When to Contact Used Car Dealers

When to Contact Used Car Dealers?

If you want to buy a used car and want to get the most bang for your buck, you really need all the tips and advice you can get. Most people don’t realize that car dealers are actually competing with each other to get clients. The offer of used cars is huge. Just in 2018, almost 40 million pre-owned cars were sold in the United States. Used car dealers are making money, but only if they manage to sell their cars. This is precisely why you see so many offers and deals. If dealerships don’t sell their cars, they disappear. It’s as simple as that. The good news is that you can take advantage of this.

Used Car Sales Are on the Rise

In the United States, the used car market is more than twice the size of the new vehicle market. And it is only getting bigger. More and more cars are being sold every year. New, online dealerships are competing with traditional brick and mortar car dealers. The world is changing and the price of used cars is slowly decreasing.

You probably already know why you want to buy a second hand car and not a new one. We want to reassure you that you really can save a lot of money. A new car loses around 40-50 percent of its value in just 4 years. You can get a pretty nice car with a relatively low mileage for under $10,000. You can easily drive it 4 more years without having to worry about engine problems. Yes, modern cars are pretty reliable.

Used Cars Dealers Have Competitors

There are probably a dozen used cars dealers in your area. Each has a few dozen cars (if not more) in stock. You have a lot of cars to choose from. The problem for dealers is that the offer of used cars is much higher than the demand. They are competing with each other to sell cars. This is precisely why you can save some money. If you know the best time to negotiate a pre-owned car and you have some basic research and negotiating skills, you can save around 10% of the price – sometimes even more.

Best Time to Buy a Used Car

Most of the time, people choose to buy a car in the summer months. It’s warm outside and it’s a real pleasure to visit a couple of used cars dealers. If you are looking for a convertible, you should avoid doing so in the spring or in the summer (the demand is higher and the prices are higher as a result). If you need to buy a four-wheel-drive vehicle, shop around in the summer when demand is not high.

December and January are the two best months to buy used cars, in our opinion. Most people don’t think about buying a vehicle this time of year and sales are very slow for used car dealers. Remember that salespeople need to meet their weekly and monthly quotas. They will be more willing to negotiate a lower price with you just to sell another vehicle and meet their quotas.

Also, it’s worth noting that most car dealers sell the most new cars in March and September. Many of these are part-exchange deals, so dealers have a lot of used cars to sell as well. Salespeople will most likely be more than happy to negotiate with you just to sell another car.

How Much Can You Expect to Save?

The amount of money you can save depends on many factors. First, it depends on the price of the car. If you are looking to spend $20,000 on a decent used car with relatively few miles on the clock, you can save around 10 to 15 percent. This means you can save anywhere from $2000 to $3000. Also, it depends on the dealer. Some dealers will simply not negotiate more than 10% of the price.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Certified Pre-Owned vehicles are not easy to negotiate. These cars have been inspected and in many cases refurbished. They are late-model and have been driven less than 40,000 miles in most cases. In other words, the dealer would lose money if its salespeople would sell these cars with a 15% discount. However, you should also keep in mind that CPO cars come with a warranty that protects you from unforeseen problems for up to two years.