"Oh what fun it is to ride" intones the mellifluous voice in the holiday commercial for Mercedes-Benz. We've all seen the "December to Remember" TV commercials that make us simple folks wonder, "Why didn't I think of giving my spouse five years of car payments for the holidays?"
The holiday auto buying promotions do work, said Scott Lambert, executive vice president of the Minnesota Auto Dealers Association. "Years ago, the holiday time was slow, but I give Lexus a lot of credit for changing that," he said. "It must work because all the manufacturers have holiday promotions now. It's generally a good time of year, and with gas prices down, that's helping too."
I've never thought of giving anyone a new vehicle for Christmas. I don't travel in the circle of people who can. I don't even travel in circles of people who buy new cars. Most of them buy used.
But that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy the process of negotiating for a new vehicle. I bought my first new car a decade ago and plan to buy another new one in the next decade.
Lucky for me, one of my friends recently joined the throngs of people eager to buy new cars. I jumped at the chance to help him get a good deal on a 2015 Subaru. He was in good company — the rate of people buying new cars last month was the highest in a decade, translating to 17.2 million on a full-year basis, according to Autodata.
My friend used more than half a dozen online resources to evaluate vehicles and get prices from CarsDirect.com to Edmunds.com. His vehicle with all the options had a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $31,948 and a dealer invoice price of $29,305.
I used two main sources to try to get him a good deal. A free article called "Buying a New Car" by Consumers' Checkbook (http://tinyurl.com/n8km8f6) and a price report.
Checkbook is an invaluable nonprofit consumer organization in Washington, D.C., that teaches people how to get a good deal buying a new vehicle. Consumers who would rather not go through the hassle can pay them $200 to do the negotiating, but the nonprofit deserves credit for showing people how to do it on their own if they want.