If you're hoping for a deal on a new or used car, you may have a shot this Fourth of July weekend, a traditionally busy time for dealerships across the U.S.
"The new car inventories are really starting to flow in," said Randy Barone, vice president of business development for ACV. "Dealers are spending on average about $700 per car in marketing."
Auto dealerships are expected to be back online by the Fourth of July after a cyberattack led to a software outage in mid-June. CDK Global, the software provider hit by the attack, told Scripps News in an emailed statement that as of Tuesday, "substantially all dealer connections are live on the Dealer Management System (DMS)."
CDK is "actively working on bringing additional applications and integrations live."
The cyberattack impacted sales and other services, which means car dealerships want your business.
"A lot of the dealers missed out on a lot of sales," Barone said, "so the dealers are very incentivized right now to make incredible deals both on the new car side and on the used car side."
Related Story: Do's and don'ts of car maintenance to avoid big repair bills
To help save money, Barone suggests consumers arrive at the dealership with a budget, but not to focus solely on price.
"I see consumers go in and argue down to the last dollar on price," he said, "but then they didn't think things through like the financing, the warranties, all those other things that are going to cost them, over the life cycle of that car, a tremendous amount of money."
Barone said dealers want to sell cars that are on the lot, so be flexible on color and other features. He also suggests you expand your search to outside the area where you live.
"It's a very attractive time right now. You don't have to wait until the next holiday," he said.
Despite incentives, don't expect fireworks: The average price on a new car was $48,389 in May, according to Kelley Blue Book.
The market research firm Cox Automotive said the outage in June was a "curveball." In a statement provided to Scripps News, its researchers said June retail sales "were certainly impacted by the outage."
Initial numbers "indicate that indeed new-vehicle sales volume was down year over year by more than 3%," according to Cox Automotive.
