Smart Car Buyers Take Advantage of Snow Storms

Millions of Americans throughout the country have been digging themselves out of the snow in recent days thanks to record-breaking snowfall, especially in the Northeast. Dealers have been as well, and it represents a golden opportunity to buy in hard hit regions.

Dealerships face monthly sales quotas to maintain their operations in addition to quarterly and yearly goals. While some of them may have built in a certain amount of cushion, the lack of traffic from interested consumers has had a huge impact on their February sales figures.

Expect local salespeople in areas with heavy snowfall to be much more inclined to offer incentives and higher cash back numbers to offset the loss of sales, a process that already began with the annual Presidents' Day Weekend sales blitzes.

This is likely to continue through much of March, especially for cars beset by recall issues, including large swaths of Toyota's line and the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan hybrids. The first quarter of 2010 ends March 31, and dealers will be looking to shore up their numbers before they issue corporate reports.