The holidays are a time of joy, laughter and leftovers. It is also time for leftover cars. Yes, cars that have been sitting in the dealerships for the past year or maybe even more waiting for the buyer market to shift in their direction.
If car shoppers have their sights set on buying a new 2016 car, new models might not be available with discounts for a while. You might think that the 2016 Chinese New Year sale will be enlightening. Well not entirely as ‘Car Company’ planners have slowly started reducing their ordering and revised their planning for 2016 seeing the nervous buyers of 3rd and 4th quarter of 2015.
Instead, shoppers looking for a good deal on a great car now may want to choose a “leftover” model.
2015 models are available this December holiday season in droves with some amazing incentives, as manufacturers do their best to make room for shiny new 2016 models which will continue to come in as car manufacturers ‘shout’ and ‘yell’ their new class leading features and best in class safety.
Leftover 2015 models can carry some of the biggest discounts as manufacturers often provide incentives, like low financing deals and cash back offers (that we have been seeing this last half year), on outgoing model year vehicles to clear them off from their dealer showrooms.
So how do you get the best deal? How does one negotiate for an even better price? What are my argument points?
Note, cars that have been sitting in a car dealer yard for a long time will have issues like the following;
- The car battery lifespan will be shorter now as it will be dead and then charged and then dead again as they move the car around the yard. New batteries can cost as much as RM900.00 today.
- Tires might have flat spots in them from being parked too long without moving and their lifespan shorter even when idle.
- If the car is sitting in a dry cemented warehouse then better than a car sitting in an open field of grass as moisture from the ground will start early rusting issues under the car.
- If the car has been sitting in a warehouse with no pest control then you will have rodents living in your car engine and undercarriage and in the spare time they could be nibbling on wiring, hoses and so on.
- Even if a car is not driven and left idle for months, electronics could start having issues.
- When left idle, insects can find their way into the air-conditioning system and create havoc which you will feel later.
- Cars left idle for too long in the open could see plastic fatigue and rubber fatigue. Over time the sun eats into the exposed rubber linings and they start deteriorating.
- Scratches will happen, mild, light or deep when you store a car. As people come in and out and move car from car and walk in between with rings, watches, jeans buttons, etc scratching them. Simple paint touch-up will be done to deliver and this never lasts.
Now that you know some of the possible issues, you can try and get an even better price than the discounted price from the salesperson.
