Buy Now or wait?

[GBergen]

I realize there is a lot of buying experience on this site, so I gotta ask.
One of the local dealers here has quite a few 2020 3500's on the lots they have. I've read a few posts that show that 10k off MSRP can happen, but I didn't catch if that was with "incentives" or not. Right now they are coming down 8k with my cash deal. This will be my primary RV tow vehicle come spring, so It will be the daily driver until then and I have a second car, so there is no urgency on my part.

Here is the question: Buy a 2020 in December before the end of the month or wait until January? What has been the experience of buying at the end of the year? I wonder how long they can hang on to 2020 models before they fire-sale them.

Thanks for the insight.
GBergen

 

[RammerJam]

I realize there is a lot of buying experience on this site, so I gotta ask.
One of the local dealers here has quite a few 2020 3500's on the lots they have. I've read a few posts that show that 10k off MSRP can happen, but I didn't catch if that was with "incentives" or not. Right now they are coming down 8k with my cash deal. This will be my primary RV tow vehicle come spring, so It will be the daily driver until then and I have a second car, so there is no urgency on my part.

Here is the question: Buy a 2020 in December before the end of the month or wait until January? What has been the experience of buying at the end of the year? I wonder how long they can hang on to 2020 models before they fire-sale them.

Thanks for the insight.
GBergen

Trying to 'time the market' is a fool's errand. Don't ask me how I know. It hurts just thinking about it, but that was 30 years ago.

If you want one, get it and don't look back. IOW, once you buy it, stop shopping. Completely.

Sometimes, Dealers (thru the OEM) offer a good incentive when you finance through them. If it's a decent rate (it often is) I'll finance for a year and then pay it off when the year is over. They usually require you keep the loan open/financed for a minimum period of time. Find out what that is. Put a pencil to it.

They'll be gone before you know it. A lot of people (like me) wait until the year-end sales to buy a new car or truck. They're be gone except for the ugly ones and the ones that wouldn't test-drive right for some reason..

OTOH, very few 21's have even hit the car lots yet.

So my advice to you is, if you like the deal, if you think it's decent deal and you want a new truck -- Go for it. Then quit shopping.

Will there be better deals later on? Absolutely NO doubt about it. I promise you, there will be better deals than what you got. Somewhere.

Look at the 21's. I don't see them being such good deals right now. I can't tell you what to do, just use good common sense and don't look back.

 

[seahawkdodge]

Great advice Rammer. It never pays to go back and look at deals after you purchased yours.

Honestly, the best deals on vehicles I have ever gotten were in this time period. Late November, early December. You may find a better deal later, or you may not.

 

[GBergen]

Trying to 'time the market' is a fool's errand. Don't ask me how I know. It hurts just thinking about it, but that was 30 years ago.

If you want one, get it and don't look back. IOW, once you buy it, stop shopping. Completely.

Sometimes, Dealers (thru the OEM) offer a good incentive when you finance through them. If it's a decent rate (it often is) I'll finance for a year and then pay it off when the year is over. They usually require you keep the loan open/financed for a minimum period of time. Find out what that is. Put a pencil to it.

They'll be gone before you know it. A lot of people (like me) wait until the year-end sales to buy a new car or truck. They're be gone except for the ugly ones and the ones that wouldn't test-drive right for some reason..

OTOH, very few 21's have even hit the car lots yet.

So my advice to you is, if you like the deal, if you think it's decent deal and you want a new truck -- Go for it. Then quit shopping.

Will there be better deals later on? Absolutely NO doubt about it. I promise you, there will be better deals than what you got. Somewhere.

Look at the 21's. I don't see them being such good deals right now. I can't tell you what to do, just use good common sense and don't look back.

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gotcha, thanks for the reply rammerjam. As my buying experience has been in some instances, the guy before me gets "the last coupon deal" and I get near full price.
Like you mentioned above, the dealer is offering more dollars off if I finance through CRAM for 6 months. I'm working through what the difference would be between my lower credit union interest and RAMs' for that six months. No doubt my credit union interest rate will be higher than it is today @ 2.86%... If it works out, I'll make a move on the purchase.
I agree, buyers remorse is an issue when you see a deal somewhere else that would have save another chunk of cash.
Cheers

 

[DonFitzwater]

A friend of mine just purchased a 2500 Ram Cummins Longhorn last Saturday. He put up a bit of a challenge and ultimately paid 12k less than sticker. Now is the time depending on incentives and how much product the dealer needs to move.

 

[GBBrown]

First mistake is telling them you're paying cash..make the deal get a final price then tell them.

 

[terb]

How can they force you to keep a loan opened and not pay it off when you want to?

 

[RammerJam]

How can they force you to keep a loan opened and not pay it off when you want to?

They can't force you to keep the finance deal open anymore than you can force them to honor the discount if you don't abide by their terms.

 

[Ltngdrvr]

I realize there is a lot of buying experience on this site, so I gotta ask.
One of the local dealers here has quite a few 2020 3500's on the lots they have. I've read a few posts that show that 10k off MSRP can happen, but I didn't catch if that was with "incentives" or not. Right now they are coming down 8k with my cash deal. This will be my primary RV tow vehicle come spring, so It will be the daily driver until then and I have a second car, so there is no urgency on my part.

Here is the question: Buy a 2020 in December before the end of the month or wait until January? What has been the experience of buying at the end of the year? I wonder how long they can hang on to 2020 models before they fire-sale them.

Thanks for the insight.
GBergen

What part of the country are you in?
Generally speaking, before the end of December is better than January, dealers want to get inventory off the lot before the next year's inventory tax gets levied.
But, to answer the question posed in the thread title, YES.

Also, HD RAM dually is not a great daily driver...

 

[RammerJam]

First mistake is telling them you're paying cash..make the deal get a final price then tell them.

