Automotive School: A Guide To Car Sales Activity In Winter

Buying a new car in the wintertime isn’t necessarily something many people want to do, and for good reason. While spring and fall are both typically high seasons for automotive sales, those sales tend to plummet to their lowest levels between December and February. However, there’s reason to believe that winter can do auto manufacturers more good than harm, and there are greater incentives for car owners to put down payments on a new car during winter.
Although car sales are typically slower in wintertime, the stats behind car-buying during colder times of the year are actually more encouraging than you might think. Here’s what you need to know about car sales during the winter months.

The Slower Car Sales During Winter are Credit to a Number of Different Factors

There are several reasons why declining car sales tend to happen during the colder months. For one, the cold weather is a factor in people not wanting to make the trip to a dealership. The winter can also be a difficult season for those wanting to buy a new car, as financing costs and prices for purchasing them often rise during these months. Furthermore, the Christmas season means people spend much of their disposable income on Christmas presents and not on cars. Peak times for car-buying in most cases are at two times of the year: from late February to late May and virtually the entire fall (September through November, peaking during the latter month).

The winter climate can make car owners less inclined to visit dealerships

Considering the aforementioned factors leading to slower car sales during winter, it perhaps isn’t a surprise that both used and new cars experience similar seasonal trends with sales. However, students in automotive school should know that there are exceptions to this rule. For example, 4×4 vehicles typically increase in demand during the winter months. That being said, it’s important to keep in mind that dealerships and auto traders will be hungry to meet sales quotas for the end of the year, which can actually be advantageous for the customer. Which leads us to our next point…

Automotive School Students Should Know it’s Actually a Great Time for Buying Cars

When cars are on sale during their peak season (spring and fall), some manufacturers will up their prices a bit, especially for newly unveiled models. Nonetheless, some auto dealers attempt to clear their inventory by promoting some of their best annual deals to customers during winter, even if sales drastically decline after November.
The wintertime is arguably an underrated season for buying new cars, for a number of reasons that car repair training students should be aware of. First, buying a car in wintertime means prospective buyers do not have to compete with tons of other buyers to get great deals. Furthermore, dealerships looking to meet quotas may be more willing to close sales with customers who visit during colder climates, and those customers may have greater leverage for price negotiations in mid-winter as a result.