December 26, 2025 • 15 mins
In this episode, host Phil Tower welcomes Karl Brauer, Executive Analyst with iSeeCars.com.
Karl joined us to break down the results of a recent study from the team at iSeeCars.com.
The Study revealed that the prime season for finding a used car deal is predominantly November through March, and the single best day to purchase a used car is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which offers 65.5% more good deals than average, according to the latest iSeeCars.com study.
The study analyzed over 40 million used car sales to calculate the chances of finding a good deal at specific times of the year, with a good deal defined as saving at least 10% (approx. $2,689) off the average price of a used car ($26,889).
See the full study from iSeeCars.com and all the Best/Worst Times To Buy A Car.
Karl joined us to break down the results of a recent study from the team at iSeeCars.com.
The Study revealed that the prime season for finding a used car deal is predominantly November through March, and the single best day to purchase a used car is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which offers 65.5% more good deals than average, according to the latest iSeeCars.com study.
The study analyzed over 40 million used car sales to calculate the chances of finding a good deal at specific times of the year, with a good deal defined as saving at least 10% (approx. $2,689) off the average price of a used car ($26,889).
See the full study from iSeeCars.com and all the Best/Worst Times To Buy A Car.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I love talking cars. If you've been listening to this
program for a number of years, we frequently visit the
subject of cars, and not only cars and trucks, but
the whole process of buying a car. One of our
favorite people to have in the program is back with
us in this segment executive analysts with iccars dot Com.
He is Carl Brower, and this is a fascinating topic
(00:22):
because how many times have you heard someone say I'm
in the market for a pre owned vehicle. When should
I actually buy that pre owned vehicle? Well, the folks
at iccars dot com actually asked that question. They've got
data to back it up, and they've got the top
ten best times of the year to buy a car
or perhaps the worst time of the year, and some
(00:44):
of these are really surprising. So Carl Brower, first of all,
welcome back to the program. It's good to have you
here again.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Oh thank you for having me on. Always fun talking
cars with you.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
So absolutely, we are about ten days away from Black Friday.
I think a lot of people will I think Black
Friday would be at the top of the list. It's not.
It's way down toward the bottom. And I don't want
to give the whole list away. First of all, Carl,
it's been a while since we've had you on. You've
(01:13):
got all kinds of great resources at iccars dot com.
Why should our listeners check you guys out?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
You know, we're always tracking the market for these kind
of pieces of information. You know, we look at the data,
the pricing new and use are pricing, what's selling. You know,
we have a study at for instance, that we do
every year on colors, what car colors hold their best
value versus not holding their good resale value. You know,
if you're thinking about buying a car, if you want
to know what color you get it in so you
(01:39):
can get the most out of it when you go
to sell. That kind of guidance is the key part
of icy cars, beyond all the dealer listings and all
the ability to just filter on whatever you want. You know,
you're located in Michigan and you want to look fifty
mile radius, or you want to look five in a
mile radius, or you want to look nationwide and you
want to look for cars with given mileage fuel efficiency
I should say, or given mileage on the odometers, new
(02:01):
and used or brands models filter as much as you
want narrow down all the cars across the country are
the ones that you're close enough to and that have
the brand and the miles and the fuel efficiency and
the price that you want. That's what our site does.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, icecars dot com. It's a terrific resource and answers
the questions that a lot of people have when they're
in the market for especially for a pre owned vehicle
or a new vehicle. You and I have done segments
in the past, and you can find these in any
of our previous episodes if you just search Western Michigan Weekend. Carl,
We've done segments on cars that deep value or depreciate
(02:40):
the most once you drive them right a lot, and
you guys have all kinds of great data. We're focusing
on the best times of the year to buy a car,
and you know, I'm not a pessimist at heart, but
I want to start with the worst times of the
year to buy. And this is interesting. There's actually data
that the coldest months of the year are better than
the warmest months of the year. Carl Brauer explain that one.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
You know when it starts being warm and we start
heading towards summer and people are thinking road trips and vacations.
