Rebates, Incentives, APRs - Questions & Comments

pat11

I know this topic is a bit off the wall, but I need some help and direction from a knowledgeable soul. I've got a `94 Nissan Sentra with a disfunctional electric window motor unit. The problem is the electric motor has a worm gear that meshes with a nylon gear that operates the window. The dealership will sell me a unit for $ 260.00, but all I need is a replacement gear.
Any help would be greatly appreciated because I'm not toooo happy about the prospect of having to pay that kind of money, I've checked salvage yards with no success.

yossel

How do we find a dealer's cost (invoice) on GM Grand Prix GT and Mercury Sable LS, 4 dr. Sedan?

CarMan@Edmunds

Charlie, in order to figure out the dealer cost for the Mountaineer that you want to lease take the dealer invoice for the exact model that you want, add in the invoice prices for any options that you want, and subtract any relevant incentives, and the holdback. Don't forget to add in the vehicle's destination charge if you didn't include it in your invoice price. Now take the figure that you calculated and add in a fair profit. For your information, Ford is currently advertising a Mercury Mountaineer lease in the NY, NJ, CT tri-state area for $379 per month with $1,949 down over 33 months.

Your Co-Host

gxsoon

Car_man: Any info on when Toyota will extend the 98 rebates and low rates finance to 99 camry? Do you remember when it was started for 98 camry? Thanks.

CarMan@Edmunds

Camrybuyer, although there is little difference between the 1998 and 1999 Camry I am not sure whether these incentives will be carried over to the '99s once the '98s are phased out. One would think that there's a good chance that this will happen, but you never know. It probably has a lot to do with how well the Camry is selling compared to the Honda Accord and the Ford Taurus. Toyota is determined to make the Camry the best selling car in America, so if Camry sales start to slip a little they may continue or augment their current incentive program.

Your Co-Host

Mr_Shiftright

Dear Pat11,

Yes, you're way off the topic here but it sounds like you need advice so we won't bounce you to another topic, promise!

Chances are kind of slim that you'll find a part like that. Most car repairs are done as component replacements, both for time and liability reasons. And even a wrecking yard is not going to disassemble a complete window lifting assembly to give away a gear inside. I know it sucks, but this is the ways cars are fixed now, so you'll have to pay up, sad to say.

hotrod2

On the matter of this topic,R&I, I recently was lured into 2 Mitsu dealers while trying to take advantage of their financing and dealer incentives as advertised on Edmunds' site. The customer incentive financing was also corroborated by the Mitsu website. After getting a quick fair price $100 above invoice, I find that is due to a $2500 rebate that is offered in the SE Region and which screws me up because you cant get both except when stated as Ford is doing on some of its cars. The dealers claim there is no $2000 incentive for them such as I wanted to add to the attractive financing rather than a rebate. They say that I can only get the rebate OR the financing which I already know and which is no longer 0.9%, but 4.9%.

Somewhat frustrated by this scam, I call Mitsu customer service who agrees with me as of last Friday,and yes there is a rebate too in the SE Region, but have changed their story when I call again this Monday today on the financing. So any deals have fallen thru since I cant get the 2000 dealer incentive that I wanted but that they wont acknowledge and the financing too that is no longer attractive. Rebate off MSRP or nothing.

CarMan, do I have too much trust in the accuracy of your data, or should I believe these scoundrels?

hawkpilot

Carman, or anybody...

My girlfriend has fallen in love with the '98 firebird (v6) convertible, but of course there are none on local lots, so we had the local guy run a locator and he found one in an acceptable color about 200 miles away that was a dealer demo with ~5500 miles on it. He called the other dealer, and claimed she wanted invoice ($24,153, he said) from him for it, and naturally he wanted us to give him some profit over that.

Now, from the info here, the invoice for a v6 FB conv with AT and 3800 performance package and destination is $23,881, and that for a car with 0 miles on it.

