Most popular day to buy a used car revealed

Four years of data shows Tuesday is most popular day to buy or sell a used car.

New information from vehicle data experts Cartell.ie has revealed the most popular day to buy or sell a used car. Having crunched the figures on four years' worth of data the red letter day has been shown to be Tuesday.

The reason for the popularity of Tuesday is attributable to the need to visit the bank (perhaps on Monday) before completing the purchase on Tuesday.  The data shows that while Saturdays are the highest for footfall in dealerships around the country it actually fairs the worst for the number of sales concluded on the day. This is likely due to the industry standard to transfer funds for purchases by bank draft instead of by cheque, with most high street banks are not open on a Saturday.

In terms of yearly breakdown the most popular day of the year to buy a used vehicle is the first Tuesday in February. Cartell.ie links this date to the current Irish registration system that sees the bulk of new car sales taking place in the first quarter of the year. A consequence of this is that with a lot of new car purchasers trading in their old cars, there tends to be a glut of used cars to choose from.

"The first Tuesday in February is the most popular day to buy or sell a car in Ireland," says Jeff Aherne, Director of Cartell.ie. "Furthermore if you take the top 10 days of the year for vehicle sales 9 of the top 10 are Tuesdays."

Aside from Tuesday the only other day of the week to appear close to the top of sales charts is Wednesday - particularly the first Wednesday in May.

Published on: June 15, 2012