Here are two different viewpoints on ‘The best time to buy everything’, one from SmartMoney and the other from CNN Money. Some excerpts are below, see the articles for more.
Airline tickets
SmartMoney and CNN agree: Buy on a Wednesday, about 21 days (or just a couple of days earlier) before your flight. This is when airlines release their available seats for the upcoming weekend and the weekend after.
Televisions
SmartMoney: Six to 12 months after a particular model is launched.
CNN: While the blowout sales on electronics tend to cluster around the holidays, even cheaper deals on TVs can be found in the spring beginning in April, after the end of the fiscal year in Japan.
Cars
SmartMoney: Weekday mornings in September.
CNN: It’s still true that good deals can be found in late summer/early fall, when carmakers release new models and dealers want to get rid of last year’s leftovers. But a good price may also be wrangled at the end of every month, with dealers wanted to make quotas.
Other topics include Broadway tickets, baby clothes, clothing, video games, and toys.
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I bought my car in November. My mother bought the same exact car in February. Her payments were $20.00 less than mine.
The end of the month is a good time to buy. But you still need to do your homework to know which dealers will give you the best price at the end of the month and if you are getting a good deal. Bought my last two cars on the last day of the month. One in October ’95 and the other in February of ’99. Bought both of them new and then tend to keep them.
Yeah, all the books will tell you the best time to buy a house is in Winter time, even better, the last week of December (when no one is buying and seller is most desperate.) But most people still end up buying homes in summer.
I worked for dealerships for years (not in sales, as a detailer) and people always ask me when the best time to buy a car is, and are suprised by my detailed answer. I believe its the last tuesday in January, 5 minutes before the store closes and hope its raining. Tuesday because less people buy cars during the week (as stated), January because people are usually not in the spending mood right after the holidays, the last tuesday becasue they are trying to sell cars to make quotas (as stated). The 5 minutes before they close because while the sales person wants to go home too, the sales manager wont let a deal go, especially at the end of the month, but you’ll have the sales person more on your side since they want to get out of there also and will try to finish the deal quickly. While rain is annoying to a new car buyer, that fact is on the buyers side since most people feel the same way and will wait until a better day to buy…fewer sales on a rainy day=better deals.
while the time/day of when you buy a car does matter, the best advice i can give on buying a new car (or any for that matter) are two things:
#1 have a price and stick to it, no matter what. if you are decent at reading people, you should be able to tell right away if your price will eventually be accepted, though expect the show and dance of the dealer saying they cant do it, never given this price etc. pick a fair price and dont give an inch, other wise the dealer will try to take a mile and frustrate you even more. sticking with a fair price means they make money and you feel good about paying only what you wanted.
#2 buying a car is a several hour process at a minimum. deal with it and just reserve yourself to the fact that most of your night (or day) will be spent wheeling and dealing, signing, talking, negotiating. yes, its a pain in the ass, but if you can save a $1000 or more for 3 hours of your time, i dont know many people who wouldnt say its worth it. trying to get out of the dealership in 45 minutes not only wont happen, but you might end up giving up ground to save time, and to the dealership, if you give up a little ground here, then you might give up ground there and so on.
i’m certianly not an expert on the auto dealer world, but didnt get an inside view for several years and tose were some of my observations…hope they help a little bit
Best time to buy a car – when it’s 3 years old
Best time to buy a computer – next year (twice as much grunt for the same money)
Best time to buy Christmas Decorations – New Year’s sales
Ralph
Monthly payments don’t tell you much. How much was the total price difference between the cars?
I want a new TV for the house I just bought and moved into. But I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold out until April.