For the last three years, car dealers have been in the driver’s seat when it comes to negotiating price. Shortages of cars for sale led to record high prices for both new and used cars.
Some new car dealers still charge buyers thousands of dollars over the sticker price on the most popular models. But consumers who aren’t wedded to a particular brand or model now have new negotiating power.
A study by automotive marketplace iSeeCars.com has identified the makes and models of both used and new cars that take a relatively long time to sell. Dealers may be more eager to move them and therefore, may be more flexible on the sale price.
For example, the Tesla Model S sits on the lot for an average of 88 days before it sells. When it does sell, the average price is still pretty high, a little over $65,000. The 2023 Tesla Model S starts at $78,490.
If that stretches your budget, you might consider the Buick Envision. It sits on a dealer’s lot for an average of 82 days and sells for an average price of $29,057.
Other vehicles on the slow-selling list are more expensive, at least for now. The Ford Mustang Mach-E takes about 75 days to sell while the Cadillac XT4 sells in about 72 days.
Most used cars sell a lot faster
In comparison, the average used vehicle sells in 49 days. After that, dealers start to get a little anxious and buyers may find they have a little more leverage.
“Used car prices were initially driven up by a lack of new car inventory,” said iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. “Now there are plenty of new cars on dealer lots, but consumers aren’t rushing out to buy them. The new car average time-to-sale is down by more than 25 percent even as used cars are selling 6.1 percent faster. This shows buyers are continuing to seek value in the used car market – despite a wide range of new car options.”
If an electric vehicle (EV) is on your shopping list it appears to be an ideal time to buy. Brauer says EV sales have slowed to a crawl, with new EVs moving from 25.2 days to sell to 50 days over the past year.
Used EVs are selling even slower, shifting from an average of 26.4 days a year ago to 57.8 days now, a 120 percent increase. These EVs are selling slower despite major price drops over the past year.
The slowest-selling new car is the Jeep Cherokee, which sits on the lot for an average of 128 days and sells for an average price of $39,238.