[samuelv]

If you are particular about discounts, then get it now or wait till march'21, wherein you would be able to avail year end discounts.

Your decision to buy should ideally be need based and not revolve around the discounts.

Discounts are normally provided for cars that are in the dealer's inventory for quite sometime.

[TechLiveMANA]

Just booked my Hyundai Creta SX(O) AT earlier today. Was in the same boat but decided to take the plunge. There was no discount on offer so whether I buy it today or next month hardly made a difference from that perspective. The only impact may be another price hike by Hyundai in January (they recently hiked the price in October so not sure if the hike would be significant).

The waiting period they mentioned was 1.5 to 2 months but I have heard of cars getting allotted specially the higher end model within 2 weeks. Now, all I can do is wait and watch as to when and what (2020 model or 2021 model) will be delivered to me.

[gopaneel]

MOD NOTE : Please use the EDIT or QUOTE+ (multi-quote) button instead of typing one post after another on the SAME THREAD!
Thanks.

Originally Posted by igemini

After going through your posts, I was wondering why you were not considering the Glanza. Toyota service may be less crowded compared to than that of Maruti and probably have a slight advantage on the quality of work too. That might not be the case all the time though.

Though you have concluded, it will still good to know that the DEC/JAN purchases won't make that much of a difference, unless in certain conditions.

- Normally, there would be a price hike of 2-3% in January by most manufacturers. So buying in Dec might save you some bucks

- Normally in Dec, the manufacturers will offer some good cash discounts to clear off all their stocks. That's an added advantage

- Even if you purchase a car in Jan/Feb 2021 it is not necessary that you'll get a car newly manufactured in 2021. You may get a 2021 car probably after the end of Feb only.

- But if a new model is coming, then it's worth the wait! 2 reasons for that. One, you may get a brand model. Two. You'll get fatter discounts on the older model that is going get a facelift/replacing with an all-new model.

- Again, in that case, your booking period will be longer. Normally when a new car is launched there will be a lot of bookings than normal.

Finally, if you plan to keep the car for at least 5 years then just don't bother about all these non-sense. I do not think a Jan Registered Car will get more than 1-2% of resale value than that of a Dec registered car. It's definitely not worth the wait. As long as you are happy with the price, Just get the car you like and enjoy the car when you have it. Rest, think when you really want to sell the car.

Yes, Toyota service, the possibility of it being less crowded definitely made it easier selecting the Glanza. There was also the factor of the 3 year, 1 lakh KM warranty.

Originally Posted by na_agrawal

Hello Gopaneel, Cheers to your new T-Glanza!!

I want to share something with you. I was under the same umbrella of dilemmas as you were until you settled with your First-wheeled-love.
Back in 2016-2017, we wanted to add a new hatchback in our garage. We were looking to buy the 2016 Elite i20 Asta (o) model, as the first-gen i20 Asta which we already had in our garage was serving us pretty well as a city car. It was almost the end of 2016 and we almost booked one, BUT, I somehow got hold of a rather great piece of news that Hyundai was planning to launch the 2017 I20 active SX in petrol with 6 airbags. (Back then Active had 6 airbags only in Diesel). So I waited for them to launch, it was supposed to be a Jan 2017 first week launch, and indeed they did. But for a car to complete its journey from the launch to the keys in the customer's hand took almost 1.5 months. I ended up having that 2017 i20 Active 6 airbag petrol model in Feb 2017, a good 2.5 months of wait from Elite in December 2016 to here.

SO, what I meant to imply is, until and unless you're getting some benefit as I got on the safety front, or any other upgrade for that matter, WHY WAIT!?

Happy motoring in your new steed.
-NA

While considering the Swift, I was definitely worried about an update few days/weeks after I had gotten my car. It doesn't look like there are any upcoming updates for the Glanza. So makes it easier going for it now.

Originally Posted by Altocumulus

Congratulations on the Glanza. Go for it. No need to wait.

Btw did you consider the Ignis. I found it to be a much much better product that the Swift or Baleno and VFM. At the price of Swift Zxi and Baleno Zeta you will get the Ignis Alpha with all the bells and whistles. Fantastic in the City and pretty good on the highway too.

Thank you Somehow, not a fan of the Ignis. Can't put a reason to it. I guess, its just the popularity of the others.

Originally Posted by Sanjunair5

@gopaneel, I see you have made up your mind. Still sharing my experience.

