Why you don’t want to wait until January to pick up a new or used car

If you’re considering buying or leasing a new car, you could save some dough by shopping before the year ends.

Year-end sales events for 2023 models could have generous discounts and incentives, according to edmunds.com, an auto industry site owned by used-car retailer CarMax.

Dealerships have sales goals, and the one for December is particularly important.

“We want to end (the year) the right way,” said Zachary Trussell, sales manager at McGrath Arlington Kia in Palatine.

Retailers also want to get rid of new, prior-year cars that haven’t sold in December, and discounts could be substantial for someone who doesn’t mind picking up a car that doesn’t have the latest features or styling, Trussell said.

“Sometimes it’s worth getting a (2023 model) when the ‘24 is out,” he said. “It’s still a new car.”

New Year’s Eve and Christmas Eve are especially good days to go shopping, according to marketwatch.com, a financial industry website owned by Dow Jones & Co.

Trussell said his dealership increases staffing on those days. “We get a lot of traffic,” he said.

The microchip shortage that began during the COVID-19 crisis and other pandemic-related issues continue to reduce available new-car inventory, according to cars.com. As anyone who’s taken an introductory economics course knows, reduced supply combined with strong demand means higher prices for new cars — so would-be buyers might want to consider used cars.

As with new cars, before the end of the year is a better time to buy used, edmunds.com advises.

Car purchases peak in fall and early winter, so more trade-ins are being added to dealers’ inventories during those months. That means more used cars are available now at potentially better prices.

Additionally, because customer demand for used cars has been high, dealerships are paying “top dollar” for them when they’re traded in as part of purchases, Trussell said.