That's the most common time to go out and buy
a new car too, because you want a new car
to enjoy the new summer season that's coming upon us,
or take the family across the country. If you're a
family person and you know, you usually aren't too distracted
with bills like you might be during the holidays, and
(03:24):
maybe you've even got a tax return. You know, a
lot of the dealers call it tax return shopping season.
You know, somewhere between March first and May first, a
lot of people's tax returns are coming back, and depending
on what they are, very commonly those become down payments
or more for a car purchase. So that's when the
dealers know they kind of warm up, get a get
(03:45):
a little excited because the foot traffic on the lot's
going to start increasing with the temperature. And the way
that's what I tell people still is look at it
this way. The higher the average temperature is on any
given day of the year, so is the price of
the car and vice versa.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Interesting, Yeah, so you want to be there when they're
really desperate to make a deal. Traditionally that the end
of the month, so they can hit the quota has
been good. Is that still the conventional wisdom, Carl, that's
true too.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
There is reality to the fact that all these dealers
and manufacturers want to hit their numbers, as they say,
and that might be at the end of the month,
might be at the end of the quarter. You know,
we got four quarters in the year, and of course
it might be in the end of the year. And
not surprisingly, you get all three of those lined up
on December thirty, first New Year's Eve, end of month,
quarter and year, hitting all those numbers for all the
(04:33):
dealerships and the manufacturers. Not a bad time to buy
a car if you aren't busy, you know, running around
to the parties and ringing in the new year.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Great point. This study analyzed over forty million used car sales,
calculating the chances of finding a good deal at a
specific time of the year. And we're about ten days
away from Black Friday, and Black Friday is the second
lowest best time to buy a used car. Came in
number ten on the list, I'm sorry, number nine of those.
(05:05):
Number ten was Halloween, which is interesting. You don't think
about people going to a dealership because so many adults
and kids are out celebrating the holiday, so that doesn't
surprise me at all. But statistically, November through March of
the best months of the year car to buy a car.
I don't want to give away the best day of
(05:25):
the year to buy a car because there's actually a
specific day and I'm fascinated by that one. So we're
going to have to tease our listeners and tell them
to stay tuned. The five worst times of the year
to buy a car are number five, Father's Day, number four, July,
number three, May number two, July fourth, And that certainly
(05:47):
makes sense because a lot of people are gone then,
and as you were saying earlier, all these coincide with
warmer temperatures. June twenty two point eight percent fewer deals
than average. I think that's true because a lot of
those incentives disappear disappear in the summer months as well, Right, Carl.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It's all about foot traffic. You're exactly right. And if
a dealership has people voluntarily walking onto the lot and
you know, looking for cars and buying cars because it
lines up with their summer plans or the warm weather's
got them out thinking, you know, hey, I want a
new convertible or I want a new actually be for
the family at all. Why would they work harder to
get your business. You're already in car buying mode, and
(06:27):
so you just listed those top five and you know
they all line up with reasons to go to this
dealer lot. Weather's warm, summer out, I want to go
start taking road trips, you know. And it's always last.
I always laugh pill because you know they always be
like extra special deals. You know, I've never heard of
dealership advertising. You know, we've got a low level of
deals right now. But you can come anybody. They're always
(06:49):
offering great deals. But what you're saying, they're offering great
deals on July, that's a very July fourth for instance.
That's a very different circumstance than when they're offering great
deals in the middle of the winter. You really getting
great deals in the middle of the winter. You're just
getting advertising in the middle of the summer on that.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So we hit number ten and number nine the as
far as the best days and times of the year
to buy a car. Coming in at number eight, we
have the month of December fifteen point two percent more
deals than average, tied with Christmas Eve fifteen point two percent.
(07:25):
Veterans Day is high in the list. We're already passed
Veterans Day, but it's high in the list, Carl at
twenty three point one percent February. I don't know if
that has anything to do with Valentine's Day. That's number
five on the list and President's Day number four on
the list at forty seven percent, which is really interesting.
