Antonette Joson of Naperville and her husband Jesse were visiting a Honda dealer in St. Charles recently hoping to buy a car, something that she and her husband “had been working on the past two months.”
“We’re been shopping a couple of months. We’re hoping to get a good deal,” she said while looking over the showroom at McGrath Honda of St. Charles filled with vehicles adorned with red bows. “We’re here now because it happened that I had ridden in a Honda car – my friend’s car – and I find, like, it’s a good car so we’re here. We want to try it out. Buying a car is a little bit difficult, but we have our own preferences. But we’re looking for a deal.”
One of the best times, traditionally, to buy a car is upon us as dealers look to liquidate inventory and meet end-of-year quotas.
The National Retail Federation, which focuses more on smaller consumable products, still notes according to its website that “auto-specific factors like inventory and EV market shifts are driving significant end-of-year deals, making late December a great time for car purchases.”
Fox Valley dealers like Emir Abinion, CEO of the Fox Valley Auto Group in St. Charles which includes Volkswagen, GMC and a Buick dealership, are adamant that some of the best deals seen in years are now awaiting customers.
“It’s interesting. This is probably now four years since we’ve had this kind of inventory and where things are at. We have more vehicles and the selection is better than I’ve seen in nearly half-a-dozen years where the customers can come in and actually have choices to get the exact vehicle they want,” Abinion said. “Another factor is the factories are back extending the incentives that they used to offer in the past, things we didn’t have during COVID where it was more of a sellers’ market.”
December has been a good month for the dealership, he said, noting that “the week after Christmas is usually the busiest week of the year.”
Doug Gerald, who owns half a dozen dealerships in North Aurora and many others throughout the western suburbs, agrees that the current selection of vehicles and options for buyers “is as good as it has ever been since COVID.”
“There’s more energy going into making cars affordable from the dealer and the manufacturer’s standpoint and it’s a great time to buy a car. Much better than the last few years for sure,” Gerald said. “There are great incentives out there, great product out there and new models that all these brands have. There are more safety, more active driving features than ever. The technology advancement this year has been tremendous.”
In terms of value, Gerald said he believes consumers “are going to get more for the dollars than they’ve seen the last six years” as we head into the final days of 2025.
Nearly all area car dealers interviewed said the last quarter has not entirely met expectations which again bodes well for end-of-the-season deals.
Dustin Johnson, platform general manager for McGrath auto group, said that “the last quarter has been a struggle for our business and industry altogether.”
Dustin Johnson, platform general manager for the McGrath auto group, shows off a couple of Hondas at McGrath Honda of St. Charles. (David Sharos/For The Beacon-News)
“We have seen traffic pick up the past couple weeks at all our stores,” he said. “In terms of inventory – every manufacturer is different. Some brands are well-stocked and other have inventory on the lot that are not as good as others. This year, we have more cars – we’re sitting good. It’s better than it was the last four or five years, that’s for sure.”
Johnson said that better pricing at the current time is being driven by “a lot of people sitting on inventory, but it’s where the industry is as far as a sales thing.”
“This quarter has not been good to auto manufacturers so what we have to do – we’ve got to move metal because we’re paying interest on cars sitting on lots,” Johnson said. “Your inventory costs are mounting, and so you’re trying to put people in new seats and try to create that also with the used car trade-ins.”
Abinion said Johnson’s perspective is on-point.
“He’s not wrong. November was a little less that what we have usually seen, and September and October are kind of funky months because it’s back-to-school and there are a lot of other things going on with the customer,” Abinion noted. “Usually, the second and third quarter are good for us, and in the fourth quarter – December is the month that helps us make up everything in the quarter.”
The current high value of used cars also figures to play a role in regards to end-of-the-year sales.
Johnson said in all he has been in the auto business over 20 years and that “used car values are higher than they’ve ever been.”
“The used car market is higher and the reason is if you look at the 2023 and under vehicle, that’s the ticket everyone is looking for,” he said. “If you have a nice 2021 $18,000 car – with low miles and good shape, you’re going to sell it fast. But in a perfect world, we’d rather sell the cars on the lot and get rid of the inventory.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
