The Best Day to Buy A Car

I just read a report that was on Yahoo autos about the best day to buy a car. I have tried my best to paraphase it below.

When is the best day to buy a new car? Believe it or not, it is Labor Day weekend.

The director of vehicle valuation for Kelley Blue Book, says that Labor Day has traditionally been the best time to buy a car. That is because manufacturers offer great incentives on current-year models in order to make room on dealer lots for vehicles from the next model year, which traditionally start arriving this month. They want to clear out the old and bring in the new. The new models are typically more exciting and easier to get customers to come and see.

How do this year’s Labor Day’s deals compare with past ones?

Some auto industry experts have said that consumers will find some of the best Labor Day deals ever this holiday weekend thanks to a recovering auto industry, Mr. Flores from Kelley Blue Book said he didn’t believe deals would be any better over all than last year. The reason, he said, is that manufacturers have worked in recent years to cut back their inventories so there isn’t as much excess of 2010 vehicles. Still, this doesn’t mean the deals this year won’t be generous.

“The assumption is that this year is somehow a special year,” Mr. Flores said. “While that’s not the case, it’s still a great time to purchase a vehicle.”

He pointed to “some very competitive programs” this holiday, including nearly 0 percent interest rates with 48- to 60-month financing terms, and $3,000 to $5,000 cash rebates on some vehicles. This compares with typical offers earlier this year of 24- to 36-month financing terms and $500 cash back, he said.

The financing deals are more generous this Labor Day weekend, he said, thanks to today’s low interest rate environment, but you could have received more cash back last year. He estimated that the average cash rebate this weekend would be $1,500, down from $2,500 on average last year at the same time. (The exact rebates vary, depending on the type of vehicle.) But according to Kelley Blue Book, cash incentives this Labor Day have increased on a year-over-year basis for some vehicles: midsize cars, full-size cars, full-size crossover utility vehicles, sports cars and vans.

If you choose one of this year’s Labor Day deals and buy a 2010 model, you should keep in mind that you are buying a year-old vehicle and are thus taking on that additional depreciation. For that reason, Mr. Flores said, you may only want to buy a 2010 model now if you are planning to keep the vehicle for a long time.

And if you can’t make it to the dealership this weekend, Mr. Flores recommended trying to buy a car at the end of a month, in general. That’s traditionally when dealers are trying to hit certain volume targets to receive manufacturer incentives, he said. Weekends, he said, are also typically better times to buy than weekdays since dealers have certain sales targets they want to hit on traditionally busy weekends, so they may be more willing to offer deals.

“Invoice and MSRP are completely irrelevant,” says Scott Painter, founder and CEO of truecar.com. “Some cars sell well above MSRP, some cars sell well below invoice. And the dirty secret in the car business, and where the frustration comes from, is we all have a sense that there are hidden layers of profit in auto retail. The reality is that there are about 13 of them.”

Some Quick Tips:

• One factor that helps consumers get a deal on the car of their dreams has to do with popularity. When a particular luxury model isn’t super hot on the market, dealers have much more wiggle room in order to cut a deal.

• If you do plan to bargain for a new car, there are a few things to keep in mind. The most important: Don’t assume that the sticker price is the set price. It’s not.

• The most important thing to do before buying is to research a vehicle before you hit the dealership. Know your transaction prices, invoice prices and potential fees, and then negotiate from that spot–not the other way around.

“If somebody comes in and starts trying to negotiate down from MSRP, well that’s the dealer’s dream,”

What should you do?

Find the easiest cars to bargin for here

Here is a list from Yahoo and Forbes on some of the cars that were deemed “worst ” from a compilation of lists.

To determine the list of the worst-made cars on the road, they started with the lowest-rated vehicles from four reliability and performance studies conducted this year.

Those studies are all from Consumer Reports:

1)The Most Reliable Cars Report

2) Best and Worst Values Report

3) Best and Worst Safety Performance Survey

4) and the CR overall scores for 2010 vehicles.

The biggest surprise on the list, given recent automotive news: It includes no Toyota made vehicles. In fact, Toyota reported a 40.7% gain in sales last month over March 2009.

Read the whole article HERE

Subaru, Hyundai and Kia Win Big
Who were the winners and losers in the auto sales race last year? It’s easy to list the winners, because it’s such a short list.Only three brands posted sales gains in 2009 — Subaru led all automakers with a 15.4% gain while Hyundai increased sales 9.8% and Kia 8.3%.

Chrysler LLC sales plunged 36% in 2009 and General Motors Co. watched its sales drop 29.9%. Ford Motor Co.’s 2009 declined a more modest 14.7% but its December numbers jumped 23.9% more than December 08.

Neither Chrysler or GM sales posted increases in December, although their sales declines were a less painful 10.3% and 12.4% respectively.

Toyota’s December’s numbers increased 22.9% despite its 2009 overall sales dropping 20%.

Honda’s sales decreased 19.5% in 2009. Nissan posted similar declines at 19.1%. Both automakers improved sales in December — 15.6% for Honda and 9.7% for Nissan.

Getting a good price depends on how much research you do and how effectively you negotiate. Car shoppers should start by researching the fair market value of a car they’re interested in at sites like Vehix.com, Yahoo! Autos, or KBB.com, U.S. News’s car-ranking site, Edmunds.com , or Intellichoice.com, then try to push the dealer below that price.

If you are selling a Used Car, get a Free VIN Check HERE