Leverage the end of the month and end of a quarter when looking to buy a new car. New Year's Eve is another good day to get a deal. Monday is the best day of the week to purchase a vehicle. The best time to buy a used car is in the last quarter of the year, between October and December.
Dealers frequently have some of their best sales around holidays, though the dealership will likely be busy. The weekends where you'll most likely find heavily promoted deals include Memorial Day, Labor Day, Fourth of July and February's Presidents Day weekends. Of those, Memorial Day is one of the best times to buy.
If you're shopping for a used car, the early months of the year — January and February — are a good time to ship. You may see more vehicles on the market then as people sell their old vehicles after buying new ones over the holidays. That increased supply can lower prices, making it a good time to buy.
The best time to buy a car is when dealers are most motivated to hit big sales targets. That means you should shop during the end of the month, the end of the sales quarter, the end of the year, and holiday weekends like Black Friday. Weekdays, when dealers aren't getting as many customers, are also good.
Edmunds reports that December is the perfect time to get the best car prices because the last month of the year has the highest discounts and incentives. Tip for this tactic: Pay attention to sales when older models will likely go down in price.
Some of the worst months for buying used cars are late spring and early summer. Lang said May through August specifically are among the worst months for used-car shoppers looking for deals.
1. Mondays. Monday can be the best day of the week to buy a new car. Other potential shoppers are often at work, so representatives at car dealerships are focused on anyone who comes in the door.
A typical five-year-old vehicle costs way less in repairs than a ten-year-old car. While the average five-year-old vehicle is likely to suffer significant damage every 2-3 years, the average ten-year-old will most likely face considerable damage every 18-20 months.
Since January is the slowest month for sales, it is much slower for luxury cars to sell. Because of this, it may be more challenging for the most expensive ones to be taken out of your parking lot. To sell out the most expensive ones in your inventory, January is the best time to offer promotional deals to the buyers.
New and Used Cars
Auto sales traditionally drop to their lowest levels of the year from January through early March.
While it's a good idea to consider the age of a vehicle and the number on its odometer, it's more important to look at how well the owner maintained the car. A 10-year-old car with 100,000 miles may have received more TLC than a five-year-old model with 50,000 miles.
Statistically, according to consumer reports, Mazda is the most dependable car manufacturer, followed by Toyota, with the Corolla being the most dependable car. Honda's average reliability rating did not even place it in the top 10.
How long should you keep a car? A typical car is expected to last 200,000 miles or more, with electric or hybrid vehicles going up to 300,000 miles. If you drive the average number of miles for an American, a typical car should last you about 14 years and an electric car will last about 21 years.
October through December is a good time to buy a used car. These months coincide with the peak new-car buying season at the dealership, which means more trade-ins are entering the used car inventory.
The cheapest months to buy a car from the car dealerships specifically would be September and March. This is often the best time for used cars as many new plates tend to be introduced at this point.
A conventional car can last for 200,000 miles. Some well-maintained car models will reach 300,000 or more miles total. The average passenger car age is currently around 12 years in the United States. Choosing a well-built make and model can help extend your car's longevity.
Most people keep their car about six years before trading it in. Whether your car is paid off or not makes a difference because, if it's paid off, you will be able to take the value of the car off the purchase price of a new one. Calculate the monthly cost of your car, including fuel, insurance, and the repairs.
That number will be different for every vehicle, but, generally, after your vehicle's mileage has exceeded 200,000, it will start to break down and be unsafe to drive. If your vehicle has reached that point, you should upgrade.
What is the most dependable car brand? Here are the brand rankings based on the number of problems per 100 vehicles, according to J.D. Power's 2023 U.S. vehicle dependability study. The industry average is 186. The highest-ranking premium brand was Lexus, and Kia was the highest-ranking mass market brand.
The lifespan of a Mazda is up to 300,000 miles. Mazdas last a very long time. They can travel between 200,000 and 300,000 miles with proper maintenance before experiencing major issues. Several Mazdas have over 350,000 kilometers on them and are still in use.
Though there are some reported issues here and there, Mazdas are considered reliable. One of the main reasons is that costs are very low when it comes to repairs, and they don't come around often. They are affordable and, when put up against other cars of its price range, there are not nearly as many issues.
There's a general rule you'll want to stick to while looking at the mileage on a potential used car purchase. Lower is better. The average mileage a car accrues per year is 12,000 miles. Given that number, the average 10-year-old car should have roughly 120,000 miles on the odometer.
With that in mind, it's best to purchase a vehicle that's between one year old and five years old, and hits an average mileage of about 24,000. By the fourth or fifth year, the vehicle usually loses its warranty, which means that you could incur additional costs for repairs and maintenance.
To get an idea of what is considered a 'normal' mileage for a particular used car, you can divide the quoted mileage by the number of years on the road. If the result is higher than 7,500 this could be considered a high mileage car, and if the number is below, it's low mileage.
And then there's another period you could use to your advantage: the end of the quarter. Buying a car at the end of March, June, September, or December often leads to even better deals than buying at the end of the month, as dealerships are trying even harder to reach sales goals.