Which Cars Offer the Best Deals?

January 26, 2012

TrueCar, an automotive industry research company, publishes a monthly report that shows sales trends and price movement for all automobile makes and models.

One of our favorite parts of the report is what the company calls “Price Flex Scores,” a measure of how flexible sales transaction prices have been over the past month. If a particular model car has a high “flexibility” score, it means customers have a better chance of getting a good deal than on a model with a lower flex score.

A high Price Flex Score can result from a number of factors, including all or some of the following: excessive number of unsold cars in stock, slow sales, high rebates, factory-to-dealer cash, and dealer willingness to negotiate.

Small cars with low dealer profit margins will have less room for price negotiation, and have low flexibility scores. Some luxury brands have high profit margins but are known for inflexible pricing to help maintain their premium status.

Car models that are being replaced with new versions typcially have high price flexibility, as do brands that are going out of business (e.g. Mercury and Saab).

Some of the cars that have the highest Price Flex Scores, according to TrueCar, are the following:

Large Car – Ford Flex

Large SUV – Nissan Armada

Large Truck – Nissan Titan

Luxury Car – Lincoln MKZ

Luxury SUV – Mercedes GL Class

Luxury Sport Car – Chevrolet Corvette

Midsize Car – Mitsubishi Galant

Midsize SUV – Ford Edge

Minivan – Volkswagen Routan

Small Car – Dodge Caliber

Small SUV – Jeep Patriot

Small Truck – Ford Ranger

Sport Car – Dodge Challenger

Subcompact Car – Ford Fiesta

In addition to the above models in their respective categories, the Chrysler 200 and Mazda MX-5 Miata are in the Top-10 highest Price Flex Scores.

TrueCar also offers a free service that provides highly discounted prices on all car makes and models. Just fill out a simple online form to tell them what car you want and they will tell you what other people are paying for that car in your area — and give you a low price guarantee that will be honored by local dealers.

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