USA TODAY US Edition

There are deals on cars, too

Black Friday isn’t just for TVs.

- Chris Woodyard

While many shoppers head for the malls on Black Friday, some will be heading to auto dealership­s instead.

The four-day Thanksgivi­ng weekend is one of those holidays — along with Memorial Day, Labor Day and the Fourth of July — when auto dealers typically sweeten deals to draw out buyers.

“Black Friday is certainly a great time to go car shopping,” Jennifer Newman, editor-in-chief of Cars.com, said in a statement.

This week, it could be even better. Here are the reasons:

❚ Incentives: Automakers piled on the sales inducement­s in October, a reflection of slightly lower auto sales this year. Sales were off 1.7% through the first 10 months of 2017, Autodata reports. That might not sound like a lot, but with more than 17 million new cars sold in each of the past two years, it means there are thousands of leftover models that dealers need to move off the lot. In some cases, that could mean dealers slash $5,000 off the list price.

❚ Closeouts: Black Friday falls at a time of year when dealers are eager to move out 2017 models to make way for

the 2018s. “The outgoing models are increasing­ly undesirabl­e to dealers,” said Karl Brauer, executive publisher for Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader. “They are going to do whatever it takes to move them” into the hands of buyers.

❚ End of month: Dealers will often try to squeeze out a few last sales at the end of the month in order to make quotas, Brauer said, and Thanksgivi­ng weekend falls just at the right time.

❚ Demand shift: Buyers have made a dramatic shift to SUVs from cars. In October, SUVs made up nearly twothirds of vehicle sales, Autodata figures show. Car sales were down 9.2% for the month while SUV sales were up 3.6% compared with the same month last year. As a result, the best bargains can be found on cars. They are particular­ly juicy on midsize sedans, Cars.com reports. The 2017 Ford Fusion can be had for up to $5,000 off the list price. The 2018 Hyundai Elantra comes with a $3,000 discount.

Brauer said the last day of the month would also offer a good opportunit­y as dealers try to make sales goal for November. And the last week of December leading up to New Year’s Eve traditiona­lly represents one of the best times of the year for buyers.

 ??  ?? FILE PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES
FILE PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES
 ?? 2013 PHOTO BY JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES ?? Dealers will often try to squeeze out a few last sales at the end of the month in order to make quotas.
2013 PHOTO BY JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES Dealers will often try to squeeze out a few last sales at the end of the month in order to make quotas.

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