It’s nice to think that buying a car at the end of the year is simple. There are sales everywhere and countdown clocks, along with lots of conversations about the “last chance” deals going on. But the truth is that there are many car-buying rules to follow that don’t simply disappear because it’s the end of the year. Don’t let yourself get caught out. Here are nine car-buying mistakes many people make towards the end of the year.
Waiting past the deadline
Quite a few December deals rely on the phrasing, “must take delivery by.” The mistake that many people make is in thinking that it means the date when you’ve finished signing papers. It actually means that the car has to be fully processed and handed over to you before the cutoff date. It needs to be officially yours.
Any detailing or transportation, even final lender approval, needs to happen before that date to receive the deal. A signed contract doesn’t necessarily lock in the offer completely. Keep an eye on the calendar to make sure that you don’t miss out.
Signing on a holiday week
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that late December and early January aren’t necessarily business as usual. It’s the time when the DMV closes, and the banks shorten their hours, while many dealerships run skeleton crews. A deal that you signed on December 23 could easily stall over the following few days or even weeks.
It’s often the case that the paperwork needs outside processing, and that can delay registration or title work even further. Your car delivery might then be pushed into January. That matters if your car’s deal depends on a December completion, so you should always take into account that some offices aren’t open over the holidays.
Treating a lease headline as the whole deal
The majority of year-end lease ads try to focus on clean numbers to hook you in. They’ll show off low monthly payments and small down payments, alongside short terms. But what they don’t shout about are the details hidden in the fine print. These details usually include things like mileage caps and per-mile overages.
They might also have disposition fees or acquisition charges that don’t disappear simply because it’s December. So many people focus on the advertised payment and forget that everything else isn’t standard. Holiday promotions dress up lease math, rather than rewriting it.
Letting a trade-in offer expire
Any trade-in quotes you receive aren’t open-ended, and that’s especially true at the end of the year. The majority of them are only valid for a week. It might be even less, should market prices change. You might see a quote and lock it in before the holidays, then find out once you come back that the number changed or expired.
What seems like a timing issue could actually take hundreds or even thousands off the deal because the car may need to be re-evaluated. You should always consider any possible delays (like family plans or dealership closures) before agreeing to a trade-in offer.
Assuming a clean-vehicle tax credit will apply
Quite a lot of people assume that they’ll automatically get the credit from an electric or plug-in vehicle. It’s something that the heavy year-end marketing seems to suggest. But the reality is that your eligibility depends on other factors. These include income limits and vehicle price caps, alongside proper dealer reporting and timing rules.
A dealer who fails to complete the required steps may cause you to miss out on your clean-vehicle tax credit. Don’t make the mistake of rushing over the holidays and assuming that the calendar alone will make it work. It won’t.
Getting to delivery day without proof of insurance ready
You might be surprised by the number of people who forget about their car insurance when buying a car. Everything moves quickly at the end of the year so people tend to forget to bring their proof of insurance. But dealerships need proof that’s tied to the exact VIN before they can release the car.
Waiting until the last minute to contact your insurer is likely going to create delays. It’s even worse at the end of the year because there will be weeks when offices close early or fully shut down. The smallest of delays in giving your insurance details could push your car delivery past the deadline.
Picking the wrong incentive
End-of-year ads often make it seem like all the deals apply at once. That’s rarely how it works. You might get a big cash rebate with one offer, then a low-interest financing deal with the other, and you’ll then have to choose between the two. The rules about add-ons like loyalty or college discounts are also different.
The sales floors are usually quite busy in December, so the workers aren’t able to explain the limits clearly. Many buyers realize far too late that the deal they imagined they were getting wasn’t actually available. Check the details before you buy.
Buying a “new” car with a warranty start date
You might be buying a “new” car, but that doesn’t mean it comes without a history. Dealers tend to sell vehicles that they used for test drives or short-term loans at the end of the year. They might even be vehicles that the manager used. These cars still qualify as new, yet the warranty on them might have started when the car actually first went into service.
Buying the vehicle as “new” doesn’t reset the warranty. You might find that the vehicle’s coverage is already months shorter, and you may not realize that until the warranty work comes up or you’re checking the mileage limits. Don’t get caught out.
Paying full-year registration costs for only a few days of driving
There’s also a weird timing issue that crops up when you buy a car in late December. Many states base their registration and related charges on the calendar year instead of how long you’ve used the car for that year. That means that you may need to pay a full annual fee because you bought the car on December 29th.
But that’s not all. You may then have to pay renewal costs again in January to cover the rest of the year. Lots of new car owners miss these costs because they’re buried in paperwork, so don’t let that be you.
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