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If your idea of a great holiday gift involves four wheels and a motor, then Black Friday is a great time to head to the car dealer, though it's only slightly better than any other day through the rest of the year. This year on Black Friday, car buyers will average an 8.5 percent discount, while on the other days from now until the end of 2012, they will average 8 percent off, according to data by TrueCar, the car pricing site.
While buying a car on Black Friday may not represent much more of a discount on the total price than any other upcoming day this year, it is typically a very slow sales day for car dealers, and they often run individual promos to get customers to forgo the local shopping mall.
Take a look at local car ads in the newspaper or at specific local dealers online, and you may find deals for free maintenance at the dealership, free aftermarket car accessories or even hot electronics such as iPods thrown in with the deal.
In addition to some car dealerships offering instant cash rebates on the cars on their lots, many automakers also are offering incentives for the holiday season. Luxury automakers Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo are all offering cut-rate financing to qualified buyers.
There are also numerous cash-back deals for savings up to $2,500 as well as financing deals by many mainstream automakers. To figure out which deal is best for you, check out Bankrate's Car rebates vs. low-interest calculator.
Will you be car shopping on Black Friday? Will you only buy if you can get incentives with the purchase?
Tara Baukus Mello writes the cars blog as well as the weekly Driving for Dollars column, providing both practical financial advice for consumers as well as insight into the latest developments in the automotive world. Follow her on Facebook here or on Twitter @SheDrives.
Nice reading, you write very well!
True car sold out the consumer to focus on profit. Instead of showing the real price of cars sold - specifically for those high volume dealerships who significantly discount cars, they no longer do so.
So they really no longer are true car, they are fraud car. If you use their service, buy at your own risk.
All of this info was derived from a recent addition of Automotive Weekly, when the true car CEO essentially said they would no longer provide the real costs of cars sold so they wouldn't offend other dealerships. Well, I find this type of sucking up, offensive to the consumer. Do not EVER USE TRUECAR.