(07:46):
There are a lot of places that have client stores,
big box stores have President's Day sales. Is that coincide
with dealerships?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yes, and you'll see that President's Day sales because you've
got both holiday. Sometimes people get a day off, and
again it's relatively cold and much of the country on
Presidents Day.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, that certainly makes sense. Third best time of the
year to buy a car the month of January. If
you're listening, we're speaking with executive analysts with iccars dot
Com Carl Bryer about the ten best times of the
year to buy a used car. Will put the whole
study and links to iccars dot Com in our podcast notes,
so you want to make sure you check that out.
(08:28):
Number two. This is a surprising one for me. Number
two best time of the year to buy a used
car New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. It's not
very likely. Occasionally you'll find a dealership that's open on
New Year's Day. It's pretty rare. But New Year's Eve,
the thirty first of December, it's a great time to
buy a used car, It really is.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And it's a great time because how many people are
thinking of buying a used car on New Year's Eve?
Film whether you've got cold weather keeping you in, you've
got relatives over, or you're the relatives busy someone, you've
got holiday bills, you probably just spent a certain amount
of money on purchases for family and friends, on on gifts.
You know, it's just not top of mind for the
(09:11):
average person to think, Hey, it's New Year's Eve, I'm
going to go shopping for a car. Is just not
and dealers know this. So guess what, you get a
much higher percentage of deals out there.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, and most of the dealerships it's a business day,
most of them are open end. So don't don't assume
that you're not going to get a great deal. And also,
as we just mentioned earlier, it's the last day of
the month, it's the last day of the quarter. Carl
and it's the last day of the year, so I mean,
it's kind of the trifecta of best time to buy
a car and number one on the list of the
(09:44):
ten best times to buy a used car. Thanks to
iccars dot Com in their latest study, this is a
head scratcher, more than sixty five point five percent better
deal than average chances on that day, one single day
of the year. It actually is coming up in January
(10:06):
and it's MLK Day.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yep, that's shocking to me. You know, again we're post
holiday doldrums January. January is a month, is the third
best month, so just that month is not you know,
most people have too many other things on their mind
in January and buying a car, so the whole month
is good. But then that specific three day weekend, a
lot of advertising for deals, and you know, we're right
(10:29):
in the middle of a cold, wintery month and there's
a holiday, so the dealers work extra hard and they've
probably been suffering since November first, as you noticed most
of these. You know, Halloween's the first holiday on this
list at number ten, so it just starts that downhill
slide and by the time you're into January, you're deep
in the middle of the winter and the dealers have
(10:50):
been struggling for foot traffic for months. And so the
MLK is the best day to buy a used car,
best holiday.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
And it's probably one of a lot of people don't
think about, but it's a great time. And again, generally speaking,
the coldest months of the year are the best times
to buy a car. Carl Brauer is with US executive
analyst with iccars dot Com. Full of great data, a
lot of studies that we've actually featured on this program
in the past because I'm a data nerd and I'm
(11:18):
a car guy, so you know, I just can't help myself.
I see these releases and I jump on them because
they're really interesting. Again, summer holidays the worst time of
the year to find a deal on a car, and
Black Friday does not live up to the hype. That's
number nine on list. You can see the full studies
we said at iccars dot Com. It's also important to note, Carl,
(11:43):
that when somebody walks into dealership, whether it's on the
last day of the year, second best time of the
year to buy a car and we're just days away
from that or Mlkday, the best day of the year
to buy a car, they should have their ducks in
a row as far as they're trade in and everything else,
especially if they're pre qualified as far as financing. All
that kind of stuff is helpful to not bog down
(12:04):
the deal.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
One hundred percent. You should absolutely have everything ready to go,
and ideally, Phil, if you can have more than one
dealership that you're going to visit that day, because the dealers,
if you know, if I do you make it clear
to a dealer that somebody, some dealership is getting tens
of thousands of my dollars in the next one, two,
four days, and it might not be you. They shape
(12:27):
that silf you're walking off the lot. Some other dealer
is going to get your twenty thirty forty plus thousand
dollars for a huge car instead of them, or they
don't like that. So consumers don't realize the leverage they've
got when they're ready to buy a car, and they
really need to play it up there. And if it's
winter time and they're struggling for foot traffic, it's the
last day of the year, or it's Mlkday, play up
your strengths as the buyer.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, you've got I'm so glad you said that you've
got to go in there confident. You've absolutely got to
go in their confident. Don't assume that you know you're
not going to be in competition with other people. And yeah,
if you don't have the deal you want, you walk out.
