Want an inside tip from one of the biggest auto dealers in South Texas? Now is the best time of the year to buy a new car.
Vic Vaughn, who owns both Toyota and Nissan dealerships, tells 1200 WOAI's Michael Board that there are a lot of things that make the last week of the year a smart time to buy.
"Its a perfect storm, the manufacturers are trying to finish their year, so the incentives have never been higher," Vaughn said. "The dealers are trying to finish not only their month but their year, so they are making deals."
Its been a hot and cold year for car dealers. Earlier in the year, unsold inventory was sitting on car lots, largely because the car industry's push of leasing in the years following the Great Recession led to an excess of high quality late model used cars on lots, depressing the market for new cars.
Then came Hurricane Harvey, which flooded tens of thousands of cars, and when those insurance checks started coming in, people flocked to dealerships, especially in southeast Texas and the Coastal Bend.
But inventory levels right now are still high, and Vaughn says the goal of car dealers at this time of year is to draw down inventory.
"At our Toyota store, we are selling forty to forty five plus a day, even in this weather, and we expect to get bigger and bigger and bigger through the end of the year."
Vaughn says something else that makes this a huge week for car sales is the fact that many people are off work this week, so they are spending their vacation flocking to car dealerships.