come in.
7. OH crap!!! I have only 3 days left to get a good deal! Don't buy the hype.... But sales managers track the numbers monthly, and if the numbers are low at the end of the month (you have no way of knowing this) Mr, agressive vampire sales manager will make deals happen so he can keep his job and/or take is fat bonus to the bank. This doesn't necessarily mean good deals. This is where all your research comes in. Having dealt with both the agressive and "good Buddie" salesman, and the rest....the thing I keep in mind is that this guy, or gal, is human being with a wife and kids , or at least a dog, and i will respect him as much as he respects me. I know he's doing his job...if i like the way he does his job, the chances are way better for us to do a deal. If he crosses the line, i'll tell him so. Maybe i will tell him the best way to sell me a car....if he can't keep his fat buffet eating face on his side of selling etiquette, I'm walking and he can explain to the vampire why he blew tha sale.
8. End of month is a great time to BUY your new car, but it is NOT the best time to make your first dealership visit. Salesmen do try harder to make sales at the end of the month, which is about the last five days of the calendar month. In addition to the end of the month, there are better and worse times of the year to buy. Best time of the year to buy is the end of December, in most dealerships. Dealerships try to make specific quotas for end of month AND end of calendar year, and it is not a popular time to buy, so sales can slump seriously and they will try harder to make a sale, which means a better bargain. If you shy away from buying in the winter because of bad weather, think again: bad weather is when you WANT to be in the car, testing it’s foul weather capabilities. Other good times of year to buy are end of August and end of September because the old models are taking up space on the dealership property, and they want to make room for the new models to come in. If your heart is not set on a brand new model, this is an excellent time to buy a perfectly good new car that happens to have been manufactured a few months earlier. There is a very important BUT to this end of month advice: Do NOT make your very first visit to the dealership at the end of the month. Go to the dealership at the beginning or middle of the month, test drive the cars, get some info, then go home and give yourself two to three weeks to get the best financing. THEN go back at month's end armed with full information and a buying plan. Give yourself a day or two extra in case the first dealership doesn't work out and you need to go to another one. This is a big purchase, don't try to do it all in an afternoon!
9. Usually after Thanksgiving and before New Years Day, the major car dealerships will offer the best buys and you will probably get a better interest rate if you go through your bank/savings & loan institution than if you financed through the car dealership.
10. I used to sell cars and it's a myth that there is a better or worse time. Because when you see those big BLOWOUT sales they are always for "leftover" vehicles. They are called "old age" units and they have usually been on the lot 6 months or more, have miles on them from test drives or lot use, and are usually scratched or dirty. Not necessarily, but there is usually a reason why a car doesn't sell. If you don't want to deal with aggressive sales people (and believe me I've known some of the worst) then getting pre-approved is a great way to go. There are 2 types of pre-approval. One way is to get pre-approved and then recommended to a dealership near you where you'll work with an internet manager. Much easier, much less stress. The other way is to get pre-approved and be sent a "blank check" for a new vehicle. Then you visit the dealerships and find the right vehicle for you. Finally, the best way to deal with the dealerships is to know their tricks ahead of time. If you visit my site here: http://www.1-800badcredit.com you can sign up for my newsletter that will teach you all the tricks they use to confuse you and what to do to turn the tables on them. I won't email you anything more than the newsletters so don't worry. We don't put people on "mailing lists." I also have some good lenders if you want to try for pre-approval. Although my site is geared for bad credit, every lender deals with both good and bad credit alike. Good luck to you!
11. either at the end of the year and buy last years left overs or this years closeouts and always during the rainy season or snow season. Less people are out buying then and the salespeople need to make deals and are more willing to deal as a result.
12. You should first test drive , do research on the car you want. Then once that's settled you can contact Dealerships via the Internet, to get your best price. Once that's all done go to the one that gave you the best price or if you have a dealership that has some kind of Owner Loyalty Program ex. free oil changes you could take the best price to them and see if they will beat it by a couple of hundred dollars. And as always edmunds.com has invoice pricing on their website, but make sure you build your vehicle with the correct equipment to get the accurate price; now the dealerships invoice will be a couple hundred dollars higher due to the dealer holdback. But this should let you get a good deal with not much stress.