We bought a Wagon R VXi AMT for mom in 2016 Dec. We knew we are going to keep this car for a long time and we also wanted to exchange our existing Santro (in a very bad condition). Maruti had some juicy offers at that time, if I remember correctly, some 35K off, 35K exchange bonus, some other discounts and some freebees. We went ahead and bought it and saved a handsome amount I believe.

Now, I just looked up the resale value of the car on the cars24 tool and there is a 30-40K difference between a 2016 vs 2017 car. Ours is very passionately maintained, regularly run, but low mileage car. So I believe the real difference will be known only at the time of sale and I would bet on it being lesser than the 30-40K difference shown by the tool. Even otherwise we have saved more than that amount, had the car atleast a month early, we were happier a month earlier too!!

But everything aside, I personally don't believe in the year of manufacture dimension of buying a car. You want to buy, you buy. You want to sell, you sell. Make sure you get the best deal you can in both the cases!

I put myself in the shoes of somebody who'd be buying a used car. I probably wouldn't care about Dec vs Jan, if the car was well looked after.

Once again, thanks for all the advice and encouragement, even for those not quoted.

Originally Posted by CarBot

I am getting my new Vw polo high line plus AT tomorrow. I was in same situation/ mindset, then decided to pull the trigger this month due to following reasons
1. Price hike by 20 to 40k on polo depending on variant
2. Multiple dealers were not ready to take booking for high line plus AT for TSI version for next month
3. Family was going Crazy with me always spending time on Team BHP reading the same posts over and over again

Congrats to you too

Originally Posted by TechLiveMANA

Just booked my Hyundai Creta SX(O) AT earlier today. Was in the same boat but decided to take the plunge. There was no discount on offer so whether I buy it today or next month hardly made a difference from that perspective. The only impact may be another price hike by Hyundai in January (they recently hiked the price in October so not sure if the hike would be significant).

The waiting period they mentioned was 1.5 to 2 months but I have heard of cars getting allotted specially the higher end model within 2 weeks. Now, all I can do is wait and watch as to when and what (2020 model or 2021 model) will be delivered to me.

Congrats Maruti has already announced a price hike. I guess, all manufacturers will soon jump on board, especially considering they're all doing decent numbers. The dealer says they have stock of my colour, so hopefully it should not take too long.

[nadigar]

Originally Posted by TechLiveMANA

Just booked my Hyundai Creta SX(O) AT earlier today. Was in the same boat but decided to take the plunge. There was no discount on offer so whether I buy it today or next month hardly made a difference from that perspective. The only impact may be another price hike by Hyundai in January (they recently hiked the price in October so not sure if the hike would be significant).

The waiting period they mentioned was 1.5 to 2 months but I have heard of cars getting allotted specially the higher end model within 2 weeks. Now, all I can do is wait and watch as to when and what (2020 model or 2021 model) will be delivered to me.

Same case here. I'm waiting for Altroz turbo model release but have my eyes on Nexon as well. There are no discounts or bargains, so does not make sense to book now. Increase in the prices is an unknown factor. Moreover, even if I book now, there is a waiting period of 6 to 8 weeks for Nexon which means that the price on the day of invoice applies.

A few questions for the experts - isn't the production a continuous assembly line process? Do manufacturers slow down as per December bookings or stop production in December altogether? Why does it take a month or two to reach the customers?

[TechLiveMANA]

Originally Posted by nadigar

A few questions for the experts - isn't the production a continuous assembly line process? Do manufacturers slow down as per December bookings or stop production in December altogether? Why does it take a month or two to reach the customers?

I was told a few weeks back by the sales person that Hyundai plant is shut down at the end of every year for 10 days for their Annual cleaning and Maintenance. Not sure if it's true or just another way to scare a customer to book early.

[samitjain]

If I were you, wait till Jan. 30 K is not big enough discount for one to be lured. Selling in 4-5 years, depreciation will be much more than the discount . If discount around 40-50 K you may think.

You will always be getting discount if not in Jan than in Feb of around 20K for 2021 manufacturered car

[Maverick Avi]

Originally Posted by aargee

First of all you cannot get a Jan 2021 manufactured car in Jan 2021, you might've to wait until Feb end or even Mar 2021. Yes, it takes usually that much time, it's not possible to get a hot baked car right out of the oven!!

I had the same notion untill I got my Jan 2019 manufactured Ford Aspire delivered to me on Jan 10th, 2019. Infact I recived call from dealer on Jan 5th that my car has been dispatched from factory on Jan 5th. I had my doubts so I did all possible checks like VIN decoding, invoice verification etc to make sure I am not being handed over 2018 vehicle and the car passed with flying colors. So much so I had written to Ford India to confirm the same.

