Rebates come from car manufacturers as a way of reducing vehicle purchase prices, which helps increase sales. When a customer buys a car, the rebate is deducted from the price that the customer has already negotiated with his dealer. For customers who have little or no down payment money, a rebate can serve that purpose.

December is also a time when most 2010 models have already been introduced but dealers still have leftover inventory of 2009 models that must be sold. Therefore, we can expect to see higher rebates on 2009 models than on 2010 models, although that is not always the case.

Some of the best new-car rebates currently being offered are:

Chrylser – Up to $4000 rebate on 2009 Chrysler 300,  and up to $3000 on 2010 Chrysler 300, PT Cruiser, Sebring, and Town & Country

Dodge – Up to $5500 on 2009 Dodge Ram and Charger, and  up to $2500 on Dodge Dakota, Journey, Avenger, Charger, Nitro, and Grand Caravan

Jeep – Up to $4000 rebate on 2010 Jeep Commander, Compass, Grand Cherokee, Libery, and Patriot

Ford – Up to $4000 on 2009 Ford F-250, F-350, and F-450, and $3000 on Ford Mustang, F-150, and Explorer — and up to $3000 on 2010 Ford F-250 and F-450, and up to $2500 on 2010 Ford Escape, Explorer Sport Trac, and Ranger

Chevrolet – Up to $4000 rebate on 2009 Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe, Corvette, Silverado 2500/3500 and up to $3500 on 2009 Chevrolet Avalanche, Impala, Trailblazer, Traverse, and Silverado 1500 — and up to $2000 on 2010 Chevrolet Avalanche, Suburban, Tahoe, Silverado 1500/2500/3500.

Hummer – Up to $6000 rebate on 2009 Hummer H3, H3T, H2, and H2 SUT

Saturn – Up to $4000 on 2009 Saturn Aura, Outlook, Sky, and Vue

Kia – Up to $5000 rebate on 2009 Kia Sorento, Spectra,  and $3000 on 2009 Kia Amanti and Borrego

Mazda – Up to $5000 on 2009 Mazda RX8 and Tribute

Mitsubishi – Up to $3500 rebate on 2009 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder Galant, and Raider — and up to $3500 on 2010 Mitsubishi Endeavor and Lancer

Nissan – Up to $5000 rebate on 2009 Nissan Titan and $3750 on 2009 Nissan Altima Hybrid and Quest — and up to $5000 on 2010 Nissan Armada and Titan and $3000 on 2010 Nissan Altima Hybrid

Subaru – Up to $3200 on 2009 Subaru Legacy, Outback, and Tribeca

Suzuki – Up to $4000 rebate on 2009 Suzuki Grand Vitara and XL7

Toyota – Up to $3000 on 2010 Toyota Tundra

As a reminder, since these December rebates come directly from car companies and not out of dealers’ pockets, you should always negotiate additional price discounts with your dealer. The sum of a discount and a manufacturer’s rebate can add up to a great deal.

You can get free dealer price quotes on any of the above new vehicles from Edmunds.com. The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

Dodge

Generally, the new incentives make for some very good deals on many models, especially on leftover 2009 models. Don’t expect any incentives, however, on the hot selling Challenger.

Mostly, the Dodge deals come in the form of direct customer rebates and 0% APR and low-interest loans, as well as some hefty factory-to-dealer cash on many leftover 2009 models. As you know, factory-to-dealer cash can be used by dealers any way they want but it usually ends up as a price discount to customers. In some cases, Dodge has allowed customers to accept rebates and low interest loans, which is unusual and very welcome.

In general, the deals on 2010 models are better than on 2009 models. Furthermore, with the high customer rebates, it is usually better to take the rebate instead of a low-interest loan — except in those cases where Dodge is offering both rebates and low-interest loans that can be combined.

Here are some examples of current Dodge deals for December:

2010 Dodge Avenger – $2000 cash rebate or 0% loan for 36/48 months, 1.9% for 60 months — or $1000 cash rebate and 0% APR for 36/48 months, 3.9% for 60 months.

2009 Dodge Avenger – $2000 factory-to-dealer cash

2010 Dodge Charger – $2500 rebate or 0% APR loan for 36/48/60 months, 1.9% for 72 months — or $1000 rebate and 0% for 36/48 months, 2.9% for 60 months, 4.9% for 72 months

2009 Dodge Charger – $4000 rebate or 0% APR loan for 36/48/60/72 months

2010 Dodge Dakota – $2000 rebate or 0% loan for 36/48 months, 2.9% for 60 months

2009 Dodge Dakota – $3000 factory-to-dealer cash

2010 Dodge Grand Caravan – $1000 rebate or 0% loan for 36/48 months, 3.9% for 60 months — or $500 rebate and 0% for 36/48 months, 5.9% for 60 months — and up to $1500 customer cash if customer leases a new vehicle