They actually prefer you finance it. They make more money on finance deals. The saying 'Cash is King' died about the same time as Leisure Suits

 

[Ltngdrvr]

They don't "force" you to keep the financing, what they do is charge a penalty for early payoff.

 

[RammerJam]

What part of the country are you in?
Generally speaking, before the end of December is better than January, dealers want to get inventory off the lot before the next year's inventory tax gets levied.
But, to answer the question posed in the thread title, YES.

Also, HD RAM dually is not a great daily driver...

The Factories re-do their incentives every quarter. Jan 1 will have totally different incentives than we have now.

And, I agree. No dually is a great daily driver. It's an awful lot of truck.

And they suck in the snow unless you hit the 4WD switch. Then you get onto dry pavement and..... If you need a dually, get one. There's no substitute. If you don't need one, think really hard about it. They're a PITD

 

[Cummins12V98]

Personally I would order EXACTLY what you want. Give several dealers your dream truck specs and let them battle. Invoice plus incentives is a minimum deal.

 

[RammerJam]

They don't "force" you to keep the financing, what they do is charge a penalty for early payoff.

Cops don't 'force' you to obey the speed limit.

They charge you a penalty if you don't, however.

But, yeah. The financing company charges a penalty and/or you lose whatever incentive they gave you. It's usually in the $2,000 range. Sometimes more, often less.

And nobody says you have to finance the whole amount. I financed $5k on my Ram. Paid the rest in cash and trade.

On many of the loans, (you need to check) you can finance let's say -- $50k, make a first payment of $45k and your interest is chicken feed. So I don't get the resistance by some to using the financing they offer.

 

[GBergen]

I'll be looking for the minimum time limits. I'm hoping that telling them I'm paying cash is the ONLY mistake, but that has not been my luck.
The truck has what I want on it, I have few needs for frills.

I compared several trucks using this site by comparing window stickers and then contacting the deal that had the truck.
It this is a site of interest for you, change the VIN number to what you want in the address bar.

BTW, I'm in SW Idaho between Boise and Ontario Oregon.
The desired truck is Very similar to the window sticker in the link I put in the thread, it's an HD SRW LB CC. built in November 2020

Thanks for the tips, I appreciate the sharing of experience. I have an appointment with the sales guy Monday to see what's what.
Cheers,

 

[RammerJam]

I'll be looking for the minimum time limits. I'm hoping that telling them I'm paying cash is the ONLY mistake, but that has not been my luck.
The truck has what I want on it, I have few needs for frills.

I compared several trucks using this site by comparing window stickers and then contacting the deal that had the truck.
It this is a site of interest for you, change the VIN number to what you want in the address bar.

BTW, I'm in SW Idaho between Boise and Ontario Oregon.
The desired truck is Very similar to the window sticker in the link I put in the thread, it's an HD SRW LB CC. built in November 2020

Thanks for the tips, I appreciate the sharing of experience. I have an appointment with the sales guy Monday to see what's what.
Cheers,

Discounts and Incentives are Zip Code specific and some States make it very nearly impossible to buy from another State. Believe it. Some Dealers are using the Kung Flu as an excuse to not do out-of-state deals, some just don't wanna mess with it.

Like I said in the above post, who cares what the time limit is? They usually only require to keep the loan open for a year or so. And there will be a minimum amount to finance to get the discount. On my Ram it was $5k so that is exactly what I financed. At 2.7% -- How can you go wrong saving a thousand dollars and only financing $5k?

And even then, I could pay off all but a few hundred dollars and cut my interest expense down to near zero if I wanted to. I don't, but I could.

And make the sales guy your friend. He's not, but pretend he is. You'll probably get a better deal if he thinks you're a pal. A lot of them don't really get commission anymore. Some get paid out of the 'Dealer Fee'. Don't know, but most of them would rather make $300 on a slam dunk than have a pig-fight with a jerk for a month trying to make an extra couple hundred. They're stressed just like any other salesman. They got quotas. Numbers is what they want.

Don't go in there like some hair-chested, gold-chain-wearing, Cadillac-driving 'playa' -- Not that you would. I don't believe that for a second. But they get 'em. I guarantee you.

Be yourself. Enjoy the experience. In the middle of the back-and-forth, take a little break for lunch with the Wife or whoever you're with. Good for the brain and good to make the salesman think. Also, be prepared to walk. At all times, be prepared to walk out the door. Not mad, just gone.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Send your specs to Dennis Dillon and Dave Smith both in Idaho.

 

[DonFitzwater]

They don't "force" you to keep the financing, what they do is charge a penalty for early payoff.

Only in certain states. In Alaska we have protections from penalty due to early payoff.

 

[GBergen]

Thanks RammerJam, all good points.
As much as I tried to as a kid, I can't be someone I'm not anymore. As Popeye Said " I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam" No Playa here..

The numbers are working out that their offer for $1500 additional off the best price if I finance with ChryslerRam.
As I compare interest payments between taking their finance offer, and my credit union at 1.1% lower, the actual discount is $1300 as I would pay about $200 more in interest with ChryslerRam. Providing there are no penalties I can find in the fine print, I'll be refinancing. My credit union said the truck is less than 2 years old so it still qualifies as a "NEW" truck for refi. So, I'm getting to where I need to be for financing for the truck I need.
Thanks again to all for the input. I kept my 04,2500 HO CC LB for 16 years & 171k, with a little care, this one should go further.
Cheers

 

[GBergen]

@ Cummins12V98
Hmm, I hadn't considered them because when I did the build a truck thing on the RAM site, those dealerships didn't come up with the specs I wanted when I hit the find a truck in 250 miles. It may be worth reaching out before I visit the other dealership here in Boise.
Thanks for the reminder.