Generally speaking, dealers do not want their vehicles to sit on the lot for too long. They have to take out loans to buy those vehicles and they’re paying interest on them.
As a result, many dealers are fairly motivated to sell a car in one or two months. Once they get beyond 60 days, they may be more motivated to lower the price. They don’t want a car that’s been sitting on the lot for months at a time.
Some buyers will use this as a way to try to get a better price. You can check on the door to see when a new car was manufactured, and this will tell you roughly how long the dealer has had possession of it. This tactic isn’t as useful with used cars, though the same principle applies, in that the dealer generally wants to move the car as soon as they can.
But what if it doesn’t sell?
If you have decided that you want to try to get a good deal by looking for a car that’s been on the lot for a long time, you also want to consider why that vehicle wouldn’t sell. Are there problems with it that other people have noticed when doing a test drive?
Beyond that, you should question whether more problems cropped up since the car was sitting on the lot for so long? Maybe it has been damaged by weather or even vandalism. You know that you’re buying a vehicle that is technically classified as brand new, but you also know that it has spent three or four months on a dealer’s lot, and it’s not always clear exactly what occurred during that time.
If you do end up buying a car that has damage or defects, make sure you fully understand all of your legal options.