Looking for a car? These vehicles could be bargain buys due to pandemic, report says
If you’re looking for a car, you may be able to negotiate lower prices on certain models during the coronavirus pandemic, a new report finds.
That’s because dealers could be willing to offer bargains on used cars that are the toughest to sell, according to findings published this month from iSeeCars.
To find a deal, your best bet could be the Tesla Model 3, which saw a 24% drop in sales from February to March, according to the car search tool. The figure represents the percentage of listed cars that were bought within a month, results show.
“The Tesla Model 3 is typically in very high demand, and as a result, it is the used car with the best resale value,” Phong Ly, CEO of iSeeCars.com, said. “However, because they are lingering on lots now is the time when dealers may offer more deals than usual.”
The Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, Volkswagen Atlas, Mitsubishi Lacrosse and Tesla Model X rounded out the top five in the website’s rankings of the cars with the greatest slowdown in sales.
To come up with its findings, iSeeCars studied more than 1.8 million used car listings to figure out the percentage of each model that sold within 30 days, according to the results. The website says it tracked data from Feb. 1 to March 18, around the time restrictions were implemented across the United States to help stop the spread of the COVID-19.
“Overall car sales have plummeted as a result of stay-at-home orders and the economic downturn,” Ly said in the iSeeCars report. ”But for those fortunate enough to be able to make a car purchase, now is an opportune time as dealers increasingly need to move inventory, and these slow-selling models could present great deals.”
Nationwide, Pennsylvania had the biggest month-to-month decline in vehicle purchases while Idaho saw the least effects, according to the findings from February to March.
“Unlike Pennsylvania, car sales weren’t banned in Idaho and were permitted as long as social distancing measures were followed,” Ly said in the iSeeCars report.
Of the top 50 metro areas, the slide impacted Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the most, data show. Norfolk, Virginia, had the lowest month-to-month drop in auto sales, according to the findings.
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Looking for a car? These vehicles could be bargain buys due to pandemic, report says."
