i’ll take a bargain-priced cruze ss, please…oh wait…

I guess the silver lining in all this failure is that some consumers will get a good deal. hooray…

I’d love a 15K Saturn Sky or 10K Pontiac Vibe

This spells disaster for their recovery. We might as well pay our taxes directly to GM…

I wish I could partake in these deals – BUT – If you have a trade-in, it isn’t going to help you much.

When car sales are doing well it generally is a better time to deal. If you look at what dealers are willing to give up, losing on a couple car sales is no big deal when you are selling an a$$ load of cars. When it’s slow, it’s bad too for the consumer. Even though you’d assume dealers would be more desperate, that many times isn’t good on prices. Dealers have to get as much as they can when it’s slow to pay bills, and many times are less willing to deal. Go figure, I know this from experience with dealers and trying to help my aunt by a car today versus two years ago.

Still if a dealer has to liquidate, on the other hand, it would be awesome time to buy-but if you do have a trade in, you can expect below-market value in return, probably enough to wipe out what special deal you get, in addition to the abysmal trade-in value you can expect in the future. I love economics!

The odd thing about all this is that right now is actually one of the best times to trade in your car. The economy right now sucks, which we all know, but supply and demand are more relevant than ever in the car market. New car sales have fallen into a pit, therefore dealers are receiving fewer trades. On the other side used car sales have actually been going up this year. With fewer retail trades, and increased used car sales, dealers have had to buy more vehicles from auctions to fill the pre-owned sections of their lots. So right now cash value of pre-owned vehicles is at a high. If you have a quality trade, you will get a good deal.

…….. “COME GET THE CAR YOU NEVER WANTED! CHEAP!!!”

I so wish you were right, Dwide, but somehow I think dealers don’t really care. If the dealer is closing, and they have no other car lots, they have to wholesale the car to another dealer, and they are not willing to give you as good of a trade-in. Plus the fact is that if you own a car that is at auction alot – you’d be suprised what cars are rentals now – you are screwed no matter what the market is like.

I feel your pain Jake, there are dealers out there that just don’t get it. If they’d wise up they would pay for the good trade-ins and atleast make alittle money at auction. Especially now, since there’s no way they’re going to turn a profit on their new products.

Dwide,
What you don’t understand isthat the vehicles cost what they cost regardless of the dealers situation. Is a dealer further ahead to lose money on vehicles that he can send back to chrysler or sit on them until he has no choice?The only deals that are going to be had right now is a dealer with used cars that is going to close for good. At that point it becomes a liquidation sale to raise as much cash before the store just goes away. As far as new inventory, by the time you figure floor plan interest into the equation, the dealer is further ahead to just let the vehicles become chryslers problem.

crash1433,

Chrysler’s not buying back sh!t. They can sell to another dealer or sell it before they close, that’s their choice.

Crash,
“There will be pressure on liquidating inventory, pressure on pricing, pressure on automotive real estate,” so therefore I don’t think dealer invoice will be a huge deal anymore. Dealers will probably have to dig alittle deeper into their hold back. To quote this article again, “the automaker will need to step up incentives to reduce its inventory – a true clearance sale.” So it sounds like bigger incentives are soon to come. Like the $1000 for current chrysler owners.

Of course a vehicle costs what it costs. MSRP is a real number. Every deal starts with MSRP, so let’s find a good deal okay. First negotiate your best price, right. Let’s say you get down to invoice, maybe you get some of the dealer cash(if any), and even the hold back. Now, that’s looking like a good discount. Then you get the incentives and rebates on top of all that. This deal is getting better yet. Now that your at a straight sale price, if you have a trade, introduce it. You’re no longer going to see an inflated trade value of course since you’ve drained the dealer of all their money for trade allowance. But, since actually cash value(wholesale) right now is higher than it’s been in awhile you’re going to be looking at a good deal.

Duh