He also insisted he didn't get holdback, and didn't deal with it at all, as if it were something he would turn down (right!).

Now I know we were at a disadvantage because he would have to get the car down here, and we were willing to pay extra for that, but I felt he was jerking us around about the what the other dealer
was offering to take from him. He acted like I was crazy for insinuating that money come off due to mileage on the car.

Any other dealer we have talked to indicated that serious cash would come off on their demos, but we had not gotten down to talking dollars, so they may be talking "off msrp" instead of "off invoice."

What is your take? was the other dealer really jacking the price to keep the local guy from selling it, or was he trying to pad the thing by hundreds of dollars? And is 'holdback' something only some dealers get? I'd like to get an opinion before we drive 200 miles to try our luck with the woman in baltimore...

Thanks!

CarMan@Edmunds

Hotrod2, Mitsubishi's incentives do very by region. The specific Mitsubishi incentives that we have posted up on our web site are for the NE region of the United States. I don't know exactly what their incentives are in your area of the country, but it's probably safe to assume that they are very similar to what we have posted. The people that you spoke with were correct in one thing, you can't combine Mitsubishi's cash incentives with their special financing program.

Your Co-Host

CarMan@Edmunds

Hawkpilot, you should definitely receive a discount on a demo with over 5,000 miles already on it. Not only should you receive a discount on this car because it is a demo, but there is also $1,000 consumer cash on this model. As far as the difference in the vehicle's invoice prices is concerned, the information that we provide here at Edmunds is very accurate. The dealer may have been artificially inflating his invoice price. All dealers get a specific holdback amount for every vehicle that they sell, although I suppose that it is possible that the dealer that you spoke with would not get this cash because of his arrangement with the other dealership. If you can, I suggest that you try to visit another dealership that already has the Firebird that you want in stock. You will probably end up saving money by doing so.

Your Co-Host

hawkpilot

Thanks a bunch for the response! We went to another dealer, who not only got the color she wanted, but got it from several states away, with more options and no demo miles for just a couple hundred more than the other guy was gonna charge us for the demo. I know we probably didn't get the best deal, working on a car that was not sitting on his lot, but we did OK, about 2500 below sticker, and she got the silver car, so it worked out. It pays to shop around...
Can't wait till friday to take delivery!

mjg31

We are negotiating for a 98 GL Intrigue (leather, autobahn, steering wheel mounted radio control, CD, air filter). Our invoice total is 22,525. One of the cars we are looking at is a demo- 4500 miles. We have gotten the price to 21,500 (including destination costs). This appears to be the invoice cost minus the dealer holdback minus an additional $275. Is this all we can reasonable expect or can we negotiate further because this car has been used as a demo? We would like the dealer to add chrome wheels for the same price. Are we expecting too much?

CarMan@Edmunds

Mjg31, $1,000 below invoice is a pretty good deal for the Intrigue, even when you take the $750 Customer Cash that is currently being offered into account. 4,500 is quite a few miles, so it may be possible that you can get the dealership to come down a little more on their price, but they have already reduced the price quite a bit. See if you can get them to go a little lower, or to at least to throw in the chrome wheels. Hey you never know until you try. Good Luck.

Your Co-Host

gmntmare

My question is, The car has a rebate and incentive. They are advertising if you buy now you get 4.9%APR, I also Know that the car I want has a rebate of -$750.00..Can I get both or are we allowed only one choose.. Car Man, I am talking about the same car a 1998 Ford Mustang GT..

cbishop1

Carman

What are the current rebates/incentives for the Nissan Frontier xcab and the Mazda B2500 xcab? Edmunds lists 0-1200 for the Mazda but the dealer (in Santa Cruz, CA) says there are none.

Charles

CarMan@Edmunds

Gmntmare, you can not combine the special 4.9% financing that Ford is offering with the $750 Consumer Cash. You must choose one or the other.

