Gas prices are easing, but inflation and high interest rates are still making it difficult to purchase a car. So, how can shoppers save money when purchasing a vehicle before the end of the year?
Sean Tucker, a reporter with AutoTrader, joined WTOP’s Michelle Basch and John Aaron to discuss what to look for when buying a new car.
Read the conversation below:
Sean Tucker: It’s still a very good time to buy a car. But some of the incentive programs for dealers that created that logic, they’re just not true anymore.
Michelle Basch: Well, what tips and tricks do you have to actually save some money?
Sean Tucker: Well, the first thing I would say is just understand that conditions are getting better for car shoppers right now. Earlier this year, the dealer had all the leverage, and that’s starting to change.
For the third straight month in November, 2023 prices were lower than 2022 prices. Dealers are overstocked on a lot of models, interest rates even came down a bit last month. So the buyer has leverage now, and car shopping isn’t as scary as it used to be.
John Aaron: Still is intimidating though. What mindset should people have relative to the car’s sticker price? Are we back to looking for nice discounts? Or are we still pinned to the MSRP?
Sean Tucker: We are. Your old negotiating skills are starting to come back into play, because incentives are coming back. We always tell people paying cash is your best bet, but most of us can’t. So you want to bring an outside financing if you can, and then check the dealer’s financing. The dealer might have the best offer, but you bring in options before you find that out.
Michelle Basch: Anything else you think consumers should definitely avoid?
Sean Tucker: The biggest tip I give people is don’t buy more car than you need. We really have a tendency to say, ‘Mom and dad come to town once a year, so I need a third row seating,’ or you know, ‘I tow a trailer a couple of weeks in the summertime, so I need that towing capacity.’ You can rent once a year and save money by buying a lot less car. It’s also worthwhile to consider stepping down the trim level. It’s easy to get carried away looking at all the cool features on a new car, but you might rather have $100 more a month in your budget.
John Aaron: Yeah, contingency anxiety. Right?
Sean Tucker: Right.
John Aaron: You know, I did the shopping a couple years ago comparing December to January, and it was so different the prices I got month to month. I was just wondering in that vein, can you lock in a deal on a car that has to be ordered or do you have to look for one on the lot right now?
Sean Tucker: Yeah, you can look in a deal on a car that has to be ordered. But with most dealerships right now you don’t need to. There’s a bit of an exception with some of the Japanese companies: Toyota is still fairly low in supply, Honda is still fairly low in supply. But most of the American companies right now, the dealers are oversupplied, so they probably have the model you want in stock.
