Get access to the same vehicle valuation tool that dealers rely on. With Black Book, you’ll have insider data to accurately assess trade-in and purchase values—empowering you to negotiate the best possible deal.
Knowing when dealers are highly motivated to sell can help you plan your car purchase around the best deals. Our team of Car Coaches has decades of combined experience, and always keeps a pulse on the auto market. There was no debating the best times to buy a car. Let’s dive in.
Is there really a “best time to buy a car?”
There are plenty of myths and claims about when you can get the best prices on cars. Many of these include specific holidays as well as certain days of the month, specific days of the year, and even exact times of the day. Some of these myths are based on observable trends in the auto industry, so let’s dig into those that hold the most merit.
For starters, it’s commonly understood that Mondays are the slowest day of the week at dealerships. So, if you’re in the market for a car and want to gain the rapt attention of a salesperson looking to make a deal or to meet a quota, consider visiting a dealership at midday on a Monday.
Another quirky fact is that shopping during poor weather can be an excellent way to get a better deal. This is because poor weather conditions generally deter customers from walking around car lots, and employees are anxious to make a sale for the day or to meet their quotas.
The key word in all of this, though…is quotas.
At the End of the Month
Dealers are assigned sales goals for each month. That means both management and sales staff at dealerships are inclined to offer better deals as their deadline approaches. So, if you visit the dealership on the last business day of the month, it gives you a bit more leverage in the negotiations.
Traditionally, January and February are difficult months for dealers, depending, of course, on other aspects of the economy. This makes it even more likely that a dealer may offer better deals for buyers during this time span. It seems too simple to be true but imagine shopping on Monday at midday during a snowstorm at the end of February. Now, you could be hitting the sweet spot!
At the End of the Quarter
Dealers aren’t the only individuals setting targets. Automotive manufacturers establish end of quarter goals for dealers which means the end of each quarter presents buyers with an opportunity to save some money. As you might expect, these quarters typically end in March, June, September, and December.
The Overall Best Time to Buy: The End of the Year
The last few days of December represent the absolute best time to buy a car because automotive manufacturers, dealers, and sales staff are highly motivated to achieve year-end sales goals. This motivation to negotiate comes from the fact that dealers get year-end bonuses from manufacturers when annual sales quotas are met.
Using a savings of at least 5% as a worthwhile objective for a customer (which can amount to a savings of over $1,100), research shows that the following holidays have been identified as some of the best days to buy a car.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Veteran’s Day
Thanksgiving
Black Friday
Christmas Eve
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Day
It’s worth noting that the whole week from Christmas to New Year’s is the peak week for deals. In addition to being the holiday season, these days fall during the end-of-month, end-of-quarter, and end-of-year sales quota period for dealers, all of which can add up to great deals for car buyers.
Negotiating the Best Deal
Obviously, the best time to purchase a vehicle is when you don’t need one, but remember that your finest negotiating strategy, other than choosing the right day and best time to buy a car, is your willingness to walk away without one.
Furthermore, it’s ok to mention that you know about sales quotas set by manufacturers. It’s alright to ask how much closer the dealership wants to get to its monthly, quarterly, or annual sales goals. Tell the manager that for the right price you’re willing to help the dealership get closer to hitting those targets.
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CarEdge Coach is your path to 1:1, personalized help with your car deal.
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Simply want to chat with an expert? Try a CarEdge Consult anytime.
We’re here to help. Remember, learning how to negotiate will save big time!
Having bad credit, or no credit, and wanting to buy a car is not impossible. Depending on the rest of your financial situation, you can absolutely learn how to buy a car with no credit.
We’ll be focusing on the no credit or bad credit aspects of car buying in this article. For more comprehensive advice on car buying, please look over our in-depth case study that covers the general concepts involved in buying a car.
Are you ready to learn how to buy a car with no credit, or with bad credit? Let’s get started by really nailing down the definition of these terms.
What is “No Credit” and How to Buy a Car with No Credit
No credit means you have no credit history. You have no credit profile because you’ve never established any sort of credit history. As far as the banks and lenders are concerned, you don’t exist.
Yet, here you are, trying to buy a car. You definitely exist. What do you do?
