See all Motoring AdviceHistorically, much has been made of the arrival of new registrations in the automotive world, and with good reason. For dealerships, importers and manufacturers, the arrival of the new plate on January 1 means a flurry of new business in the lead-up, as customers clamour to show all their neighbours that their car is the newest.
But the new number plate doesn’t just appeal to people’s vanity. In theory, a car registered on July 1 could be more valuable than one registered on June 30, simply because it ‘looks’ much newer in the classifieds. Whatever, the new plate is a watershed moment in the Irish car market, and it gets lots of people excited for lots of reasons.
However, while new cars registered in January might impress the neighbours, the months surrounding the plate change are not necessarily the best time to go car shopping. With so much demand, manufacturers are less keen to discount vehicles, so the deals aren’t quite as good as they might otherwise be. But that doesn’t mean those scouring the used car market can’t pick up a great deal in January, and here are the reasons why.
You’ve missed the rush
While January 1 makes all the headlines, those wishing to be the first to have a new registration have already placed their orders, and dealers simply deliver the cars in January. So, while there is clearly still some demand for vehicles around this time, the rush for new cars with the latest plate has ended.
As a result, dealers can sometimes be scrabbling around for sales, and they’re always keen to get prospective buyers through the door. Whether you’re interested in a new or used car, dealers are going to be more than happy to see you stroll into their showroom when they’re quiet. And if post-Christmas business is slow, sales executives are more likely to want to seal the deal with the odd juicy discount here and there.
You have lots of choice
The vanity of new car buyers in January three years ago is a Godsend to used car buyers in January this year. With a substantial proportion of new cars purchased on finance deals — many of which last one, two, three or four years — January often sees a large number of cars returned to the dealer and subsequently flooding the forecourt.
As a result, January and February give used car buyers the chance to scour a big pool of vehicles fresh from their first owners. Some will still have warranties, and some will have surprisingly few kilometres on the clock, while you’ll get a choice of colours, specifications and conditions. And while you might not be getting the latest number plate out there, a nearly new car is still going to give you a bit of kudos in the neighbourhood.
You could grab a bargain (pt 1)
Like all salespeople, car dealers have targets to hit, and those targets could be for the calendar year or the fiscal year. They might even be for both. Either way, you could find yourself getting a great deal in January, February or March because dealers want to shift their stock.
That means some dealers might have pre-registered cars in December to try and hit a quarterly or calendar-year target and could be selling them cheaply in the new year to get them off the books. Admittedly, it’s a bit of a gamble, and January might not always offer much choice of nearly-new vehicles, but if you can deal with that (and the fact they may have the ‘old’ number plate), January might be a good time to buy. After all, who can say the prospect of a nearly new car with little more than delivery mileage doesn’t appeal?
You could grab a bargain (pt 2)
Pre-registered cars aren’t the only way of getting a good deal in the new year, though. Even if you don’t go down the pre-registration route, you can still get some good deals on relatively young, low-mileage cars. Some dealers might try to drum up a bit of business with a kind of January sale, while others will simply want to get cars out of the door before the new financial year kicks off. And remember, though franchised dealers are predominantly incentivised to sell new vehicles, a sale is a sale, and they’re just as happy to get used cars off the forecourt.