Do People Really Buy Cars as Christmas Gifts?
Isabel Armiento
· 4 min read
As the Christmas season approaches, you have likely begun seeing commercials for cars that are meant to be Christmas gifts. This might strike you as strange—after all, a car is a major purchase, and you’d think that most people would want to be consulted before being gifted one. Yet these commercials, which are abundant at this time of year, would suggest otherwise.
With this in mind, do people
really buy cars
as Christmas gifts? Forbes
took a closer look at car sales in December to try to find an answer.
Christmas car commercials aren’t being entirely honest
If people were really buying cars as Christmas gifts, then automakers should see their sales numbers skyrocket around Christmastime. For example, retail sales spike to 80% higher than average during the month of December. Forbes took a look and found that car sales seem to be the exception.
Historically, December hasn’t been a great month for car sales. More recently, that has begun to shift, with car sales slightly above average in the month. Still, compared to other retail segments, car sales remain low during the holiday season, which would suggest that cars aren’t exactly typical Christmas gifts.
December is certainly
a good time to buy
a car, as automakers need to hit their annual targets and are eager to sell. You can often find great deals and incentives on cars around the holidays. Still, cars don’t seem to make for popular Christmas gifts. Let Jerry find your price in only 45 seconds
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How to buy someone a car for Christmas
MORE: Holiday Gifts for the Tesla Owner in your Life
That being said, those car commercials aren’t totally spurious, and some people really do buy cars as Christmas gifts.
Jalopnik
offers some helpful tips for how to buy someone a car for Christmas the right way. First off, Jalopnik recommends that if you decide to buy a car as a gift, it shouldn’t be a surprise. Talk to your loved one about what kind of car they want and how much they want you to spend on it before making this hefty purchase.
This is important for several reasons. First off, there’s no return policy for a car. If the recipient of your oh-so-generous gift isn’t a fan of your selection, you can’t just take it back to the dealer for a refund. Plus, a car’s resale value is much lower than its retail value, meaning that you won’t be getting most of your money back even if you decide to resell.
However, if your loved one has been talking about buying a car for a long time, and you know the exact make, model, and color they want, then buying the car for them isn’t so risky. In fact, you’d be saving them a lot of time and money, which can make for a wonderful Christmas surprise.
Another tip: even if the gift isn’t going to be a surprise, don’t take the recipient car shopping. Saving them the trip to the dealership is a big part of the present. Jalopnik also recommends that you negotiate the car’s price before showing up at the dealership, to make the transaction as simple and pain-free as possible.
No matter what, you should buy a Christmas gift for Dec. 25
A final note: if the car isn’t a surprise, you’ve probably gifted it to your loved one before Dec. 25. If that’s the case, make sure you’re not empty-handed come actual Christmas. Sure, you’ve already bought them a gift (and an expensive one to boot!), but you don’t want to have nothing for them when they give you a heartfelt present.
You can keep it simple (you did already buy them a car, after all), but it’s nice to have a token to exchange on Christmas day—a card, for starters, and maybe a nice sweater or gift certificate to their favorite restaurant. Jalopnik recommends that you don’t
make the gift car-related
, as tempting as it may be.While cars aren’t exactly common Christmas gifts, if you decide to go down that route this holiday season, make sure you do it the right way.
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