You’ll need to save up and put a ton of cash down. You’ll also need to have all your paperwork in order, along with having plenty of quality references. Keep reading – we’re about to cover all of this in detail.
What is “Bad Credit” and How Does it Impact Buying a Car?
Whereas no credit means you simply don’t have a credit history, bad credit means you do have a credit history, and it’s not good.
Bad credit, which is officially known as subprime, is a credit score that’s between 500 and 600. If you’re below 500, that’s considered super subprime and would also fit within the ‘bad credit’ label.
Having bad credit indicates to any potential lenders that you have not handled past loan obligations well. You might have taken out an auto loan and failed to make payments, or you took out a few credit cards and let them go into collections.
Either way, now you’re in a situation where it’s hard for finance managers at dealerships to convince lenders to approve you for a loan.
If your credit score is over 500, you might be able to find a lender who will loan 90% of the value of the car. That leaves you to cover 10%. If your score is below 500, they might cover 75% of the car, leaving you with 25%.
This means that you should start saving because you’re going to be expected to put more money down than someone with a higher credit score.
It’s worth noting that you should avoid visiting multiple dealerships to get approved by a lender. Doing so can harm your credit score by stacking up hard inquiries. In theory, when shopping for a similar item (a car) over 30 days, it counts as one credit inquiry. However, it’s truly unclear how the credit bureaus interpret multiple inquiries for subprime candidates.. Avoid multiple dealerships if at all possible and work with one or two.
Be realistic about the cars you are looking at. A bad credit score will decrease your buying power substantially, even if you are putting a good amount of cash down. Consider buying a certified pre-owned vehicle to get the most value out of your buying power.
Lastly, be ready to have a higher APR than what’s being advertised. For people with a subprime credit score, the average rate for a new car is 12.15%, and for a used car it’s 16.78%.
How to Buy a Car with No Credit: Put A Lot of Cash Down
If you’re looking into how to buy a car with no credit, your first plan of action is to save up as much cash as possible. The more cash you’re able to put down, the better.
If you’re looking at a $10,000 car and you have $3,000 down, the finance manager has a great argument with the lender about why they should approve someone with no or bad credit: you don’t want to lose $3,000.
Conversely, if you have $300, the argument falls flat.
People who investigate how to buy a car with no credit often end up going to “buy here, pay here” car lots. Be warned, those types of places will require even more cash down than most dealerships. Essentially, the cash down amount that they require will cover their investment in the car. That way, if you stop paying the loan, at least they got out what they paid for the car.
Sidenote: If you’re going to work with a “buy here, pay here” lot, make sure they report your loan to credit bureaus.
Get Your Paperwork in Order
Before you even visit the dealership, get all your paperwork in order. Anyone wanting to know how to buy a car with no credit should know that you’re going to have to prove that you have a job and stable personal finances. You should prepare:
Several months of pay stubs that back up your income claim
Utility bills that show your address
Signed lease in your name, if renting
6-10 references, including names, addresses, and phone numbers of people who know you personally or professionally
All of this paperwork forms a well-rounded image of who you are, financially speaking. It helps lenders approve your request, even if you have no or bad credit.
Become a Member of Your Local Credit Union
Another way to go is to look for financing options outside of the dealership.
Joining a credit union is the best thing you can do if you’re looking at how to buy a car with no credit and want to look outside of the dealership for options. That’s because credit unions look at members with a more favorable eye than other lenders. You might be able to secure an auto loan with more favorable interest rates than if you went to the dealer, too.
Credit unions are easy to join. There are all types of credit unions, look for one in your area, and join up.
Can You Buy A Car with No or Bad Credit? Yes!
You’ve now learned that if you’re looking at how to buy a car with no credit, or bad credit, you still have options. Your lack of a credit profile, or your bad credit profile, doesn’t prevent you from owning a vehicle.
Save up for a large down payment, bring all your paperwork, and be ready to have a higher APR than advertised. You’ll be able to drive away from the lot happy.
Knowing how to sell your car for the most money possible has never been more important. In 2021 we’ve seen used car prices appreciate nearly 30%, which means the car (or truck, or SUV) in your driveway is worth way more than when you originally bought it. What a time to be alive!
