How - and when - to buy that new car

Car salesman Leo Emerson sits at his desk surrounded by a Chrysler 200 Limited and 300 at Bill Snethkamp dealership in Detroit, Michigan January 2, 2014. Fiat's deal to take full control of Chrysler on better-than-expected terms has cemented CEO Sergio Marchionne's dealmaking reputation, but he might run out of road to channel that drive into operational success for the business. REUTERS/Joshua Lott (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS TRANSPORT) - RTX170A2

Car salesman Leo Emerson sits at his desk surrounded by a Chrysler 200 Limited and 300 at Bill Snethkamp dealership in Detroit, Michigan January 2, 2014. Fiat's deal to take full control of Chrysler on better-than-expected terms has cemented CEO Sergio Marchionne's dealmaking reputation, but he might run out of road to channel that drive into operational success for the business. REUTERS/Joshua Lott (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS TRANSPORT) - RTX170A2

Published Dec 18, 2014

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Johannesburg - Did you know that buying a car is seasonal, just like buying swimsuits and raincoats?

Dial Direct's John October points out that car dealers - and their sales staff - are more inclined to sharpen their pencils late in December so as to meet their targets for the year or to break sales records.

Which makes this a good time to be looking at buying a vehicle, whether new or second-hand.

Another good time is in the dead of winter - from July to October - when sensible car buyers stay indoors and wait for warmer weather before venturing out on to dealers' lots to kick tyres and haggle over prices.

It’s also when dealers are dead keen to get current models off the floor before new launches make them yesterday's news.

Do your homework, advised October. The more you know about how the car market works (and when!) and the more research you do on the specific models on your shortlist, the easier will be to make sales incentives and market fluctuations work to your advantage.

“There are so many models and types of car on the market, it can become confusing,” he warned. “The more informed you are, the more in control, confident and relaxed you will be about your purchase.”

BE SPECIFIC ABOUT WHAT YOU NEED

Be realistic, we all want a more upmarket car than we can afford - that's human nature. And yes, most of us would love a sleek 2+2 convertible - but where would you put teenage kids and their soccer kit, or a month's shopping, or the new patio furniture.

Do you need a small nippy town car, or a spacious MPV to ferry a big family? Will you be doing a lot of mileage - is it worth considering the extra cost of a diesel-engined model against the fuel costs you'll save?

Despite the recent drop in the international price of oil, fuel consumption is still often the major factor when it comes to car choice. Carmakers are promoting cars with smaller, turbocharged engines (which also run cleaner and emit less harmful exhaust gases) and hybrids (which are expensive simply because they have two propulsion systems instead of one but can be impressively economical if used wisely) in place of models with bigger, lazier engines that use more fuel to produce the same power, but which may well need less maintenance.

Sharpen your pencil before you ask the salesman to sharpen his. Do the maths: can you afford to buy a new car on credit, or would you be wiser to buy a less prestigious used model for cash?

A car, October pointed out, is not an investment; over time it not only costs you money, it also loses value.

GO ONLINE

These days you can do all the tyre-kicking and comparative shopping around before you even leave home. There's a wide variety of sites that enable you to compare features, prices and possible hidden costs.

Read reviews by reputable publications and consumer advocates, and make a list of questions you need to ask the dealer.

And when you've narrowed your search down to one or two models, don't stop there. Compare prices and incentives across a couple of franchised and non-franchised dealers.

Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch; often an attractive upfront price hides a lot of hidden extras, or it may mean an absurdly low trade-in on your current vehicle.

Print out the comparative quotes and take them along when you finally go into the showroom to start negotiating a deal; if nothing else, it's one less thing for the salesman to lie about.

TIPS FOR BUYING A NEW CAR IN 2015

Always take the car for a test drive on suburban roads as well as a highway to see how it handles.

Beware of 'special offers' - there's often a catch; if a price seems too good to be true, it usually is, even if it's something as simple as not filling the car's fuel tank before delivery or overcharging for registration and number plates.

Read online about the tactics that salesmen use to close a deal - and read the contract all the way through before you sign it.

Even if you are looking at buying a second-hand car, check out the franchised dealers as well; most manufacturers have a certified pre-owned program that's worth looking at before you buy the same model for about the same price from a down-at-heel Richard Nixon lookalike down the street without any enforceable comeback if something goes wrong with it.

And once you've found the right car, at the right place, at the right price… put your pen away, go home and sleep on it. If the deal looks just as good in the cold light of the next morning, then go back and sign on the dotted line.

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