I need to buy a 2010 by the end of the year. Usually the end of the year is a good time to buy what's left of that years models. Since the Prius is already a 2010 I wonder if it will be a good time to buy? Inventories at a couple SoCal dealers are way up. Unfortunately there aren't many II's. (Not where the money is made) I can't believe it's almost 2010!!!!
I hope it is. My game plan is to try and get the best price on a 2010 Prius in Southern New England on the last week of December.
It's basically a game of supply vs. demand. At this point in time there is not a huge supply of 2010 Prius automobiles and there is a reasonable demand, so you can probably get an ok deal, but not a really great deal. Good Luck, Keith
What ever day is the last sales day in the month of Dec either the 30th or 31st might be the best day. Especially at a dealer that has a huge inventory of Prius's and needs to meet the months quota either for that model or for Toyota's overall. I don't think you can research this, but you can visit several dealerships and get a feel a day or two ahead of time for their situation and then try to be in the right spot at the right time for the end of month quota at the dealership it means the most to.
The end of a model year is a great time to buy. As far as the end of the year, you may find someone wanting to move inventory for tax reasons, and someone may want to meet some sort of quota, but I wouldn't expect any wide scale significant deals on the Prius simply because of the EOY issue.
The holidays are a good time to buy in general. Just think of days where people have something to do other than shopping for a car (or salesmen don't want to be working). Thanksgiving, Christmas... I bought a car on Superbowl Sunday once and the whole dealership was itching to get out of there to watch the game. You can definitely use these types of things to your advantage. Now will you get a great deal on a Prius? Not sure about that since it is a new model that has been a lot more popular than other models during this recession.
The end of the model year is not the same as the end of the calendar year, so if you want to buy a left over model you'll need to wait until the end of summer. The last few days of the month, in general, is the best time to buy. Also, January is particularly slow in the auto business, so also a good time to buy.
