Rebate Wars Are Heating Up For New Cars This Month
It looks like the rebate wars are heating up again, due to lower than expected sales of new car units in January. Normally car makers try to avoid giving rebates and incentives when sales are going as planned. But when unit sales miss their goals as they did last month, they often start pumping up the rebates to get sales flowing again.
New car sales figures went from feast to famine
J.D. Power data says that December 31, 2013 was the 2nd busiest car buying day ever, and August 31 of last year was the third-busiest car sales day ever, with 116,329 new cars sold.
So we know that auto sales were really moving along briskly in December. But what happened in January to cause sales to drop? Well let's see, GM blamed the weather, you know the whole polar vortex thing. OK, we'll give them a few winter storm snow days, but don't you think people would be out buying SUVs during this time of year?
I don't buy the weather excuse, there's more to it than that. After record sales, I think buyers were taking a breather. Also with average selling prices up almost $500 in 2013, buyers must have hit a breaking point where they said enough is enough. January was also a volatile month for the world stock markets, so maybe many people got spooked.
Scanning the comments of related news stories, I saw several people posting that they make $8 an hour and can't afford to buy a new car.
The problem is not just limited to GM, because Ford and Chrysler now have incentives going as well. GM is upping the ante by padding the rebates with a bit more cash in the form of extra President's Day cash until the end of this month. You'll see below we saw rebates of $8,000 on certain Silverado vehicles.
Hey buddy can you spare a rebate? Chrysler came sputtering out of the rebate gate with a ho hum $1,000 "Lease Pull-Ahead Bonus Cash" to current Chrysler lessees. Well that's weak and boring. What if you don't have a current Chrysler lease? I won't even get off my couch for $1,000; you're going to have to give me more.
I took a quick scan around for other rebates and incentives:
GM
- Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD: $3,000 Consumer Cash, $1,000 Presidents Day Cash, $4,000 Total Cash Allowance
- 2013 Corvette: $3,000 Consumer Cash. Really? You'll have to give me a lot more than that to buy the 2103 versus the completely redesigned 2014 Vette
- Chevy Avalanche: $2,000 Consumer Cash
- 2014 Chevy Suburban: $1,500 Consumer Cash, $2,000 Presidents Day Cash
Ford
- 2014 Ford Expedition: $4,000 cash back
- 2014 Ford Explorer: $2,000 cash back
- 2014 Ford F-150 XLT: $4,000 cash back
- 2014 Ford Focus: $2,500 cash back
The above list is just a small sampling, so be sure to tell all your friends who are shopping for a new car to research the rebates. Of course you should make sure you read our New Car Buying Guide before you head out shopping.
Now it's your turn. Were you sitting on the fence undecided waiting for a rebate like these to come along? Will these incentives make you head into the showrooms?
About The Author: Jeff Ostroff
A lifelong consumer advocate with over 20 years of unparalleled expertise, Jeff is the Founder, CEO and Editor-In-Chief of CarBuyingTips.com. As chief consumer advocate, he oversees a team of experts who cover all aspects of buying and selling new and used cars including leasing and financing.
For decades, Jeff has been the recognized authority on vehicle purchasing, sought out often by the media for his decades of experience and commentary, for live call-in business radio talk shows and is cited often by the press for his expertise in savvy car shopping methods and preventing consumer scams and online fraud. Jeff has been quoted in: CNN, MSNBC, Forbes, New York Times, Consumer Reports, Wall Street Journal and many more.
Jeff also has extensive experience and expertise in new car brokering and selling used cars for clients on eBay and Craigslist. Connect with Jeff via Email or on Twitter.