2009 Dodge Grand Caravan – $3500 factory-to dealer cash

2010 Dodge Journey – $1500 rebate or 0% for 36/48 months, 2.9% loan rate for 60 months — or $1000 rebate and 0% loan for 36/48 months, 4.9% for 60 months — and up to $2000 additional for customers who lease

 2009 Dodge Journey – $3000 factory-to-dealer cash

2010 Dodge Nitro – $2000 rebate or 0% APR loan for 36/48/60 months, 1.9% for 72 months — or $1000 rebate and 0% APR for 36/48 months, 2.9% for 60 months, 4.9% for 72 months

You can get free dealer price quotes on any of the above Dodge vehicles from Edmunds.com. The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

Many current incentive programs expire November 30 but a number of car makers (Ford, BMW, Acura, Honda, and others) announced programs at the beginning of November to extend through December until January 4, 2010. Read previously posted article on this web site for more details.

Incentives come in the form of rebates, 0% APR loans, low-interest loans, and factory-to-dealer cash. December incentives will include not only new 2010 models but also leftover 2009 models, which will be the source of some of the best deals, especially if dealers have a lot of inventory of these models.

Believe it or not, many dealers still have leftover 2008 models. They are desperate to get rid of them. These are brand new cars that have never been titled and in many cases are only slightly different than the newer 2010 versions of the same car. Some car manufacturers don’t change styling and designs every year, so you can drive a car that is 2 years old in model years but still look the same as this years model — for a lot less money.

The downside is that you might not have many choices of colors or styles if your dealer only has a few of the older models left on his lot.

December is always a good month to buy cars and get great deals. Why? Because it is traditionally a slow sales period for car dealers as customers are too busy Christmas shopping. Furthermore, dealers want to meet sales quotas for the month and year and are willing to make good deals. In many states, dealers must pay inventory tax on the cars sitting on their lot on January 1st. They would like to avoid this cost if at all possible by selling the cars before that date.

As always, we will let you know about December car incentives and deals as soon as we learn about them. Typically, car companies announce new incentives in the first few days after the old incentives expire. They don’t even tell their dealers about the new incentives until the day the new programs become active.

Instead, we typically see more subtle forms of incentives such as low-interest loans (rarely 0%), leases on certain models and styles, and hidden factory-to-dealer rebates on some models. Factory-to-dealer cash rebates are almost always used by dealers to discount prices to customers.

Here are a summary of the current Acura incentives for November and December 2009 (ending 1/04/2010):

2009 Acura MDX – $2000 factory-to-dealer cash, low-interest loans (1.9% APR for 24/36 months, 2.9% for 60 months), and a special lease deal on the Base model — $469 a month, 36 months, 10K miles per year, and $3299 due at lease signing.

2010 Acura RDX – Special lease deal on Base model — $399 a month, $3599 due at signing

2010 Acura RL – $2000 factory-to-dealer cash, and a special lease deal on the Base model — $569 a month, $3999 due at signing

2010 Acura TL – Special lease deal on Base model — $399 a month, $3299 due at lease signing

2009 Acura TL – $1500-$2000 factory-to-dealer cash, depending on style,

2010 Acura TSX – $1500 factory-to-dealer cash (on certain styles), and a special lease deal — $299 a month, $3599 due at signing

You may already know that you must have a good credit rating to get the low interest rates or the special lease deals. If you think you might want to lease, make sure you understanding how car leasing works first. We recommend reading the free Lease Guide at LeaseGuide.com.

You can get free price quotes from local dealers on any of the above Acura vehicles from Edmunds.com. The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

Honda

In addition to its now-traditional excellent special leases on certain models and styles (see Honda Lease Deals), three are also some good low-interest loans (unfortunately no 0% loans however) and a number of healthy factory-to-dealer cash deals. As you might know if you read this website often, factory-to-dealer cash is a “secret” rebate that dealers can use to discount prices. In most cases, the discounts can be combined with low-interest loans, whereas a direct factory-to-customer rebate would not. Furthermore, a price discount is better than a rebate in that sales tax is not due on discounts, but not so for rebates.

Currently, the 2010 Accord and 2010 Civic get special loan rates of 1.9% APR for 24/36 months and 2.9% for 48 months. The 2010 S2000 gets 3.9% APR for 24/36 months and 4.9% for 60 months.

Dealers get factory-to-dealer cash rebates for several 2009 models. As we mentioned, these rebates can, and usually do, end up as customer price discounts. The best deal is for the 2009 Ridgeline with a $3000 factory-to-dealer rebate. The 2009 Accord gets $1500. The Odyssey and Pilot get $1250. The Civic gets $750 and the CRV gets $500.

You can get free dealer price quotes on any of the above vehicles from Edmunds.com. The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.