Discounts abound on outdated sedans
DETROIT — If you do your homework, now is the time to practically steal a new sedan from your car dealer.
For more than a year, sales of cars have been tanking because Americans have gone nuts over SUVs and trucks. As stockpiles of sedans such as the Chevrolet Malibu and Chrysler 200 stretch across car lots, automakers are forced to offer big discounts to move them.
There are a few steps to finding the best bargain, but it boils down to this: Figure out which cars aren’t selling, research discounts and don’t buy until the end of the month when dealers are more desperate to sell.
Brad Korner, general manager of AIS Rebate, an Ann Arbor, Michigan, firm that follows the labyrinth of automaker discounts, equates buying a car cheap with purchasing discounted baked goods. To get the good deal, you have to really look.
Be wary of offers that seem too good to be true, like $69 per month payments. Earl Stewart, a North Palm Beach, Florida, Toyota dealer who is critical of other dealers’ sales tactics, advises people to ignore dealer advertising.
But armed with the right information, you can navigate the new car sales maze and get 20 percent or more off a car’s sticker price:
First: pick a target, find slow sellers
For more than a year, many compact, midsize and large cars, gaselectric hybrids, and many lower-level luxury cars haven’t sold well. So dealers have big supplies. Because they’re paying interest on the cars, they’re eager to sell. So figure out the size of car you want. Then look for automaker monthly sales press releases on the internet and find models with big year-overyear declines. The sales figures are released early in the month. To get the best deal, you can’t be too picky about color or equipment because you need to buy what’s on dealer lots.
Second: look for discounts online
Many websites, including those from the auto companies as well as kbb.com, truecar. com and Edmunds.com, list publicly available discounts called incentives. Say you decide on a midsize car. Sales of the Nissan Altima were off nearly 15 percent in January, so incentives are likely. On its website, Nissan was offering $4,550 off a nicely equipped $25,460 Altima Midnight edition. That’s nearly 18 percent off the sticker without haggling! There often are combinations of zero percent financing and cash back.
Third: visit dealers
During the first two weeks of the month, go to a few dealers. Confirm the incentives you found online — then ask for more. Often automakers add deals by region, or they offer rebates if you own a competitor’s model or have one of their models.
There also are other discounts for being an AAA member, serving in the military or being a recent college graduate. Most sales people, when they find out you’ve done your homework, will be honest and give you a good price, says Korner.