Your Co-Host

CarMan@Edmunds

Cbishop1, there is currently $1,500 Consumer Cash or .9% - 1.9% financing on the 1998 Mazda Pickup in your area of the country. There is currently $500 Dealer Cash on the 1999 Mazda Pickup. In addition to these amounts I believe that there is presently a volume bonus program going on in Mazda's Western region that provides dealers with $0 - $1,200 per unit depending upon the number that they sell during the program period.

There is currently $2,000 Consumer Cash and $500 Dealer Cash on the 1998 Nissan Frontier. In Lieu of the cash you can choose special low rate financing or $1,825 lease cash.

Your Co-Host

sanyasi

Hi,
I'm getting an acura integra GS-R '98. Edmunds
web site says there is a 4.9% APR customer
incentive and a $1000 dealer incentive for this
car. My dealer says, if I use the American Honda
finance, I can't participate in dealer incentive
which is $1000. I'd like to make sure that these
two things are mutually exclusive. Any ideas where
I can obtain this info. from ?
FYI.
The price quoted for GS-R coupe with leather,
mats, mudguards and wheel locks
$20,715 with 4.9% APR - 5 years OR

$19,715 with 6.99% APR - 5 years or I should
get my own finance
I live in MI and the above price is from OH dealer. What are the additional expenses if I buy a car from outside the state dealership ?

Any comments/suggestions/info will be greatly appreciated.
- MR. Indecisive

sheidt

Hi there car_man,
I was wondering if you could tell me about the new incentives figures for the Infiniti's. The current info expires today, and I was wondering if you knew what the new numbers are going to be or when you will know what they are? Also, the current info is showing incentives on all but the new (redesigned) G20. I was wondering if that was true, because just a few years ago, before they discontinued the G20, they had to offer up to $3,000 on the new G20's because nobody was buying them. Now that they have brought basically the same car back, are they expecting a huge rush of customers that wasn't there just a couple of years ago? Thanks for any help you can give me.

Thanks,
Stephen

CarMan@Edmunds

Sheidt, the new Infiniti incentives are not out yet. I expect to see them in the next couple of days and can let you know what I find out then. Yes, the current incentives that we list for Infiniti are correct. There is not any cash right now on the G20. For their sake I hope that they don't have to throw tons of cash at a brand new model. Actually from what I've heard, the new G20 has been pretty well received by the public so far. In fact, I don't expect Infiniti to have to put any support on the G20 for at least another couple of months.

Your Co-Host

sheidt

Thanks, car_man! Yeah, for Inifinity's sake, I would hope they wouldn't have to throw money at the G20, too. But, this isn't really a brand new model, since they were selling the G20 here for years, and then took a couple years break and are bringing it back. I know that before they discontinued it here, they were throwing thousands and thousands on the new models, not even the year-old models! I've also heard from others that their resale values were beyond low! I'm hoping that these re-introduced G20's are a step up from their predecessors. Thanks again and I'll be checking in later for any numbers you can find for me.

Thanks,
Stephen

jn1

I'm thinking of buying a Mitsubishi Eclipse, and I read that the dealer holdback is listed on the invoice and passed on to the customer. Does that mean that the manufacturer doesn't reimburse the dealer at all? Is the holdback only coming from the sale or do dealers make double the holdback -- one from the manufacturer and one from the customer (through the sale)?

CarMan@Edmunds

Jn1, this is a good question. I see a lot of posts in the Smart Shoppers Conference about dealerships trying to charge their customers for the holdback. It is my understanding that a vehicle's holdback amount is already added to it's invoice price. The dealership eventually gets this amount of money back from the manufacturer once it sells the vehicle. So, it looks like every dealership pays a little more for for their cars than they actually do. It is possible that the holdback is broken out on the invoice so that customers can see it, but dealerships usually do not want their customers to know about it. The only reason that I can think of why a dealership would tell customers about the holdback would be to try to charge them for it when they shouldn't be.

