When is the best time to buy a car?

No insults or unhelpful comments tafadhali, that’s not productive. Help educate people if you have information, if not keep it moving.

I was informed that the best time to buy a car is at the end of the year holiday season/early Q1 the following year due to car importers looking to get rid of the current cars they have and rush to import the new year ones.
Be it used locally, or imported but new/barely driven locally or just importing as well.

How true is this and what information can you offer on this topic?

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Year best time to buy is at the end of the year since we have age limit of 8yrs, the dealers will be desperate to get rid of 8 year old cars before cut-off 31st Dec. Also at the end of each quarters where most car auctions or sales agents will be desperate to hit their KPIs

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It’s true.
Kenya is one of the major destinations for ex-japan vehicles. The last 2-3 months of the year, sales agent work round the clock to sell as many units as possible before the 8 year rule locks out some of their units.
When importing negotiate with the sales agent in Japan and you will get the best offer since they are desperate.
Some importing companies even ship vehicles and look or buyers when the vessel is on the move. Last year prices went down kabisa because of the effects of Covid-19 on global trade. This year am not sure how the market will behave from Oct to Dec.

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Make sure gari enye unanunua ni ya 2014 ikianza na inafika kenya na zile meli za mwisho around week ya Christmas

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Right now is not a perfect time to buy a car. Unless you are in terrible need, waiting 6 months will be really good on your pocketbook.
That’s because a global shortage of semiconductor chips supplied primarily from Southeast Asia—where COVID-19 cases are among the highest in the world—has forced automakers to cut production. Nearly 20 auto factories have stopped or reduced production in recent weeks due to supply chain issues, affecting plants across the globe. The result has already been far fewer vehicles on dealer lots, leaving consumers with limited choices and higher prices.

January -September kama ni import. In case of shipping delays uko safe side. You wont lack sleep at night because of the thoughts that KRA will crush your car at the port of Mombasa. This year gari ya kutoka Yokohama end of April ilifika Mombasa August. COVID chieth, shipping delays bla bla bla…

if you are buying from japan auction which is the cheapest place you can buy a car the best time is march April, this is because that’s the time Japanese car owners need to renew their car road certificates and for those who wish to dispose of their cars they do it at this time, from Kenyan importers I think towards the end of the year since they are trying to clear the year’s inventory as quickly as possible

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Buy only when you have 10x the value of the car in cash or liquid assets.

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his is a misguided mentality, a car is a basic necessity especially if you have a family and you will use it in your daily endeavors to make more money, the only time I can discourage one from buying a car is when buying the the car only for leisure

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Boss,nunua gari saa zile pesa iko. Utangoja ,three months,six month then god forbid kitu ikunyambie then hizo pesa umeweka will be looking at you in some ways ibidi story ya gari iko back bench. Kama ni bei inasumbua wewe,kuna watu desperate huko nje saa hii unaeza angukia ukichapa raundi

Sisi wenye hatuna family tutupe our 4 cars?

Calendar ya Japan na ya kenya hazipelekani. Saa hii Japan wako March

Watu wagani.

Hii nayo sikubaliani nayo. Hii ni advice ya ndege ama boat but si gari. While I advocate not using the car when you don’t need to, am not going to advocate this arbitrary 10x value thing. Unataka kuniambia the people with a LWB Autobiography have 400m in Cash or Liquid assets? If unangoja kua na 10m /- in cash and liquid assets to buy a Toyota Fielder basi good for you.

As for the OP why buy from a car yard? You can do the entire importation process on your own. Kama unaona itakulemea basi inbox me nikupe recommendation someone who will do it for you at a small fee (70k). Will save you 100k+ for a 700k car and above.

While everyone has their priorities in life, it is important to note that these are governed by several factors key of which is age and financial literacy. Young people often look at vehicles as a source of competitive advantage.

You can look at many successful people (not tenderpreneurs, social media clout chasers or corrupt individuals) and you will notice most drive vehicles they can actually afford.

The vast majority of car owners who struggle to afford it will always be heard complaining about non issues such as maintenance costs and resale value etc. If any of these are things you struggle with, car ownership is not for you. Financial literacy helps you understand that these are recurrent costs which need to be factored into your budget.

The reason there’s a 10 % of your networth rule (and NOT 10 % of your cash and liquid assets which is ridiculous) for boats and planes is because those two can turn a multi millionaire into a pauper in the blink of an eye. A car will not, most of the time. With 30k a month most cars can be fueled and maintained comfortably.
Take a family of 5, mother, father and 3 kids commuting. They live in langata, dad works in town, mom works in Westlands, kids school in Kianda. It makes perfect sense for this family to own an easy to maintain junk Toyota. Its utility far outweighs the costs, even if you include opportunity cost and depreciation.
To address your question, yes, it is common sense to drive a car you can afford. No one is advocating living beyond your means. But to peg it at 10X your cash and liquid assets is ridiculous. According to CBK (2019) only 0.7 % of Kenyan Bank Accounts have 1m or more in them. 1m in cash by your rule means utafute gari ya 100k? Get serious with some of these ideas.

How many Kenyans buy new cars? We are talking about vehicles that were produced in the ancient times (2014)

Now that most Kenyans have less than a million in liquid assets, when the option to purchase a vehicle comes up, say 700k worth, why would someone risk 70% of their liquid value on a single purchase? The fixed assets you have don’t count because you will most likely not liquidate it to cover the cost.

They will most likely opt for financing from a financial institution and this will most likely be available for a larger amount say 1.5m - 1.8m. Mtu akiona there’s UpTo 1.8m available to splurge si atanunua a flosset. Kwani Iko nini omera, pesa otas!

By that single move, you have endangered your fixed assets and simultaneously lowered your net worth for the value of the vehicle will depreciate every single day you own it.

I don’t know much about luxury yachts and planes but I do know their annual operating expenses amount to about 10% of the purchase price. We do not have such an industry standard figure for the operating costs of a vehicle.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/hidden-costs-of-owning-a-superyacht/index.html

You have to do a cost benefit analysis. What utility are you deriving from the vehicle? Is it worth the cost? If you are a 30 yr old bachelor living in Nairobi West and working in Town then you are probably not deriving much utility from it. It might make more sense to sink that 700k on something else that generates cash flow or grows your wealth.
There’s no one size fits all answer. Just don’t live beyond your means. Be sensible. But waiting till you have 10x the price of the car in liquid assets is not realistic or practical for most people. Also it’s easy to get an estimate of the cost of operating most cars. There’s no car you are going to buy that no one else has (well unless you are Donald Kipkorir or AhmednassirLaw). So search around and you will get an estimate. The 30k a month figure I gave you is sufficient for most sensible commuter cars on Kenyan roads.

Haaai