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Forget about standing in line for electronic gadgets and head to your local car dealer to buy a car instead. Thanksgiving weekend offers the best days this year to get the deepest discounts on a car, according to data by TrueCar.com, the car-pricing site. TrueCar's analysts determined that Black Friday is the absolute best day to get the biggest discounts on a new car purchase with an average savings of 9.5 percent off of the manufacturer's suggested retail price. The rest of the weekend also offers the other best days of the year.
While today is expected to have the best deals, this entire weekend should result in some big discounts compared to this year to date. So far, the average savings in 2011 has been just 6 percent, according to TrueCar. Here's how TrueCar says the average savings shakes out this weekend:
| Date | Average discount off MSRP |
| Friday, Nov. 25, 2011 | 9.5 percent |
| Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011 | 8.67 percent |
| Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011 | 8.09 percent |
| Monday, Nov. 28, 2011 | 8.46 percent |
Deals abound because dealers are anxious to log some additional sales for the month of November, as well as for the entire year. “It’s an atypical day to purchase a car since consumers think of retail shopping, but buying a new vehicle on Black Friday can often lead to big savings,” said Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends and insights for TrueCar.com, in the TrueCar report.
Interestingly, Black Friday and even Thanksgiving weekend are not necessarily the best days to buy a car. Last year, TrueCar's analysis showed that the best day to buy a car in 2010 was July 28.
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.
