How to Buy a New Car With Incentive

An incentive is an offer that gives you a special reason to buy a certain type of new car, according to Philip Reed of the Edmunds.com automotive website. Incentives come in two main forms: cash back and low-interest financing programs. They can be offered at any time, although they are most common during slow times for car sales, such as Christmas or just before the new model year starts. You can use these incentives to get a great deal on your next new car purchase.

Instructions

1

Create a list of the new cars in which you are most interested. You never know when a particular manufacturer will offer incentives on a certain model, so include as many cars as possible. You may need to be flexible on the type of car you're willing buy to get the best offer.

2

Check the cars on your list to see if any incentives are currently being offered. Consumer incentives will be listed on the car manufacturer's website. Automotive research sites like Edmunds.com and autos.msn.com will have the same information and will also list any factory-to-dealer incentives. According to Edmunds, this is cash given directly to the dealer by the manufacturer. You will not be able to get it directly, but the salesperson may be more likely to give you a good price on such vehicles.

3

Call a local dealership that sells the car with the best incentives to see if there may be even more options. For example, some car manufacturers have ongoing programs offering rebates to recent college graduates, people in certain geographic regions or loyalty incentives if you already own the same brand of car. These can usually be combined with other promotions.

4

Decide which promotion would be most beneficial for you if there is more than one option. For example, you may get to chose between a two percent interest rate on the car loan or $1,500 cash back. Calculate how much money you would save if you took each option.