Not in the near future for but within a year or two, so just planning. Looking for a small economy car.
When do people reckon is the best time to shop for a new car to get the best price? Just after Christmas/New Year holidays when consumers have closed their wallets and dealers want to make some sales? End of financial year clearances? Just after new models come out and dealers want to clear off older models? Or some other time of year?
Thanks.
Actually the REAL best time is when the dealer knows he is not going to meet his targets, meeting targets will mean they will get extra rebates from the manufacturer on all their sales for that month. Theoretically they might even sell the last car below cost as this will given them more in bonuses than the loss they make on the car.
Now they do fairly sophisticated tracking during the month. Looking at trends so if they are behind target they will give out deals during the month rather than wait until the last few days, so the game has changed.
One way to enhance your deal, is after getting what you see as the "best" price, is to then say. Now can you give me more if I delay the sale until next month. The dealer then may do this as they are on target this month and would like to "bank" the deal for the next month.
Now sometimes at near the end of the month they do this themselves. Like hey we dont have that colour in stock, we can get it from another dealer, it will take a few days - guess what it's the next month when they deliver it to you. You could try playing tough like, if I have to wait I want a better price, otherwise I will go to that other dealer, work out some good lines before negotiating with the dealer, based on various scenarios. Its like a chess game, but these guy's are chess masters. If you aren't practiced you wont last even the first moves. And each "move" saves you
Adding to Antman's comments on run-outs, really the better time for a run-out on last years model is maybe Feb/Mar as they haven't cleared the stock with run-out deal pricing, which is often subsidised by the manufacturer, so now they are getting more aggressive on pricing, than they do in January.
Good luck, and remember, all you can do is get a little better deal, most of us never "beat" the bastards
Pretty good tip guys, I'm looking at getting a car within the next 6 months. Still not sure whether to get a brand spanking new car or one that's still relatively new(<20000km). Have you guys got any tips in terms of satisfaction afterwards buying a brand new car as opposed to a relatively new used car?
If you don't mind a few dents there are some heavily discounted hail damaged cars going at the moment . Cars are a very badly depreciating asset . I picked up a 2007 Aurion for under $11000 drive away from auction recently with only mild hail damage .
I'm in Sydney =P I'm currently umming and ahhing over a Honda Civic VTI brand new, VTI-L demo/under 10 000kms, 09/10 model or a Civic Sport 08 model 20 000kms which will work out roughly between 20-25K depending which way I go
demo is not brand new!! its probably in worst condition than a used car. :)
Thats a load of crap..
@swimmingtoad: On his first point he is completely correct, a demo car is not "brand new".
His second point also has some truth to it. A demo car with similar km to a used car will, although negligible, have more wear and tear on it and a higher chance of repaired damage from test drives gone wrong, people smashing gutters while on the test drive etc etc etc.
How about explain why you think it's a load of crap ?
please ignore
Thanks for the useful tips AntMan76 and ozpete!
Now to find a way to spot the salespeople who have problems meeting their targets ;-)
wait till china enters
anyone see a pricing war coming up?
Yes the prices will fall no doubt , But car manufactures will probably cut even more corners to compete and after sales care will probably nose dive . Cars are cheap enough … the incredible depreciation cars have makes them cheap enough for everyone to afford .
They already did. It's called Great Wall.
http://www.greatwallmotors.com.au/
Obviously they are short of ideas for naming their cars.
Good thing is you can drive them to keep the rabbits out.
When you say 'new' do you mean brand new or just 'new' compared to your old one (i.e. it becomes 'your new car').
Anyway I was at the QLD Govt auction yards where they sell their 1 year old vehicles… the guy who works there says the best time to come back is in April.
Why's that? Is that when a lot of govt fleet deals end?
Not very long to have to wait till April now. :)
No I think the auction prices just depend on who goes there to buy and I think they're selling old cars all year round rather than in one big hit. He gave me the impression that there's just fewer people out looking for new cars in April. Perhaps some of that overlaps into May so there's no harm in going to auctions to see. The guy himself admitted buying one in October.
Unless I can get a Hilux SR5 or Triton GLX-R for $15,000 I aint interested lol
Thanks for the info though.
Has anyone heard a 'rule' imposed by manufacturers that dealerships cannot advertise brand new cars at discounted prices?
I went to a Honda dealership to get a competitive price for an Odyssey. Their price was about 2 grands higher than the brand new price advertised on carpoint.com.au. When I said this, the sales person said that it must be an ex-demo vehicle and brand new Honda vehicles are not allowed to be advertised at discounted prices according to a rule imposed by Honda.
Get his name and send a report to the ACCC, its against the law to restrict prices and frankly this would be a restriction of trade. Even nicer ask him for a copy of the memo, on pretext, that you want to buy but you need to show your wife, so she doesn't tell you that you overpaid.
Thanks Pete for the clarification.
I am thinking of going through a reverse auction site where dealships (supposedly) compete for the sale by bidding lower than the previous lowest bid. At the end day, buyer supposedly gets the lowest price that a dealership is willing to sell.
I would be glad if anyone can share their expererience.
What site is this? It would only be as good as the dealerships participating. What happens at the end of the auction do you have to buy at that price?
I'd do what OzPete suggested also as what he said is correct. A dealer can sell any car for whatever price they want.
@daydream: daydream,
http://www.betterdeal.com.au/Public/Default.aspx does it for a fee.
www.privatefleet.com.au does it free of charge and there is no obligation to buy at the end of the auction, even though the sales person tries hard to get a credit card deposit. Their process is not transparent.
Hope that helps :)