# When to buy a car? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 27, 2000, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-buy-a-car/47333 "2000-12-27T03:56:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-buy-a-car/47333/1 "2000-12-27T03:56:00Z")
I’ve always heard that one of the best times to buy a car is at the end of the month, when the salesmen may be pushing to meet (or beat) a sales quota. Now that I’ve starting looking for a new car, I went so far as to ask a car guy who agreed that salespeople might be trying to hit a month-end (and year-end) goal for a quota or a bonus. But now my dad is telling me I should wait until after New Year’s because the deals will be better _then_. What do you folks say? Anyone know anything that’ll support one view or the other? ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-buy-a-car/47333/2 "2000-12-27T04:50:31Z")
New cars will be a bit better after the new year but you would have to really wait more than just till 1-5-2001. Late modle used will not change much till Spring. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Oncle\_Biere\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oncle\_Biere\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oncle_Biere_1)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-buy-a-car/47333/3 "2000-12-30T22:16:46Z")
Listen to your dad. He will know the local situation (and it’s always different) better than strangers. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2000, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-buy-a-car/47333/4 "2000-12-31T00:00:38Z")
You could also wait until August. I’ve seen TONS of ads trying to dump the previous model year cars to make room for the upcoming year’s models at that time. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2000, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-buy-a-car/47333/5 "2000-12-31T00:17:28Z")
The time to buy is when the price is right & the money is there. Sure, you can wait until January but are you sure you’ll have the same financing options? Don’t you think that they are priced cheaper right now, Dec 30th, then they are going to be in Jan? Assuming they aren’t sold out then. Kinda late posting but hey, you can shop on Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2000, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-buy-a-car/47333/6 "2000-12-31T01:30:11Z")
Geez, Blue Sky, I wouldn’t be able to make it to August without a car. Anyway, I snapped one up already because they had 1.9% financing until December 30; the savings on the financing should be enough to weigh against any possible (but not definite) price cuts that occur in January.