If you decide that it’s time to sell your car, there are a few things we recommend you do to make the most money possible. Right now, with new car inventory at all-time lows, car dealers, consumers, and everyone in between will be interested in your used car for sale. To maximize your profits we have a few suggestions.
Let’s explore how you can sell your car and address some common questions, like “Should I get my car detailed before I sell it?” “Should I sell private party or to a dealer?” And, “How much is my car really worth?” Let’s dive in.
Sell Your Car to Carvana, Vroom, CarMax, or Shift
National online used car dealers like Carvana, Vroom, CarMax, and Shift have been growing in recent years. These companies are publicly traded and focused heavily on growth. Because of this, digital retailers are always purchasing more vehicles in order to continuously expand their inventory.
To sell your car for the highest price possible we recommend you start by getting free online quotes from these four major players. Their business models rely on them having vehicles to sell, and because of that they have made it very simple to sell them your car online. Getting a quote from Carvana takes less than five minutes and only requires your VIN and the current odometer reading.
Carvana, Vroom, CarMax, and Shift vary their prices by geographic region. We recommend you get quotes from each company to see who is offering the highest price right now. Each company wants a different “mix” of inventory and one of them will want your car the most.
From our experience, we’ve seen that Carvana and Vroom will typically pay the highest price for newer used vehicles. CarMax typically pays the most for older used vehicles. Shift occasionally tops them all.
Bear in mind that Vroom has recently been admonished by the Better Business Bureau, so if the quote you get from Carvana is within a few hundred dollars of your price from Vroom, you may simply want to go to Carvana.
Sell Your Car to Your Local Car Dealers
Car dealers are notoroius for “lowballing” your trade-in. Well, in today’s market you are the one in control, and we recommend you give your local dealers a chance to buy your car from you.
Car dealerships are rapidly running out of inventory, and with Carvana, Vroom, Shift, and CarMax spending a lot of money to buy cars directly from consumers, local car dealers know they need to pony up some serious cash to do the same.
We recommend that you contact all of your local dealerships and share with them the quotes you received from the online digital used car dealers. To sell your car for the most money possible, you need leverage, and with online cash quotes, you have that.
If a dealership is willing to beat the price quote you have, that’s great! Your next concern is likely “will they change the price when I come in and they inspect the vehicle?” To mitigate issues there, watch this video on how car dealers appraise cars, and make them aware of any issues in advance.
We have heard a few horror stories from the online used car dealers that they revise their prices lower once they have inspected a vehicle, so the best thing you can do with them, or with your local dealer is to pre-empt that by telling them about any damage or issues.
Sell Your Car to a Private Buyer
After going through the prior two steps, if you are willing to invest more time in the process you’ll likely be able to sell your car for the most money possible to a private buyer. Unlike selling to a dealership, selling to a private party takes a bit more work, however an interested private buyer will likely pay even more than the dealership, because they know that if they don’t buy it from you, they’ll have to buy it at a marked up price from the dealership.
What price should I list my vehicle at?
Thankfully, the work you did in the steps before (getting quotes from dealerships) will inform your asking price. We recommend you take the highest offer you received from one of the car dealers and add 10% on top of it. That is a fair listing price for a private party sale.
Why 10%? It’s simple:
The dealership is likely going to sell the vehicle for much more than 10% than what they are buying it from you for, so it’s a reasonable price for a private party to expect
When negotiating with a private party they’ll likely want to haggle, and with 10% of extra “profit” built in, you have some room left to negotiate and haggle
Where should I advertise my vehicle for sale?
Advertising a vehicle for sale right now has never been easier. There is A LOT of fraud on peer to peer websites, however. We recommend listing your vehicle on the classic websites: Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.
In this market you will likely be receiving many inquires immediately.
Should I detail my car before selling it?
If you’re selling your car to a private buyer we recommend you clean and detail it. If you are selling to a dealership there is no need to get the vehicle detailed, however it is a good idea to get the vehicle looking clean and like it has been well maintained.
CarFax Reports and Pre-Purchase Inspections
If you’re selling a vehicle to a private buyer do not be surprised if they ask to see a CarFax report and to get a pre-purchase inspection.
CarFax – All serious buyers will want to view a detailed vehicle history for the car. This helps them determine if your car is a good investment. Be sure to have this ready, whether you are contacting an online retailer, visiting a local dealer, or finding a private buyer. We recommend you pay for this and have it ready to share with prospective buyers.
