However, the catch is that those incentives are only good on selected vehicle models and styles, and only for a limited time.  If the particular brand, model, and style that you want is not one of those with incentives offers this month, you are back to square one — negotiating for deals the old fashion way.

A new company has come along that changes all that, and may change how we buy cars in the future.

TrueCar answers the question, “What should I pay for my car?” Even if you are a shrewd negotiator, you have to know your target price. You also would benefit by knowing what other people are paying for the same car, same model, same style that you want. With that knowledge, you will know the price you should be aiming at.

TrueCar tells you not only the MSRP sticker price for your car, but also the dealer’s invoice price and the average price that other people are paying in your area. They tell you what a good price, or a great price really is. They provide all of this new car pricing information at both a national and local level – free of charge – so you can understand how cars are being priced and sold all around the country.

Knowing the prices paid by dealers and other people is a great idea in itself, but it’s not the best part about TrueCar. Founder Scott Painter thought several years ago, “Why is it so hard to buy a new car? Why not simplify the car buying process?” And then a true revolution was born.

In addition to the free car pricing information, TrueCar also gives you a haggle-free, guaranteed price quote on brand new cars and trucks from local dealers in your area. It’s as easy as selecting the vehicle make and model, entering your local city zip code, and then reviewing the best local car prices against the car cost, average price paid, factory invoice price and MSRP. The prices offered are usually less than dealer invoice price.

TrueCar provides you free price quotes in writing from up to three dealers near you. You simply take our TrueCar price protection certificate to your local car dealer to get, and purchase the new vehicle of your choice at a significant savings off of the sticker price — and without all the usual hassle and haggling. It’s that simple.

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Special lease offers from car companies typiclly require a down payment (cap cost reduction), first month’s payment, and possibly a security deposit. It’s only a good deal if you adhere to the rules and make the down payment as required. If you choose not to make a down payment, it’s a different deal and one that is not so good anymore. Honda’s deals are different.

Honda offers special lease deals nearly every month on at least one style with each of it’s model lines. They can do this by reducing the sale price, reducing the finance rate (lease money factor), and boosting the lease-end residual value. All of these things, in combination, make for an attractively low monthly payment. In fact, these deals are much better than a customer could negotiate for himself. The “catch” is that the deals only apply to certain styles and not to all.

Therefore, customers have to decide if they want the style being promoted. To choose another model or style would require a normal, non-promotional lease at normal terms. However, Hondas are one of the most leaseable brands out there — due to high residual (resale) values — and are nearly always good deals when compared to other brands.

Honda uses the term $0-$0-$0-$0 lease for their special zero-down leases. It means customers pay no money at lease signing, no down payment, no first month’s payment, and no security deposit. It’s what other companies might call a sign-and-drive deal. Of course, if you choose to make a down payment and make the first month’s payment, you can reduce your monthly payment amount a bit.

At the time of this writing, Honda has special 36-month lease deals on the following models and styles:

Accord Coupe EX –  $310/month $0 due at signing

Accord Sedan EX –  $260/month $0 due at signing

Civic Sedan LX – $230/month $0 due at signing

Crosstour 2WD EX V6 –  $340/month $0 due at signing

CR-V 2WD LX –  $270/month $0 due at signing

Odyssey LX –  $260/month $0 due at signing

Pilot 2WD LX – $340/month $0 due at signing

All of the above car lease deals have been evaluated as either Excellent or Outstanding by LeaseGuide.com.

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The most common incentive is a direct to customer rebate, although there can also be other incentives such as low-interest loans, 0% APR loans, special car lease deals, and “hidden” factory-to-dealer cash.

Incentive programs vary from month to month depending on which models and styles manufacturers feel need sales “help”. Slow selling models or last-year’s leftover vehicles typically get the best rebates and incentives. However, it not ususual for a brand new model to get good rebates or other incentives.

