Incentives Are Low Compared to Last Year
Be sure to look out for how automakers are delivering incentives this February, because January was one of the weakest months in a while in terms of discounts for consumers.
Although many companies tried to take advantage of Toyota's woes with trade-in discounts for ex-Toyota owners, the overall offers had declined when one looks at figures in both December, and January a year ago.
This month could be productive, especially around the traditional President's Day Weekend sales that occur, but buyers may want to be mindful that incentives have not been as forthcoming.
In fact, many automakers are increasing their overall sales by selling to governments and rental car fleets. Unlike these groups that buy in bulk, the discounts for individual car buyers were a couple hundred dollars less than last January.
It may make more sense to wait right now if you are considering a vehicle at the upper end of your budget, or to check out a similar vehicle that is more inexpensive within the same class. If the economy heads down again this year, you can be sure automakers will be increasing incentives.
3 Steps Every Car Buyer Needs to Take to Save Maximum Money
The key to getting the best deal is to gather price or lease bids from as many local dealers as possible. Then shop that best price around until no one can beat it. Here are the steps:Step 1 Get Prices From My Trusted Network
Select the vehicle you're interested in to see if there are local dealers in my network who will provide you with their best upfront price. You will get direct access to an internet sales manager who you can further negotiate with online (no need to visit dealership).Step 2 Get Prices From TrueCar / CarsDirect
TrueCar, and CarsDirect are my top 2 online price quote recommendations. These services show you pre-negotiated prices from dealers closest to you - and the deals are usually pretty decent. But remember, you can still negotiate further.Step 3 Complete my Checklist
Follow this up with my checklist to make sure you squeeze out every last bit of savings.- Gregg Fidan
Each week, I'll keep you up-to-date on the latest car deals and news that might affect your purchase. This includes...
- Best Rebates, Incentives, and Lease Deals
- Latest Car Buying Scams and Tricks
- The Best & Worst Time to Buy a Car
- Which Cars You Should Avoid
About The Author
Gregg Fidan is the founder of RealCarTips. After being ripped off on his first car purchase, he devoted several years to figuring out the best ways to avoid scams and negotiate
the best car deals. He has written hundreds of articles on the subject of car buying and taught thousands of car shoppers how to get the best deals.
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