Car sales increase week after Christmas
‘Tis the season for car shopping. National car groups, such as Auto Trader, said one of the best times to buy a car is the end of the year.
Local car dealerships agree. Dealerships in Pocatello said they see an increase in customers and sales the week after Christmas, leading up to the new year.
After Christmas sales, spending holiday bonuses, possible tax deductions and getting a car to start off the new year. Those are just some of the reasons car dealerships said the number of customers increases after Christmas.
Garth Hall, used car director at Pocatello Nissan Kia, said this week is an important week for dealerships. And so far, they’re seeing good business.
“Sales have been good,” Hall said. “We had a really good day Monday, even in the midst of the big snow storm. And we’ve had good traffic every day this week. This is always a big week in the car business.”
And Robert Allen Auto said they have also seen a significant increase in business.
“It was kind of slow around Christmas, we had a couple of storms,” said Colby Helton, a salesman at Robert Allen. “And traffic kind of slowed down, the numbers have spiked, and we’ve seen more floor traffic, more interest on the internet, all around more consumers.”
Car dealers said this time of year is not only beneficial for them, but it’s a good deal for consumers as well.
“This is a perfect storm, if you will, for the consumer,” Hall said. “Perfect storm for buying cars. The manufacturers have cars they want to get out of their inventory, the dealers have cars they want to get out of their inventory, and the lenders want to put more loans on the books.”
Local dealerships said it’s an important week for them also because they need to sell cars and make way for 2017 inventory.
Hall said some of the deals Pocatello Nissan Kia is offering for the holidays to help move inventory are rebates, financing, zero percent or low interest rates, and several dealership discounts.
Nissan Kia also has a special edition Nissan Rogue. The company partnered with the filmmaker for the new Star Wars Rogue One movie to launch the Rogue One campaign. The new Nissan Rogue models have several Star Wars logos and features.
Robert Allen Auto offers a referral program, warranties, lifetime car washes and other discounts. Helton said the dealership gets new inventory weekly for customers to check out.
