Is there a good time to buy a used car?

[soulstar11]

This might sound stupid, but is there a time of year when you get more for your money when buying a used car?
My current car is about to die, and definitely won't get through the next MOT - due March. We can probably get by without a car for about a month, so, the quetion is; should I wait six weeks or so, or go for a new one now. (I don't have the cash, so it will be a loan in either case).
It's a Vauxhall I'm after if that makes any difference.

Thanks for any help you can give.

[RWJ]

Dear Soulstar,

So the best time to buy a used car is september, as thats when the registration changes to the next years plate, so all other registrations depreciate in value somewhat. However, if you wish to purchase a car before then, then I'd suggest that waiting six weeks won't make any difference. To be honest whilst dealers often give good finance packages and reductions on new cars during the summer they very rarely do any such thing for used cars. However, remember that any car they have sitting on their forecourt used or otherwise is costing them money to have out there as they need to cover it with their insurance as well as maintain it etc. so you should have some bargaining power when discussing either the price of a used car or financing. The only caveat I shall add to purchasing now as opposed to after the MOT is that a dealer will automatically be wary of a car of a certain age that is approaching an MOT but has not had one yet, and so will automatically deduct the price an Main dealer MOT from the car. Unfortunately as I'm sure you know as fun as purchasing a new car is, one often runs into incredibly bad sales people who attempt to intimitdate one into a sale as opposed to finding the right car for the right person. Good luck

RWJ

[tufty7]

I was always under the impression that Now was a good time to buy , this is mainly because many people bash the plastic at christmas and have only just recently recieved there credit card bills , so in general people pull in the belts a little and the forecourt has to keep the ball rolling by reducing there prices or giving some incentive of sorts ,
Don't worry about your old car as long as its got some MOT on it because if its that bad they will just push it through the auction .
Best of luck

[soulstar11]

Thanks very much RWJ. You've also answered another question I had: is haggling still commonplace when buying a used car?
As you guessed, I'm not looking forward to the sales patter etc - it doesn't intimidate me, just irritates me that we have to put up with a certain amount of smarm / B.S. in order to get something we've got our eye on.
Thanks again.