So this notion that many of us have(including me) is not true. I actually got a hot baked car right off the oven.

[Raghu M]

Originally Posted by fazayal

Buy the car in 2020 and get it registered in 2021. Resale would be better than 2020 registered car (but less than 2021 manufactured car).

It's a good point but the RC will show the vehicle manufactured as 2020. The resale of a vehicle will most likely be decided based on two questions - 1. Which year model and 2. How many kms on the odo. I think registering the car in 2021 will not help increase the resale value.

[fazayal]

Originally Posted by Raghu M

It's a good point but the RC will show the vehicle manufactured as 2020. The resale of a vehicle will most likely be decided based on two questions - 1. Which year model and 2. How many kms on the odo. I think registering the car in 2021 will not help increase the resale value.

Sir, I have worked in used car industry in procurement department. There is a pricing grid for car of every year. If price for a car for 2015 model is say 2.5 lakhs and that for 2016 model is 3 lakhs, for a car manufactured in 2015 but registered in 2016, the price offered would be average of 2015 and 2016. From the above example it would be 2.75 lakhs.

There is a terminology for these cars as well in Mumbai. It's called "2015-16 kachcha pakka"

Once the grid price is established, how many kms on odo, condition of the car etc. would come into play.

Makes sense to register the car next year even if it's manufactured in current year.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by NiInJa

Actually its quite the opposite sometimes

Originally Posted by Maverick Avi

I actually got a hot baked car right off the oven.

Just to clarify, I was offered a Silver SCro 1.6 as old as 2 weeks ago versus Caffeine Brown from the yard made 1 month ago in Mar 2017, these are exceptions; not all the time all the cars are delivered out of oven. Most cars are cold & stored in dealer's yard before an owner adopts one.

[itsashishsharma]

Resale value won't be much to affect your decision vis-a-vis the discounts you would get now.
But why the Swift? It's 2 star NCAP rating doesn't bother you?

[Raghu M]

Originally Posted by fazayal

Sir, I have worked in used car industry in procurement department. There is a pricing grid for car of every year. If price for a car for 2015 model is say 2.5 lakhs and that for 2016 model is 3 lakhs, for a car manufactured in 2015 but registered in 2016, the price offered would be average of 2015 and 2016. From the above example it would be 2.75 lakhs.

There is a terminology for these cars as well in Mumbai. It's called "2015-16 kachcha pakka"

Once the grid price is established, how many kms on odo, condition of the car etc. would come into play.

Makes sense to register the car next year even if it's manufactured in current year.

Interesting, I have myself bought a few used cars and sold them too. For us in Hyd, it's mostly the year of manufacture straight, that's it. The buyer gets pretty stubborn with the year as he has a higher ground to bargain.

[gopaneel]

Originally Posted by itsashishsharma

Resale value won't be much to affect your decision vis-a-vis the discounts you would get now.
But why the Swift? It's 2 star NCAP rating doesn't bother you?

I've mentioned that I've gone ahead with the Glanza. I think the Baleno was rated 3 stars, not sure if it is the Indian version though. I did think about the NCAP ratings. But in this price range or lesser, the only offerings with better ratings are the Tiago and Altroz. While the Hyundai's feel more solidly built, I don't think they have been crash tested and the ratings for Seltos don't give much confidence either. For me, the priority was a fuss free ownership and service. So Maruti/Toyota was an easier choice than the Tatas. The 1.2K series engine also seems a better engine than the Hyundai and Tata 1.2 engines.

[abbyanish]

I would just go for the December model and take as much as discounts possible. Over it I usually keep the car nice and clean everyday. I aim to buy the car for my convenience and liking which are the major factors, re-sale is just a tertiary factor. I usually keep my car 5-7 years and I've sold my well kept car for better prices against newer models as some buyers don't maintain their car well which would obviously take a hit on the resale price.

[rkw]

Originally Posted by gopaneel

I've tried to find threads related to December vs January car purchases, but I only found threads older than 2010. I would like to hear from wise bhpians whether it is worth spending 30k more for a January manufactured car. Or if it makes sense to go for the Swift now, save 30k and get my first car ASAP

I would suggest availing Dec. discount if you are not planning to sell this car within 3 years or if there is no imminent launch of a new model in Q1 of the calendar year. Moreover, for getting a car manufactured in Jan. 2021, you will have to wait till Feb. 2021. I don't think it is worth in above given situations.