Car Deals for May 2010

April 30, 2010

As of the time of this writing, we don’t yet know exactly what rebates, 0% loans, or other deals car manufacturers are going to announce for May 2010. As always, we never know until after the previous month’s incentives have expired. Car makers don’t even let their dealers know until the last minute.

Most current incentive programs expire either April 30 or May 3, depending on manufacturer. New deals won’t be announced until a few days after the old deals expire.

However, based on our experience, we can see directions and trends that give us a pretty good idea of what is going to happen.

First, the Toyota situation is affecting not only what Toyota does, but what many other manufacturers are doing with regard to incentives. Toyota will continue offering great deals such as the large rebates, 0% APR loans, and special lease deals that it has been offering in April. They also offer 2 years of free maintenance. These deals will not only continue but will even get better as Toyota works to restore customer confidence in it’s brand.

Other manufacturers, want to take advantage of Toyota’s situation and take business away from them. Therefore, we’re going to see even more aggressive incentive programs in May 2010 and beyond that will try to move customers to buy now.

When we look at today’s overall car buying opportunities, it is one of the best of all time for automotive consumers. There have never been so many 0% APR loan deals, so high rebates and dealer cash, or any better lease deals. Some companies are being very aggressive with special deals. Honda comes to mind, as does Hyundai-Kia, and Ford. Most other companies, except for some luxury car makers, are also pushing hard with good incentives.

Not only are deals better than ever, but vehicle quality, reliability, styling, fuel economy, and safety have improved to new highs in the last couple of years. You get better cars, at better values, than ever before. It’s just a great time to buy a new car.

Should you wait a while longer to see if the May 2010 deals get any better? Maybe. But consider this: Many manufacturers are already offering 0% loans, huge rebates, large factory-to-dealer rebates, and special lease deals with super-high residuals, big price discounts, and almost-zero money factors. You just can’t get lower than 0%. You can’t give rebates that totally eliminate any profit that you have to stay in business, you can’t expect dealers to sell cars for less than they buy them for and still be around the next time you need a car. The point is that the current deals are just about as good as they can get.