Pre-Purchase Inspection – A serious prospective buyer will want to conduct a pre-purchase inspection. Be prepared for that and not surprised. We don’t recommend you preemptively get a pre-purchase inspection, because buyers will want their own mechanic to review the vehicle.
When considering how to sell your car, be prepared to accommodate a PPI and have a vehicle history ready for potential purchasers to review.
What Do I Need to Sell My Car?
Great, so you know how much your car is worth and you’re ready to sell it. You likely now wondering, “So what exactly do I need to sell my car?”
The following items will be useful in making your sales experience as smooth as possible:
A driver’s license or other official identification
The vehicle’s title
The vehicle’s registration
Ten-day loan payoff (if you have a loan on the vehicle)
All sets of keys for the vehicle (at least two)
All maintenance and vehicle service records
If you’re selling to a dealership your experience will be pretty simple … Arrive, sign off on a variety of paperwork that allows the dealership to handle motor vehicle paperwork on your behalf, get your check, and leave.
If you’re selling to a private party it will look a little different.
Here are a few pointers:
Never allow the potential buyer to test drive the vehicle by themself. Always accompany the potential buyer on the test drive and have your friend tag along as well.
Establish the test drive route prior to leaving and set the ground rules for how the vehicle is allowed to be driven. The driver must obey all traffic safety rules and stay within the posted speed limit at all times.
Once you have agreed to sell the vehicle, complete the transaction at your bank, credit union, motor vehicle agency or local police station to protect all parties from any issues. Be certain to make sure that buyer’s funds are indeed good prior to releasing any paperwork or keys to the vehicle.
Do not allow the buyer to drive off using your tags and registration.
Are there really “Black Friday car deals?” Each year it seems the Black Friday tradition has started earlier and earlier, with retailers having Black Friday promotions a week before Thanksgiving even happens. What happens this year amidst the global pandemic is anyone’s best guess.
That being said, automakers have tried for years to drum up sales during any holiday, and Black Friday is no exception. You don’t have to look too far to find automaker’s promoting their incentives and offers this holiday season.
This begs the question though, should you take one of these Black Friday car deals, or are you better off waiting until the end of the year to make your car purchase? 2020 is an atypical year for many reasons, and with new and used car prices swinging dramatically over the past few months, it is hard to say when prices will be best for car buyers.
Black Friday car deals vs. end of year car deals
When it comes to negotiating the best car deal possible, there are two major factors to consider; what manufacturer incentives are, and how likely the dealer is to negotiate on their inventory. If you’re thinking about getting a Black Friday car deal, then you need to understand how both are influenced at this time of year.
Manufacturer incentives
Within the automotive industry it is well known that end of year sales promotions are typically the strongest of the year. Why? Because most manufacturers are publicly traded companies, and they have to report their earnings quarterly to their shareholders. Even though a lot of manufacturers run on a “fiscal calendar” instead of the traditional calendar year, there is still a lot of weight put into “end of year” numbers, and inevitably thousands upon thousands of corporate employee bonuses are dependent on hitting certain targets.
As we’ve talked about in other guides here on the CarEdge website, automotive manufacturers are not afraid of a little fraud to hit their annual goals.
That being said, this isn’t the preferred path to hit sales figures, and believe it or not, automakers prefer to steeply discount their vehicles to sell them to consumers before they fake the fact that they were sold! Novel concept, eh?
Foureyes, a dealership sales enablement software company, has great insight into manufacturer specific discounting. If you visit this page (https://lps.foureyes.io/auto-pricing-trends) you’ll see original equipment manufacturer (OEM) specific discount percentages broken down by model year.
Our recommendation is that you look at this data daily as you’re actively navigating the car buying process. You may not qualify for all of the manufacturer’s incentives, however you can at least time your purchase to align with when they are most aggressive. For most OEMs that will be the end of the year, not Black Friday. The notion that there are Black Friday car deals is really more of a marketing gimmick than actuality.
Dealer negotiations
When are car dealers most likely to negotiate a fair car deal? Black friday, or at the end of the year? The answer to this question is highly variable, and every dealership will be different, but as a rule of thumb, most car dealers will be more likely to negotiate with you on price at the end of the calendar year.
