Deciding what car to buy is obviously an important decision making process (we all know what happens when you get that wrong) but the “when” can be just as vital. There is generally always an optimum time to buy for any model and a selection of models within any brand which are slow sellers are therefore likely to attract a more attractive (from a buyers perspective) retail price if, of course, you are shopping purely on price.
Having said that, it seems that, if retail surveys are to be believed, price is not the number one factor in coming to a purchasing decision as perhaps it once was. That’s not to say it is not a factor at all, just that it may be a little further down the list today than it was in the past.
Naturally there are certain volume brands which promote themselves purely on price, whereas others will draw the potential customers attention to the car itself, the lines, and the spec with price again perhaps not always mentioned.
Ironically in my experience when price is the overriding dynamic when buying or selling it means that the car involved is not necessarily the right one due to this pre-occupation with getting the cheapest car or the best possible deal.
We have often highlighted examples (“3 days, 70 miles and £7,000“) of where someone buys a brand new car in haste only to hate the damn thing so much they want out of it as soon as possible and then lose literally thousands on a very costly mistake, and although I am not suggesting that this is purely down to price I believe that it is certainly an issue.
Sadly I have again seen examples of this recently with brand a new 62 plate cars with less than 100 miles being traded back in and often for a car which the customer may well (and obviously should) have bought in the first place according to some of the dealers I have spoken to. Ironically we now have never instant access to so much quality information around make and model, spec, availability, forums for what’s good and bad, price comparisons, finance quotes, you can actually go on many manufacturer websites and spec and build your own car and see exactly what it would look like in the metal, and yet still people make expensive mistakes by not taking enough care over what is a massive purchase.
Now there really is no excuse!
Perhaps the old way of going into a showroom with an open mind and actually trying before buying may have not been such a bad way of going about it after all.
