Best time to buy a used car ?

[Redmires]

Is there a best time to buy a used car ? The lease car goes back around March and I'll be looking to buy a slightly used car - less than 18 months and less than 10k miles. I've not decided which car yet but it will be nothing fancy as I don't want to spend more than £16k or £17k. I fancy another hybrid as I'm used to decent MPG and an auto gearbox etc. The Hyundai Ioniq is looking favourite at the moment and I've seen some listed on the Motorpoint site - has anyone on here got one ? The question is .....

Is Jan - Feb a good time to buy as trade will be quiet and good deals are to be had. Or perhaps March / April when the new reg comes out so in theory there will be more choice of used cars ?

TIA

PS. I'm not a car person. I have a motorbike for my kicks so a car is merely a tin box on wheels. It just needs to be reliable and economical etc.

[bungeejumper]

The last day of any quarter - 31st December, 31st March etc. The salesmen are chasing their quarterly performance bonuses and will do a lot to make a sale at those times. We bought my wife's 3 year old Golf on 30th December, and the salesman quite literally doubled the trade-in he was offering us on her 11 year old Polo. Only about £1,000 over the odds, but heck, it all counts.

Honest John is usually good on this subject. Car supermarkets might operate slightly different rules from main dealer forecourts. But FWIW, I bought my 18 month old Toyota from a main dealer for just half the sticker price on a new one - which I considered, for £10.5K, was quite a satisfactory deal. All that, and 42 months of the manufacturer's five year warranty still to run...

It's also worth checking out whether there are any new models coming in which might make the pre-registered old models less desirable on the forecourts - I once got 25% off a brand new car for that reason, and I didn't even have to haggle.

BJ

[Redmires]

Thanks for that BJ

As for end of line models, I also have my eye on the Toyota Auris Hybrid. They stopped making them last month (my mate works at the factory) ready for the launch of the new Auris/Corolla in March. There could be some bargains around come spring time.

[bungeejumper]

Thanks for that BJ

As for end of line models, I also have my eye on the Toyota Auris Hybrid. They stopped making them last month (my mate works at the factory) ready for the launch of the new Auris/Corolla in March. There could be some bargains around come spring time.

As it happens, mine is an Auris, although it's a 1.6 petrol estate from 2014. Not a thrilling car, with 134 bhp, but by gosh it's well put together. And quite ridiculously spacious in the rear loading area - although rear seat legroom is still an inch or two less generous than the Golf. (Not an issue for us - we use it for two-up camping safaris in France.)

The word from the owners' forums is that the 1.8 hybrids get pretty close to their claimed mpg. I put Michelin Primacy 4s on mine, which has sharpened up the famously 'un-feely' Toyota cornering no end. Would do it all over again, any time.

BJ