If a salesperson really wants the deal, they're going to
come after you before we run out of time. Carl
(13:08):
Brower is with US executive analysts at arccars dot com.
As we're having this conversation on the radio. Very soon,
you'll want to check iccars dot com for a fascinating
study that ties into this. Should you buy a leftover
car on the lot, And this is something that a
lot of people don't think about, but these are cars
that are untitled. They may be great deals, but maybe
(13:30):
it's a twenty twenty four or a twenty twenty five.
At the end of the twenty twenty five calendar year,
a twenty twenty four Carl is nearly a two year
old vehicle. It's been sitting for a while. But as
you said, there's some great deals on those cars that'll
be a great study worth pointing out. And I'm glad
you mentioned that's that's going to be at iccars dot com.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Right, Yeah, that's our next one, and we're just going
to try to help people identify, you know, if you're
not meeting the newest, latest, greatest fancy car, the hot deal,
but you just need a car and you're looking for
the best deal, but you want a new one. When
new car peace of mind you've leftover cars can offer
you a great opportunity and you go in again leverage
hard knowing the dealer has a two year old car,
and be like, hey, I'm willing to take this off
(14:14):
your hand. It just got another year older. As we
get toward the end of the twenty five model year
and you've got a twenty four here, maybe you want
to get rid of this, and maybe I'm going to
help you out, and just.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Real quickly, generally speaking, you get you and I have
been doing these conversations for over two years and coming
out of COVID, post COVID, really tight inventories. Have inventories
gotten better here in twenty twenty five, they've gotten better.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
But it's fascinating because I think the dealers and manufacturers
realize that by restricting new car production, they get more
profit per unit. So the sales volume could be lower,
but the profit per unit is higher, and I think
they're kind of trying to maintain that, so there could
be more cars on dealer lots. The production is not
the problem now. I think they're doing it on purpose
and all because they learned a lot during COVID.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, A stay tuned for the that study. Should I
buy a leftover car even though it's new, There might
be a great deal there. You certainly want to ask
a lot of questions about the car. That study will
be at iccars dot com. The one we just spoke
with Carl about the ten best times to buy a
used car. Ten best times of the year and two.
The top two are coming up very soon. You'll also
(15:21):
see the five worst times to buy used car. We'll
put all of that in our podcast notes, or you
could peek at it right now at iccars dot com.
Carl Brower our guests, who's executive analysts with iccars dot Com.
Always fun to catch up with you, Carl, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Hey, great being out with you. As always going to
look forward and to ask one
I love talking cars. If you've been listening to this
program for a number of years, we frequently visit the
subject of cars, and not only cars and trucks, but
the whole process of buying a car. One of our
favorite people to have in the program is back with
us in this segment executive analysts with iccars dot Com.
He is Carl Brower, and this is a fascinating topic
(00:22):
because how many times have you heard someone say I'm
in the market for a pre owned vehicle. When should
I actually buy that pre owned vehicle? Well, the folks
at iccars dot com actually asked that question. They've got
data to back it up, and they've got the top
ten best times of the year to buy a car
or perhaps the worst time of the year, and some
(00:44):
of these are really surprising. So Carl Brower, first of all,
welcome back to the program. It's good to have you
here again.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Oh thank you for having me on. Always fun talking
cars with you.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
So absolutely, we are about ten days away from Black Friday.
I think a lot of people will I think Black
Friday would be at the top of the list. It's not.
It's way down toward the bottom. And I don't want
to give the whole list away. First of all, Carl,
it's been a while since we've had you on. You've
(01:13):
got all kinds of great resources at iccars dot com.
