Best Time to Buy a Truck (New and Used) - We Have a Plan

Buying a new truck is one of the best feelings in life, but it’s also one of the most significant financial transactions. Once you’ve chosen your ideal truck, don’t forget to think about the ideal time to purchase it. The cost of a truck can vary according to the month or even the day. If you have the luxury of waiting for the best time to buy a truck, you may be able to save thousands of bucks.

Changing your truck is something you’ll unavoidably do several times during life. The fact that you live in the USA, one of the biggest countries in the world and that US cities tend to spread more horizontally than vertically, makes a point of buying a truck as imperative.

Here’s a list of tips on when is the best time to buy a truck.

End of the Year

Truck dealers do their best wheeling and dealing at the end of the year. Manufacturers usually have significant incentives to move the inventory during the Christmas season since some folks make new truck purchasing as their family's gift.

Manufacturers and dealerships want to move unsold inventory off the lots before the end of the year. It’s all about the targets. They want to carry as little stock as possible into the next year. Dealers are willing to do whatever it takes, including losing bucks on a deal, to achieve yearly sales targets. Therefore, the best time of year to buy a truck is the last days of December, between Christmas and New Year's.

Holiday Sales Deals

One of the best times to acquire a new or used truck is during 3-day holiday weekends. Think about President’s Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day sales. It can be a prime time for new truck deals, but maybe that is the best time to buy a used truck. Think about the seasonality of these holidays. President’s Day is in the winter, Memorial Day kicks is in the summer and Labor Day is at the end of summer. There are certain types of used trucks that dealers don’t want to keep on their stock and watch how they're depreciated.

End of the Month

"When the month is closing," dealers might be a few trucks short of a sales quota that would provide them a big bonus. The salesperson will have more motivation to make a deal with a client and might deeply discount vehicles, making up any dollars lost with the bonus. It's the time when you shouldn't sleep on the truck deal.

Bear in mind, that if the sales team met its quota earlier that month, they might not be as motivated to offer the wanted deal you might be expecting. This is difficult to know ahead of time, but if you're in the middle of the transaction and the vendor offers a screaming low price, take a moment to ask salesperson why the dealer is willing to lose profit on this deal. If the motive makes sense to you, and the agreement is notably better than your research says it should be, it could be a sign the dealer is trying to make a sales target.

The Best Day to Buy a Truck

Weekends are generally crazy since this is when dealers hold sales events and focus on the upshot of their selling. If they lose a sale because of holding sakes, dealers know they have another truck buyer right behind you.

Monday usually is usually the worst day for a truck buying. Dealers focus on following up from the weekend's business and taking care of any loose ends from the weekend's sales.

Tuesday and Wednesday are standardly the slowest days of the week for a truck dealership. Most folks work during the week and rarely shop vehicles in that period. This makes trade slow and business on the vendor's lot scarce. That's why Tuesday and Wednesday are the best days of the week to buy a truck.

Before Closing Time

Many truck buyers believe this is an excellent method to purchase a truck. They think they can get in and out of a car dealership without having to bargain over the price for hours on end. Certain truck buyers believe that truck dealer and their salespersons will virtually hand out a vehicle because they've been working all day, ready to go home, and don't want to stay any extra time.

Some dealership staff is very unpleasant if you show up right at closing time and will say whatever to get you to leave. Still, some vendors will see you showing up late as an opportunity to sell the car quickly.

Model Year Switch

Truck pricing follows an attractive template. Prices are discounted when the new models appear. Purchasing a new car from the previous model year can save thousands versus buying a similar truck from the next model year. Many time only small changes were made between the two model years like new leather detail in a car interior. Usually, the new model year vehicles appear between July and September.

Always, go on the dealer's website to check available stock of last year's new truck models. The dealer will be acutely induced to sell those vehicles to make space for this year's model.

The drawback is that the features you want might not be available on the trucks in inventory. Take attention, you’re purchasing a model year older car, so expect that resale value will be lower against the new model year. Anyhow, many folks would instead acquire last year's model to save thousands of bucks.

Best Time to Buy a Used Truck

A new truck is the same in any place. For example, you go to dealer A, B, or C and they all have the 0 mi same car. Whatever dealer you go, you will get the similar offer.

But used trucks are different. Purchasing a used vehicle is more a matter of luck than timing. Whenever in the year you can discover variously pre-owned truck offers as these are more varied in prices.

Please note, that vehicle even with the same exact miles, the similar date of maintenance and being in same weather circumstances, cars depreciate differently.

Trucks are used differently: driving habits, bumps, breaking slow, breaking hard, low speeds, high speeds. Many details impact the current condition of a car. And all this can result that almost same trucks have a different price.

If you're searching for a used car, don't rush. The ideal period you should apply for exploring alternatives is 5 - 6 weeks of 9 hours a week of search. The fact that you have found a great offer doesn't mean that you should go with it.

The Worst Time to Buy a Truck

If you’re looking for a current model-year car, the worst time to go truck purchasing is right when the new vehicles first come rolling off the delivery trucks. It’s because car vendors are just ramping up their inventories at the onset of a new model year or any point in time a given car is being introduced and have far less motivation to lower the car price.

If the wanted truck is an in-demand model that’s in limited supply like a hot new sports truck enthusiasts, have been waiting for. You may find a salesperson commanding full list price or sometimes even above when it first reaches the salon floor. In this situation, it would be the best solution to wait a few months until the demands for your desired truck go down.

Also, spring can be among the worst periods of the year to make a great deal on a new vehicle, as buyers are typically shaking off their winter season-off and going back to dealerships with earnest or their income tax refunds in a pocket to help support their down payments.

Test Drive the Truck & Online Purchasing

Today you can do everything online from googling the model, opts and colors, to money transaction and even be familiar with the value of trade-in and the monthly payouts. The same is true if you’re leasing.

You can define the down payment, term, and monthly payouts before virtually entering into the truck showroom.

Still, you should test drive the truck to see if it operates as desired before agreeing to a deal either at the dealership or online. You can discuss terms via social media or email and then try to make a better deal when you’re buying a truck.