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Avoid Buying a Used Car During These Holidays if You Want to Save Big

If you’ve spent any amount of time on the internet as of late, you will have likely been bombarded with car sale ads. More specifically, Black Friday deals and Christmas specials. However, while buying a used car is a great idea to save money, purchasing during these final holidays of the year won’t get you …

If you’ve spent any amount of time on the internet as of late, you will have likely been bombarded with car sale ads. More specifically, Black Friday deals and Christmas specials. However, while buying a used car is a great idea to save money, purchasing during these final holidays of the year won’t get you the best deal. In fact, a new study by iSeeCars found that the two best holidays of the year to pull the trigger on a used car are actually in January.

Save big by buying a used car during these holidays

A black 2021 Hyundai Palisade parked on display
The 2021 Hyundai Palisade on display | Photo via Hyundai

If you’ve got your eyes set on a used car, these are the best holidays to buy during if you want a great deal. According to iSeeCars, Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 18th is the absolute best holiday to buy a used car. That’s because there are 39.2 percent more deals available than average. As a result, you’ll spend the absolute least. Next up, we’ve got New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. On these two days, you’ll find 20.5 percent more deals than average, says iSeeCars.

From there, it quickly drops. Christmas Eve offers up 18.1 percent more used car deals on average, while Veterans Day comes in fourth place with 11.9 percent. Ironically, Thanksgiving and Black Friday come dead last with 2.7 percent more deals. This means that despite all of the ads you’ve seen online, there aren’t that many more used car deals available. The answer is clear. If you can hold off from buying toward the end of the year, you’ll set yourself up for massive savings at the beginning of the year.

These are the worst holidays to buy a used car

2020 Ford Explorer Limited in the wild
2020 Ford Explorer Limited | Ford

Now that you know the best holidays to buy a used car let’s go over the ones you should avoid. According to iSeeCars, the absolute worst holiday to buy a vehicle is July 4th. That’s because, on July 4th, there are 18.6 percent fewer used car deals on average, says iSeeCars. This comes as a result of the nice summer weather. During this time, more buyers are willing to buy a used car already, so there’s no need for good deals.

Next up, you’ll want to avoid Fathers Day if you want to buy a used car. That’s because iSeeCars found that there are 15.5 percent fewer deals available. From there, Memorial Day and Mothers Day improve slightly with 14.7 percent and 10.9 percent fewer deals, respectively. By this point, you’ve noticed that all of these holidays take place when the weather is at its nicest. As a result, you’ll want to buy a used car when no one else wants to.

Forget the holidays, buy during these months

2020 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro is on display at the 111th Annual Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois on February 8, 2019.
2020 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro | Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

Like with the holidays, the best months to buy a used car are when winter is in full swing. According to iSeeCars, January is the best month to buy with 28.7 more used car deals, while June is the worst at 16.9 percent fewer car deals available.

Ironically, this has plenty to do with new car buyers. That’s because, according to iSeeCars, wintertime sees tons of people trading in used vehicles for new ones. This is likely due to the large availability of new car deals. The result is that opportunistic used vehicle buyers can then take advantage of these trade-ins in January when they are re-listed for sale. Regardless of which car you’re interested in, if you can skip these final holidays and wait for January, you’ll save big time.

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