Just as buyers are under pressure to buy new cars, dealerships are under similar pressures to sell these vehicles as quickly as possible. Dealerships fill up with cars, trucks, vans, and SUVs every year in the late summer and early fall. Dealerships employ a number of strategies to sell their inventory to both make a profit and make room for newer models, including sales, deals, and incentives. Auto dealerships buy cars from the manufacturer and sell them to consumers at a higher price than what they paid, which is how they make a profit. Once the dealers buy those vehicles, there's no giving them back to the manufacturer if they don't sell. The rule of thumb for dealerships is to sell these cars, trucks, SUVs, and more within 90 days. Regardless of their efforts, some of the inventory remain unsold. What happens to these new models? How can consumers take advantage of this overstock inventory and score these new cars for cheap? Fortunately, there are a few important ways that car buyers can take advantage of this yearly cycle and score a new unsold car for cheap!
Dealerships have salesmen and women, many of whom want to keep their sales numbers high. They would like to sell these unsold new cars rather than take a loss. It might be worth the time and effort to work with a dealership to buy a car that has sat on the lot for a year or more and still hasn't sold. Consumers who try this will need to be open about the makes and models of the vehicles they are willing to drive. Not comfortable working directly with a dealership? Consider hiring an auto advocate to help broker the deal. These advocates help every step of the process, and provide a valuable bridge between dealer and car buyer.
Once a new car remains unsold, many dealerships will use them as part of their service loaners fleet of vehicles. These service loaner cars are given to customers to drive while their own vehicles are being worked on. Dealerships may also use these cars as staff demo cars, which is a perk offered to dealership staff. These vehicles are then marked "pre-owned" and offered at a lower price. While marked as "pre-owned," these vehicles are often great cars, well maintained and not driven very much. These vehicles are practically new unsold cars offered at great prices.
Those who want a specific make and model need to consider broadening their searches to different markets. Some unsold new cars are makes and models that are in demand in some parts of a state or the country and not in others. For example, a Toyota truck may not sell in a city lot but can be shipped to one further out in a rural area and get snapped up quickly. Car buyers who can't find what they're looking for may expand their searches to help them find the exact unsold new car that they are looking for.
One of the last stops on the journey for unsold new cars is the auction house. Interested car buyers can scope out auctions for vehicles that have gone unsold at dealerships. Dealers often use auction house to sell new cars that they haven't been able to sell themselves, even though they will take a loss versus selling the new car to a buyer. The world of car auctions has its own rules; for example, there are closed auctions and open auctions, and some allow authorized dealer personnel while others allow the general public. Many times, auto advocates are valuable because they are experienced and often registered as car dealers but go in the interest of the car buyers who hired them. In addition auctions provide prices on unsold new cars that cannot be beat!