A rebate is a credit that you receive when you buy a new car during the promotional period. It shows up on your paperwork the same as a down payment, although the money comes from the manufacturer’s pocket, not the dealer’s, and is like a gift to you that reduces the amount you pay for your car.

However, a rebate is not a price discount. It doesn’t change the selling price of the car (although it changes what you pay).  Rebates and discounts are NOT the same, although both reduce the amount you pay for a car. Let’s explain.

Because a rebate is like a down payment, sales tax is calculated on the price of the car BEFORE the rebate is applied. It doesn’t reduce the sale price of the car, although it does reduce the amount of money that comes from you. In other words, you pay sales tax on the entire sale price of the car, which includes the rebate. 

A price discount is different. A discount reduces the actual selling price of a car, and sales tax is based on selling price. Therefore, you don’t pay sales tax on a discount.

So given two cars at the same price where one has a $2000 rebate and the other has a $2000 price discount, choosing the car with the $2000 discount saves you sales tax money. However, you may want to choose the car with the rebate if you are short on down payment cash, since a rebate acts as a down payment.

For information about current rebate offers on new car models, see Best Car Deals. 

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In normal years, we would tell you that the best time to buy a car is when sales are slow at the end of the month, end or the year, or during vacation season. We would tell you that you might still have to negotiate your prices because dealers aren’t just going to give you a good deal because they like you.

BUT……..things are much different now. Sales have been slow for over a year and are still slow right now. As a result, we are now seeing some of the biggest and best car incentives on new cars that we’ve seen in years. Nearly every car manufacturer is now offering a combination of large factory-to-customer rebates, low-interest loan deals, 0% APR loans (even on long 72 month loans), special lease deals, free maintenance, and “secret” factory-to-dealer rebates that dealers usually give to customers.

Why has 2011 become such a good time to buy a car?

For a number of reasons.

First, the economy seems to be improving, if every so slowly, and car makers and dealers are anxious to give things a little push. They are offering attractive incentives as a way of convincing potential buyers to take action.

Second, even though there are people buying new cars, the market is smaller than a few years ago. This means there’s fewer cars to be sold and the competition among dealers and car makers is tremendous — to the benefit of automobile consumers.

This is a good time to buy because many of the deals are the about as good as they can possibly be. You can’t get lower than zero percent interest on a loan. You can’t get lower than a manufacturer’s cost to build a car and expect them to stay in business. You can’t much better on special car lease deals that give you a deeply discounted price, combined with a low money factor and high residual. Some even kick in free scheduled maintenance for a couple of years.

Another factor creating the outstanding car-buying opportunities right now is the “Toyota Situation.” Toyota’s unfortunate problems and Japanese earthquakes have caused a big slowdown in Toyota car sales. Most other car makers have tried to capitalize on the situation by offering some very attractive incentives. It’s like a feeding frenzy. Now Totoya, who is solving their problems, is offering some of the best incentives in their entire history in attempting to restore customer confidence and recover sales.

If you are looking for 0% APR loan deals, nearly every manufacturer has them on at lease some of their models and styles. Even if 0% is not available, other very low-interest loans are being offered.  Furthermore, the deals are being offered even on long-term loans, which has been rare until now. You might already know that you’ll need a good credit score to get these 0% APR deals. If you don’t know your latest credit score, you should. You can get your free credit score from FreeCreditScore.com that you can view instantly with a quick signup.

If you’re looking for great lease deals, Honda and Toyota come to mind. In fact, nearly all non-American brands have special car lease deals now. American brands (Chrysler, Ford, GM) haven’t quite come back to leasing after losing so much money on leases in the last few years.

Big rebates, however, are available on many brands, including American brands, and especially on leftover 2009 vehicles. Chrysler, Ford, and GM rebates are very attractive, as are those from Hyundai/Kia, Mazda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi. See Best Car Deals for more details on current new-car incentives and deals.

So if you are in the market for a new car and looking for the best time to buy your new car, NOW is a good time to buy. It might get a little better later in the year — and maybe not.

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