As we’ve talked about in other full-length guides, car dealerships don’t make the bulk of their money from selling cars; they make it from factory incentives when they hit volume goals. There is no time where manufacturer incentives mean more than at the end of the year. Dealership’s can have hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line come December 31st, and a few more car deals could push them over the edge to secure those bonuses.
That being said, dealerships have monthly incentives from their manufacturers as well, and those incentives certainly are in place during the month of November. That’s why it’s impossible to say for certain that every dealer will be more likely to negotiate on price in December vs. November—it depends on where they are in each month relative to their volume based incentives.
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With all that in mind, it is important to remember that the basics of negotiating a car deal do not change. If you’re looking to get the best price possible, you’ll want to focus your efforts on vehicles that have been sitting on dealer’s lots for a long time. Just remember that you can always use our Negotiability Score as a guide for which vehicles dealers are more and less likely to negotiate on.
What are the best Black Friday car deals for 2020?
This section of our Black Friday car deals guide is solely focused on manufacturer incentives. Like we discussed above, dealer discounts are going to be dependent on each individual dealership’s interest in negotiating with you. Again, that is primarily driven by how close they are to their monthly volume sales goal, and how long a specific vehicle has been on their lot.
Many manufacturers, such as Kia, Mazda, Toyota, and more are still offering zero percent financing options. We strongly recommend that you consider these manufacturer financing incentives (if you qualify).
Aside from finance incentives, the manufacturer cash incentives are steep for some vehicles, but nothing too spectacular. If you’re in the market for a Nissan Leaf there are cash incentives up to $6,000. 2020 GMC Sierra 1500 has a $6,000 cash incentive as well, and if you’re in the market for a 2020 Chevy Bolt EV, there are $8,500 in cash incentives on the table.
General car buying tips for 2020
We recently wrote about a CarEdge community member named Clark, who purchased his Jeep Wrangler a few weeks ago. Clark’s story is a great example of navigating the car buying process in 2020, and especially amidst the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
Yes, your focus may be on getting the best Black Friday car deals, however it’s important to be like Clark, and understand big-picture trends in the automotive industry before you step foot in a dealership (or more likely email them).
Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, used car inventory has been in short supply. If you tune in to our weekly show on YouTube, you know that used car prices have been sky high (but are finally coming back down), and that new car manufacturing was nearly eliminated earlier this year, leading to supply constraints at dealerships right now.
All that being said, know that “knowledge is power,” and that being knowledgeable about the market conditions (especially in 2020 when things are as crazy as they have been), can save you thousands of dollars when you eventually do go to buy your car.
Trust me, I know buying a car isn’t easy. Believe it or not, neither is selling a car. After doing it for 43 years, I can assure you that being on either side of a car deal isn’t the most pleasant experience either. This is in large part because of information asymmetry, meaning that the dealer has more information than the car buyer, and the car buyer has most likely been taken advantage of in the past by one dealer or another.
By now you know what our objective here at CarEdge is: we exist to support car buyers as they navigate the process. Today I wanted to share with you my best guess as to how much dealers make on new cars broken down by brand. These are estimates, and not facts. During my 43 year career I worked for a lot of OEMs (original equipment manufacturers, or brands), but not all of them. I don’t know every brands profit margins, but I do have a good sense of what they are for most.
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Keep in mind that profit margins are different by model and not just make. What do I mean? I mean that a Mercedes-Benz C300 is going to have less profit built into it’s MSRP than a G550. That being said, on average, my best guess is that Mercedes-Benz’ have eight percent profit built into the MSRP price. I hope that makes sense.
If you work for one of these manufacturer’s, or at a dealership and you have insight into how much profit is built into the MSRP price for each brand, please leave a comment below and we will update the table to reflect that. This is a “living” document, and should be used as a guide for your car buying process, not as fact. The only way to truly know how much a dealer is making when they sell a new car is to ask them. More on that can be found here.
If you haven’t already, be sure to use our FREE Market Price Report which contains a suggested offer price to help you begin negotiations with any dealer on any car.
Without further ado, let’s dive in!
Here’s about how much profit dealers make on new car sales:
CarEdge Insights