Your Co-Host

sheidt

Car_man - Any word yet on the current incentives for Nissan and Infiniti? The Incentives page here on Edmunds doesn't appear to have been updated since Sept. 29th, and quite a few of the incentives on that page expired on Sept. 30th.
Thanks - Stephen

CarMan@Edmunds

Stephen, the new Nissan and Infiniti programs should be posted up on our web site sometime in the next couple of days. Just for your information, Infiniti's programs remained basically the same. So did Nissan's, except for the elimination of the $500 Dealer cash on most models.

Your Co-Host

newdad

Looking to buy a Lincoln Navigator. Both 98 and 99 model years are on the lot, but price hasn't changed. If I look at the 98's, does the dealer receive any extra incentive from the factory to move the 98's? Also, some of the 98's I have seen are dealer demos with mileage from 3,000-7,000. What is a fair discount for that level of mileage?

hkchan

Car_Man, do you know what the new rebate and/or dealer incentive, if any, are on the 98/99 Mirage 4dr-LS in the MD-VA area?

supersak50

Car_Man:
In #602, you mentioned that the new Dealer Incentives for Infinit cars are still the same. I asked my dealer about it and he denied any dealer incentive on I30 (should be $1500 according to Edmund's)!! What would you do if you were in my shoes? Show him a copy of Edmund's? or what? Let me know.
Another question, what would you pay for a 1999 I30t with automatic transmission (MSRP: $32,695, Invoice: $29,063) with and without considering the $1500 dealer incentive?
I appreciate your help very much.....

jn1

Car_Man
Did the dealer incentives on 1999 Dodge Avengers change at all? I just purchased one last night and I felt I negotiated an incredible deal. I just hope there wasn't a dealer incentive I wasn't aware of.

CarMan@Edmunds

Dear newdad, Ford Motor Company just released their new incentives on 1998 and 1999 models. Although there is not any incentives on the 1999 Lincoln Navigator, there is $500 new Dealer Cash on the 1998 model through January 14, 1999. This may not seem like much, but it is the first incentive that Ford has had on this model since its introduction.

Demo miles are always difficult to figure out an exact discount for. In my opinion, dealerships usually do not provide large enough discounts on these models to justify purchasing what is essentially a low mileage used vehicle. Manufacturers usually charge consumers anywhere from $.20 to $.30 per mile for excess mileage charges on their leased cars or trucks, but I doubt that the dealership will even give you this much.

Your Co-Host

CarMan@Edmunds

Hkchan, the new Mitsubishi incentives should be posted up on the Edmunds web site tomorrow. I don't know what the exact incentives are on this model off of the top of my head, so check back then. Thanks.

Your Co-Host

CarMan@Edmunds

Supersak50, Infiniti almost always has dealer cash on all of their models. The only one that currently does not have any cash support is the new G20, and I doubt that they will be able to hold out on that model for too many more months. If the dealership that you visited won't admit that there are any incentives, then get his best quote and then go visit a couple of other Infiniti dealers. The bottom line is to get the best price that you can for the car and that's what you should concentrate on, reguardless of what the dealerships admit. Technically they don't actually have to pass any of the Dealer Cash onto consumers if they don't want to, but Inifniti dealerships would lose a lot of sales by doing so. The exact amount that you should pay for this car will vary depending upon many factors, including its availability in your area of the country. In order to figure out a fair offer, calculate the dealer cost of this model. To get the dealer cost, look up the car's invoice price, add in the destination charge, subtract the holdback, and subtract any current incentives. Then take this amount and add a fair profit to it in order to get your offer. Good Luck shopping for your new Infiniti.

Your Co-Host

CarMan@Edmunds

Jn1, Chrysler's incentives did change quite a bit on October 6th. Chrysler added Dealer Cash to many of its models, I think including the Avenger. I believe that the exact amount of Dealer Cash on this model was between $500 and $1,000. Check back here in a couple of days and we should have all of the new Chrysler incentives posted up on our site.