Why should our listeners check you guys out?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
You know, we're always tracking the market for these kind
of pieces of information. You know, we look at the data,
the pricing new and use are pricing, what's selling. You know,
we have a study at for instance, that we do
every year on colors, what car colors hold their best
value versus not holding their good resale value. You know,
if you're thinking about buying a car, if you want
to know what color you get it in so you
(01:39):
can get the most out of it when you go
to sell. That kind of guidance is the key part
of icy cars, beyond all the dealer listings and all
the ability to just filter on whatever you want. You know,
you're located in Michigan and you want to look fifty
mile radius, or you want to look five in a
mile radius, or you want to look nationwide and you
want to look for cars with given mileage fuel efficiency
I should say, or given mileage on the odometers, new
(02:01):
and used or brands models filter as much as you
want narrow down all the cars across the country are
the ones that you're close enough to and that have
the brand and the miles and the fuel efficiency and
the price that you want. That's what our site does.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, icecars dot com. It's a terrific resource and answers
the questions that a lot of people have when they're
in the market for especially for a pre owned vehicle
or a new vehicle. You and I have done segments
in the past, and you can find these in any
of our previous episodes if you just search Western Michigan Weekend. Carl,
We've done segments on cars that deep value or depreciate
(02:40):
the most once you drive them right a lot, and
you guys have all kinds of great data. We're focusing
on the best times of the year to buy a car,
and you know, I'm not a pessimist at heart, but
I want to start with the worst times of the
year to buy. And this is interesting. There's actually data
that the coldest months of the year are better than
the warmest months of the year. Carl Brauer explain that one.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
You know when it starts being warm and we start
heading towards summer and people are thinking road trips and vacations.
That's the most common time to go out and buy
a new car too, because you want a new car
to enjoy the new summer season that's coming upon us,
or take the family across the country. If you're a
family person and you know, you usually aren't too distracted
with bills like you might be during the holidays, and
(03:24):
maybe you've even got a tax return. You know, a
lot of the dealers call it tax return shopping season.
You know, somewhere between March first and May first, a
lot of people's tax returns are coming back, and depending
on what they are, very commonly those become down payments
or more for a car purchase. So that's when the
dealers know they kind of warm up, get a get
(03:45):
a little excited because the foot traffic on the lot's
going to start increasing with the temperature. And the way
that's what I tell people still is look at it
this way. The higher the average temperature is on any
given day of the year, so is the price of
the car and vice versa.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Interesting, Yeah, so you want to be there when they're
really desperate to make a deal. Traditionally that the end
of the month, so they can hit the quota has
been good. Is that still the conventional wisdom, Carl, that's
true too.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
There is reality to the fact that all these dealers
and manufacturers want to hit their numbers, as they say,
and that might be at the end of the month,
might be at the end of the quarter. You know,
we got four quarters in the year, and of course
it might be in the end of the year. And
not surprisingly, you get all three of those lined up
on December thirty, first New Year's Eve, end of month,
quarter and year, hitting all those numbers for all the
(04:33):
dealerships and the manufacturers. Not a bad time to buy
a car if you aren't busy, you know, running around
to the parties and ringing in the new year.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Great point. This study analyzed over forty million used car sales,
calculating the chances of finding a good deal at a
specific time of the year. And we're about ten days
away from Black Friday, and Black Friday is the second
lowest best time to buy a used car. Came in
number ten on the list, I'm sorry, number nine of those.
(05:05):
Number ten was Halloween, which is interesting. You don't think
about people going to a dealership because so many adults
and kids are out celebrating the holiday, so that doesn't
surprise me at all. But statistically, November through March of
the best months of the year car to buy a car.
I don't want to give away the best day of
(05:25):
the year to buy a car because there's actually a
specific day and I'm fascinated by that one. So we're
going to have to tease our listeners and tell them
to stay tuned. The five worst times of the year
to buy a car are number five, Father's Day, number four, July,
number three, May number two, July fourth, And that certainly
(05:47):
makes sense because a lot of people are gone then,
and as you were saying earlier, all these coincide with
warmer temperatures. June twenty two point eight percent fewer deals
than average. I think that's true because a lot of
those incentives disappear disappear in the summer months as well, Right, Carl.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It's all about foot traffic. You're exactly right. And if
a dealership has people voluntarily walking onto the lot and
you know, looking for cars and buying cars because it
lines up with their summer plans or the warm weather's
got them out thinking, you know, hey, I want a
new convertible or I want a new actually be for
the family at all. Why would they work harder to
get your business. You're already in car buying mode, and
(06:27):
so you just listed those top five and you know
they all line up with reasons to go to this
dealer lot. Weather's warm, summer out, I want to go
start taking road trips, you know. And it's always last.
