Levi Bath – Page 7 – OffRoad Lifestyles

When you’re thinking about making the huge purchasing decision of buying a UTV for yourself or your family, you want to make sure you’re getting the best deal! I’ve been into offroad since I was a kid and am now a family man with a wife and three kids and lately we have been eyeballing four-seat Side by Sides but we weren’t sure when was the best time to buy one. So when is the best time to buy a UTV? In the last quarter of the year as that’s when dealerships start getting ready for next years model. They need to make room for the new arrivals so they incentivize people to still buy the older models even though the newest options are right there enticing them with their brand new specs and rugged good looks. This model is very similar to a car dealership but there can be some incentives that don’t correlate with the automotive dealership model. Where you live and the seasonality of your chosen hobby like sand duning or hunting can also be a factor when finding that sweet deal. When do UTV dealerships make the best deals? As we mentioned above your ideal time of year to buy a new UTV is in the months of October, November, and December. The salespeople at the dealership have goals that they need to hit and these are going to be monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals incentivized with year-end kickbacks. Combine that with the new models coming in toward the end of the year and that can present some great opportunities with old inventory. Now we are not suggesting that strolling in at the 11th hour is your best bet. If you walk into a UTV dealership on the last day of the month you may be too late for that smoking hot deal. Financing approval can take some time and the dealership may have already started their new month so keep that in mind. So we recommend allowing at least a few days before the end of the month. Because not everyone needs an off-road vehicle quite like they need a car, the model year end scenario doesn’t look the exact same. An offroad dealership may not sell a new UTV for two or even three years and that’s not uncommon. It’s currently the middle of 2019 and a dealership near me here in Northern Colorado is selling a 2016 Arctic Cat Wildcat X as ‘new’ still. Seasonality of your chosen hobby and where you live The best time to buy a Side by Side in Colorado may not correlate with the best time to buy one in California so where you live can be a factor. In Colorado, we experience all four seasons so the ideal time to head to the sand dunes for us is in the summer usually between the end of May to the end of August (or Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend). By September it’s starting to get pretty cold at night up in the high country. This would be the time of year when sales would start to drop locally as interest declines. In California, they experience warm weather year round so the dealerships may not have quite the same dip in sales. I’m sure there are some months where it’s just uncomfortably hot, but it may not be the same show-stopping experience as snow. Your hobby may have an offseason. Take hunting, for example, there are specific dates when the season begins and when it ends so trying to find a deal in the offseason will be much easier than the week before the season opener and this is going to vary depending on what part of the country you are on. The hunting season in Colorado is during the fall/winter months of roughly September through December. Where earlier I mentioned the sport season comes just before that during summer so the type of UTV you are looking for may have a better time to buy in. Keep your eyes open for Holiday Sales. Some of the biggest sale dates of the year happen during some of the biggest holidays. Here is a list of major sales days: Martin Luther King Jr. Day Presidents Day St. Patrick's Day Easter Mother's Day Memorial Day Father's Day Fourth of July (Independence Day) Amazon Prime Day Tax-free weekends Labor Day Columbus Day Black Friday Cyber Monday New Year's Eve Visit, email, or call the 5 closest dealerships It can really pay off, in the long run, to buy locally. You may be able to find a dealership out of state that is willing to take a $1000 off and that can seem enticing especially if your buying more than one. But what happens if something goes wrong with one of them in the near future. You may not get the same quality of service from your local dealership because you didn’t buy from them. What seemed like a good idea may actually be more of a hassle in the long run. We suggest you jump on Google and search for ‘utv dealership’ or ‘atv dealership’ and focus on the maps listings. Google will give you the top 3 and then you can click on ‘more places’ to move over to a maps search. Now you can see what your options are as far as where some dealerships are in relation to where you live, how other people rate them, and their contact info. Next, you can start calling or emailing them and let the dealerships give you their best pricing on your desired make and model. Based on the responses you can start narrowing it down to the one or two you want to try striking a deal with. Two places to negotiate are the front end or the back end of the sale. The front end is the amount between cost and MSRP, options, gear, and accessories. The back end has to do with down payment and how much money they make in interest on the loan if it’s an in-house loan. Other areas of negotiation can be if you have a trade in and if you decide to get a warranty. So if you are negotiating on either the front end or back end the dealership will want to make some kind of profit. It needs to be a “win, win situation”. It's also a good idea to check out their service department and compare their customer service and quality. (The Google reviews from earlier can help with this.) The best out the door price might not always be the only thing that matters if you also are going to be returning for years of service and repair. Rebates Depending on the time of year, if one particular model of UTV is not selling well then the manufacturer will send out rebates to try and increase sales. These rebates can also come as a push for the new year. You can find these rebates through the manufacturer directly. Some offer them directly on their website and other on social media. Here are some resources: Can-am promotions on their website (https://can-am.brp.com/off-road/promotions.html) Polaris Special Offers on their website (https://offroad.polaris.com/en-us/special-offers/) Arctic Cat email sign up for news/deals (https://arcticcat.txtsv.com/email-sign-up?email=) Kawasaki current offers on their website (https://www.kawasaki.com/ShoppingTools/CurrentOffer) Yamaha current offers on their website (https://www.yamahamotorsports.com/recreation-side-by-side/pages/dynamic-finance-sxs)