Your Co-Host

jn1

Car_Man
If that's the case that the '99 Avengers had dealer cash of $500 to $1,000, my purchase may not have been as great as I thought because I didn't factor the dealer cash into my offer. Any suggestions? Do I have any options considering I just purchased the car last night? $1,000 off my purchase price is a BIG deal to me and I'm sure almost anyone else!!!!!!

sheidt

jn1 -
If you have already purchased the vehicle, there's not much you can do. I may start sounding like isellhondas (another user on Edmunds for those that don't know him), but you really can't worry too much about whether you could've done anything differently, especially since you've already bought the car. In less than an hour and a half's time (the time between your 2 posts), you went from being so happy and excited about your new car and the great deal you got (and you definitely should be) to second-guessing yourself and worrying about things you can not change at this point. My advice is to relax and enjoy your new car, guilt-free. Just remember, no matter what you are able to negotiate your price down to on any car, there's always going to be someone out there somewhere that paid less for the same car, but there's also going to be plenty that paid more for the same car, also. Just look at the glass more half-full and enjoy!

Just my $.02,
Stephen

newdad

Car-man,

I have a quote at invoice for a new 99 Navigator. I couldn't talk the dealerships into goign much lower than that for the new 98's still on the lot, so if I go new, it will be the 99.

I did see a used 98 Navigator in great condition with 15,000 miles. I can't find any used car prices for the 98's yet. Any thought on the value? Is there luxury tax on the used vehicle?

gwarren

SEBRING INCENTIVE?

Car-Man,
I just noticed on the updated list of incentives and rebates, a $1000 dealer incentive on the 1999 sebring Convertible.

1. When did this incentive start?
2. When where the dealers informed of this?
3. If you scroll up about two weeks I asked about a possible incentive or rebate on this vehicle. At that time you did not feel that there would be one for a while. Are these incentives only known on the day of the offering.
4. If Edmunds does not get this information available immediately when it is announced, than it is too late if we buy the car.

CarMan@Edmunds

Jn1, sorry I didn't mean to scare you. I checked into it and there isn't any addition Dealer Cash on the '99 Dodge Avenger. There is only $1,000 Consumer Cash or special financing of 1.9% - 4.9% currently available. Even if there was some sort of dealer cash that you weren't aware of, I don't think that there would be any way for you to renegotiate your current deal once you have taken delivery of the car.

Your Co-Host

CarMan@Edmunds

Newdad, purchasing a Lincoln Navigator for dealer invoice is a good deal. The Navigator was once an extremely hot vehicle, although it's popularity has tailed off a little lately. To my knowledge, there aren't any incentives on the 1999 Navigator, so the dealer is only making the holdback if he sells you one at this price. There is currently $750 Dealer Cash on the 1998 model. Since the Navigator is such a new model, there isn't much information out there on how much used ones are selling for. Generally, new vehicles experience the largest drop in value in their first year of ownership. It's tough to say exactly how much a '98 would be worth right now. One good way to find out would be to look in your local newspapers to see if any are advertised. This will enable you to determine the what other people feel that this vehicle is worth in your area of the country. Remember to take a little off of the advertised prices because they are negotiable.

Your Co-Host

dee7

i just checked edmund's incentives and rebates site. if i am reading it correctly, there is a $1,000 rebate on 1999 nissan altimas (good through 11-2-98). Is this correct and also does anyone know if this info is correct for dealerships in Florida?

CarMan@Edmunds

Gwarren, I believe that all of the new Chrysler incentives began on October 6th. Dealers usually don't find out exactly what their manufacturer's new incentives program is until the day that the old one expires. No one has any idea what the incentives will be on specific models, until the day that the information is sent out to dealers. I occasionally hear rumors of what the new programs will be like, but there isn't any way to know for certain what the program will be in advance. Edmunds does their best to get the incentives information updated as quickly as possible. Every manufacturer's information on our incentives page has an expiration date listed next to their current programs. If it is past this date then the current program has expired and we are working hard to obtain and process the new information. This process usually takes a couple of days. You should wait until a couple of days after the previous program has expired to make any purchase decisions if you want to know exactly what the new incentives are.

