When to buy your new car

Working out when to buy your new car can be one of those grey areas. Does it really matter? Or do you start shopping as soon as you’ve made the decision it’s time to buy.

In the car-market, there are predictable, seasonal sales; lifecycle events for individual car models; and then there are other opportunities driven by the state of the economy.

The end of the financial year 

EOFY sales are huge in the car industry with June the biggest month for car sales. Car buyers can take advantage of dealers wanting to clear the showroom floor and push their profits over the line by 30 June.

February and March

February and sometimes even March is when last year’s models start to feel ‘old’.  The end of the calendar year leads buyers to think cars that were considered shiny and new just two months before are now officially ‘outdated’. By February there are newer models with the new years’ build plate, and people want them instead. That gives car buyers some leverage in negotiating a lower price or getting some upgrades thrown in.

Christmas and New Year

Similar to February and March, Christmas run out sales focus on moving current year models out of dealerships in time for the new-year models coming in. You can get some great deals and salespeople are usually pumped up, ready to sell everything. As a buyer, you can be doing your dealer a favour by taking stock of his hands that in the next few months won’t be as appealing.

Model updates

In the same way a car can be shiny and new in December but outdated by February, a superseded model can go from shiny and new on Monday to outdated and bargain-ready on Wednesday.

When the updated model arrives on the floor, even if there is no significant change between the two vehicles, the previous model takes a big hit. For the car shopper this is a perfect time to negotiate a deal. If you’re aware of the release cycles of models you like, you can use this to apply pressure when working out a price.

Basic economics

Finally, there are a couple of things that you don’t need an economics degree to work out.

• Supply versus demand – if supply is high and demand is low you are in a good place to talk discounts.
   
• Car sales down – when car sales are down in general because ‘x’ applied downward pressure ‘y’, but interest rates are low and salaries are high, dealers are going to run a sale to remind people they like buying cars. 
   
• When the Aussie dollar moves – when AUD values fluctuate from a good place to a bad place, and stay there, dealers will eventually push prices up to cover the increased cost of importing the vehicles. If the dollar is on its way down, move quickly.