I always laugh pill because you know they always be
like extra special deals. You know, I've never heard of
dealership advertising. You know, we've got a low level of
deals right now. But you can come anybody. They're always
(06:49):
offering great deals. But what you're saying, they're offering great
deals on July, that's a very July fourth for instance.
That's a very different circumstance than when they're offering great
deals in the middle of the winter. You really getting
great deals in the middle of the winter. You're just
getting advertising in the middle of the summer on that.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So we hit number ten and number nine the as
far as the best days and times of the year
to buy a car. Coming in at number eight, we
have the month of December fifteen point two percent more
deals than average, tied with Christmas Eve fifteen point two percent.
(07:25):
Veterans Day is high in the list. We're already passed
Veterans Day, but it's high in the list, Carl at
twenty three point one percent February. I don't know if
that has anything to do with Valentine's Day. That's number
five on the list and President's Day number four on
the list at forty seven percent, which is really interesting.
(07:46):
There are a lot of places that have client stores,
big box stores have President's Day sales. Is that coincide
with dealerships?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yes, and you'll see that President's Day sales because you've
got both holiday. Sometimes people get a day off, and
again it's relatively cold and much of the country on
Presidents Day.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, that certainly makes sense. Third best time of the
year to buy a car the month of January. If
you're listening, we're speaking with executive analysts with iccars dot
Com Carl Bryer about the ten best times of the
year to buy a used car. Will put the whole
study and links to iccars dot Com in our podcast notes,
so you want to make sure you check that out.
(08:28):
Number two. This is a surprising one for me. Number
two best time of the year to buy a used
car New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. It's not
very likely. Occasionally you'll find a dealership that's open on
New Year's Day. It's pretty rare. But New Year's Eve,
the thirty first of December, it's a great time to
buy a used car, It really is.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And it's a great time because how many people are
thinking of buying a used car on New Year's Eve?
Film whether you've got cold weather keeping you in, you've
got relatives over, or you're the relatives busy someone, you've
got holiday bills, you probably just spent a certain amount
of money on purchases for family and friends, on on gifts.
You know, it's just not top of mind for the
(09:11):
average person to think, Hey, it's New Year's Eve, I'm
going to go shopping for a car. Is just not
and dealers know this. So guess what, you get a
much higher percentage of deals out there.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, and most of the dealerships it's a business day,
most of them are open end. So don't don't assume
that you're not going to get a great deal. And also,
as we just mentioned earlier, it's the last day of
the month, it's the last day of the quarter. Carl
and it's the last day of the year, so I mean,
it's kind of the trifecta of best time to buy
a car and number one on the list of the
(09:44):
ten best times to buy a used car. Thanks to
iccars dot Com in their latest study, this is a
head scratcher, more than sixty five point five percent better
deal than average chances on that day, one single day
of the year. It actually is coming up in January
(10:06):
and it's MLK Day.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yep, that's shocking to me. You know, again we're post
holiday doldrums January. January is a month, is the third
best month, so just that month is not you know,
most people have too many other things on their mind
in January and buying a car, so the whole month
is good. But then that specific three day weekend, a
lot of advertising for deals, and you know, we're right
(10:29):
in the middle of a cold, wintery month and there's
a holiday, so the dealers work extra hard and they've
probably been suffering since November first, as you noticed most
of these. You know, Halloween's the first holiday on this
list at number ten, so it just starts that downhill
slide and by the time you're into January, you're deep
in the middle of the winter and the dealers have
(10:50):
been struggling for foot traffic for months. And so the
MLK is the best day to buy a used car,
best holiday.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
And it's probably one of a lot of people don't
think about, but it's a great time. And again, generally speaking,
the coldest months of the year are the best times
to buy a car. Carl Brauer is with US executive
analyst with iccars dot Com. Full of great data, a
lot of studies that we've actually featured on this program
in the past because I'm a data nerd and I'm
(11:18):
a car guy, so you know, I just can't help myself.