Your Co-Host

CarMan@Edmunds

Dee7, yes there currently is $1,000 on the 1999 Nissan Altima through November 2nd. I believe that the Altima Cash is a national program, so it should be in effect in Florida.

Your Co-Host

vmd1

Is it true that dealers/salesmen do not negotiate on the prices of automobiles that are advertised at or below dealer's invoice price, since the prices are already low to lure the customers in?

supersak50

Mr. Co-Host:
Please tell Edmund's editors to fix the percentage amount of the dealer holdback on the 1999 Infiniti cars such as the I30 (both models) and G20 (both models). Thanks.

CarMan@Edmunds

Vmd1, there's not really any set of rules that says whether dealers will negotiate on models that are advertised at or below dealer invoice. Unless there is a tremendous amount of cash available on the specific model that you want, like the $3,500 Consumer Cash on the 2DR 2WD Blazer or the $3,000 on the Cadillac DeVille, purchasing it at invoice is already a pretty good deal. Vehicles priced this low may not have a whole lot of room left for negotiation, but you can't say that salesmen will NEVER negotiate on them. It all really depends upon the specific demand for the vehicle in question, how much it was advertised for, and what type of incentives are currently available on this model.

Your Co-Host

mellis

CarMan:

Do you have any info on lease residuals and money factors on the 99 Dodge Durango through Chrysler Credit? I am looking at 36 months, 15,000 miles per year. Also, would you know the per mile charge for additional miles purchased up front? Thanks!

Mark

Evercool

I am shopping for a '99 Grand Jeep Cherokee with the 26F package. What target price can I
look to reasonably get for this?
Are there any dealer incentives/rebates available at this time?

CarMan@Edmunds

Evercool, the newly redesigned Jeep Grand Cherokee is very popular right now as I'm sure you can imagine. There will eventually be incentives on this truck, the sport utility vehicle market is too competitive for there not to be. However, Chrysler is not offering any incentives on this truck right now and probably won't (at least I hope so for their sake) for months to come. Negotiating a deal for much less than MSRP will probably be tough initially. Once the initial excitement has died down it will be much easier to bargain on one.

Your Co-Host

williamshim

Hello,

I have question on above subject. How much of above incentive usually get passed to the customer? I asked quote from several local dealers for BMW Z 3.0 which currently has $3,000 such incentive however, none of the quote reflected the incentive. One dealer quote me straight MSRP!? and one other dealer quote me $1,000 off of MSRP. I didn't tell them that I know about this incentive but this makes me question their business practice....
Thanks.

richard927

I am a little concerned about the info I have found so far here at Edmunds in the Rebate and Incentive area: I am looking at 99 Cherokee Sports/Classics (4D/4WD) and am hoping to buy this weekend.

The Incentives & Rebates page was updated yesterday and it lists (as it did prior to the update as well) a $1200 Rebate on the 99 Jeep Cherokee SE and Sport, but when I offhanded asked the dealer "if there are any Customer Rebates..." he said "No." Now, since this is supposedly manufacturer money and it's supposed to HELP him sell me a vehicle, why would he say no?

Of course, the Dealer Incentive page lists a $500 one (which I did not go into) for the 99 Jeep Cherokee, so I am sure you can see my concern:

I am looking at a $22-25K vehicle (MSRP) and cannot determine if there is in fact $1700 in I&R money that I should take off the top, according to Edmunds' advice.

That is potentially HALF of what I would be taking off the MSRP, according to Edmunds, and means the difference between, say, offering $21K on a $23K MSRP, and then deducting another $1700 to $19,300.

I have checked other sites and they all report NO INCENTIVES (and the Jeep corporate site has not been updated since Dec 97).

I would very much appreciate some Quick Advice (including a direct e-mail if appropriate).

Thanks in Advance!