Wait 'til December for the best new car price?

A long long time ago I read in a book that you'll get the best price on a new car in December, the later in the month the better, all because of tax implications for the dealership. Recently I read on usnews.com that the months of May, October, November and December are good. But, are they all equally good times to buy? If December is best, is it best by a lot?

I'm looking to buy another Honda Civic.

[Consulting crystal ball]

Your post is correct, pre-covid. End of year sales quotas make dealers itchy to sell cars to meet the requirement....there are huge bonuses for them if they do. They'll often sell cars at a loss (!) to get the bonus, IF you catch them at the right time.

Nowadays though, with the weirdness in the industry and now the UAW striking, I'd expect prices to rise through the end of the year, at least on domestic models.

[Consulting crystal ball]
Nowadays though, with the weirdness in the industry and now the UAW striking, I'd expect prices to rise through the end of the year, at least on domestic models.
So, Ford settled with the workers, but I guess the strikes versus General Motors (GM) and Chrysler-parent Stellantis remain. Would you expect a residual effect on prices?

BTW, I'm looking to buy a Honda, but I guess strikes against OTHER makers all plays into supply and demand.

For the manufacturers that were struck against, I would expect low inventory numbers to jack up the prices, yes.

Whether or not that will translate to other manufacturers can't be said… In today's market who knows how things are going to go!

It may be worth it to pay a couple more thousand now than in the end of December, because if things go up it might be a couple thousand more than that… I shrug because it seems like it is a crapshoot right now.

According to Market Watch "December is the cheapest month to buy a car because that's when car dealerships are clearing their inventory to make room for next year. It's also when car salespeople are competing to meet their yearly, quarterly and monthly quotas."


I have to think that if there are no 2023s or very little inventory then they at least don't NEED to 'make room for the 2024s'. But, at least they would be competing to meet quotas.

According to Market Watch "December is the cheapest month to buy a car because that's when car dealerships are clearing their inventory to make room for next year. It's also when car salespeople are competing to meet their yearly, quarterly and monthly quotas."


I have to think that if there are no 2023s or very little inventory then they at least don't NEED to 'make room for the 2024s'. But, at least they would be competing to meet quotas.

Before Covid, I would completely agree… But things are very weird right now so deals may not be as good as expected.

Overall though, you are totally correct - end of year, end of month, end of quarter - all of that stuff adds up to sometimes they will sell vehicles at less than their cost… And then when they meet their sales goal they get a huge check from the manufacturer.

You are making me want to go out and buy a vehicle next month lol

I guess if the 2023s are all gone and they don't cut any year end deals on 2024s, the worst that can happen is that I just buy in January.


EDIT: What kind of discounts on a $25,000 car might one normally expect because of dealers meeting sales quotas? $200? $500? More?

Well, I bought on 12/4/2023. Basically I paid MSRP. The dealer had already installed some of that 'protection' up-sell stuff on the car, such as film on the door edges and some rubber protection stuff on the under parts of the car and whatnot, but they didn't charge me for that because I insisted on no dealer added options. For them, it's probably just a write-off of $200 - $300. So, I hope this gives people an idea as to how much to pay for a Honda Civic 2024.