I see these releases and I jump on them because
they're really interesting. Again, summer holidays the worst time of
the year to find a deal on a car, and
Black Friday does not live up to the hype. That's
number nine on list. You can see the full studies
we said at iccars dot Com. It's also important to note, Carl,
(11:43):
that when somebody walks into dealership, whether it's on the
last day of the year, second best time of the
year to buy a car and we're just days away
from that or Mlkday, the best day of the year
to buy a car, they should have their ducks in
a row as far as they're trade in and everything else,
especially if they're pre qualified as far as financing. All
that kind of stuff is helpful to not bog down
(12:04):
the deal.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
One hundred percent. You should absolutely have everything ready to go,
and ideally, Phil, if you can have more than one
dealership that you're going to visit that day, because the dealers,
if you know, if I do you make it clear
to a dealer that somebody, some dealership is getting tens
of thousands of my dollars in the next one, two,
four days, and it might not be you. They shape
(12:27):
that silf you're walking off the lot. Some other dealer
is going to get your twenty thirty forty plus thousand
dollars for a huge car instead of them, or they
don't like that. So consumers don't realize the leverage they've
got when they're ready to buy a car, and they
really need to play it up there. And if it's
winter time and they're struggling for foot traffic, it's the
last day of the year, or it's Mlkday, play up
your strengths as the buyer.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, you've got I'm so glad you said that you've
got to go in there confident. You've absolutely got to
go in their confident. Don't assume that you know you're
not going to be in competition with other people. And yeah,
if you don't have the deal you want, you walk out.
If a salesperson really wants the deal, they're going to
come after you before we run out of time. Carl
(13:08):
Brower is with US executive analysts at arccars dot com.
As we're having this conversation on the radio. Very soon,
you'll want to check iccars dot com for a fascinating
study that ties into this. Should you buy a leftover
car on the lot, And this is something that a
lot of people don't think about, but these are cars
that are untitled. They may be great deals, but maybe
(13:30):
it's a twenty twenty four or a twenty twenty five.
At the end of the twenty twenty five calendar year,
a twenty twenty four Carl is nearly a two year
old vehicle. It's been sitting for a while. But as
you said, there's some great deals on those cars that'll
be a great study worth pointing out. And I'm glad
you mentioned that's that's going to be at iccars dot com.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Right, Yeah, that's our next one, and we're just going
to try to help people identify, you know, if you're
not meeting the newest, latest, greatest fancy car, the hot deal,
but you just need a car and you're looking for
the best deal, but you want a new one. When
new car peace of mind you've leftover cars can offer
you a great opportunity and you go in again leverage
hard knowing the dealer has a two year old car,
and be like, hey, I'm willing to take this off
(14:14):
your hand. It just got another year older. As we
get toward the end of the twenty five model year
and you've got a twenty four here, maybe you want
to get rid of this, and maybe I'm going to
help you out, and just.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Real quickly, generally speaking, you get you and I have
been doing these conversations for over two years and coming
out of COVID, post COVID, really tight inventories. Have inventories
gotten better here in twenty twenty five, they've gotten better.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
But it's fascinating because I think the dealers and manufacturers
realize that by restricting new car production, they get more
profit per unit. So the sales volume could be lower,
but the profit per unit is higher, and I think
they're kind of trying to maintain that, so there could
be more cars on dealer lots. The production is not
the problem now. I think they're doing it on purpose
and all because they learned a lot during COVID.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, A stay tuned for the that study. Should I
buy a leftover car even though it's new, There might
be a great deal there. You certainly want to ask
a lot of questions about the car. That study will
be at iccars dot com. The one we just spoke
with Carl about the ten best times to buy a
used car. Ten best times of the year and two.
The top two are coming up very soon. You'll also
(15:21):
see the five worst times to buy used car. We'll
put all of that in our podcast notes, or you
could peek at it right now at iccars dot com.
Carl Brower our guests, who's executive analysts with iccars dot Com.
Always fun to catch up with you, Carl, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Hey, great being out with you. As always going to
look forward and to ask one
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