What Is a Factory-To-Dealer Incentive?
A factory incentive is a rebate the factory offers to the dealer on certain models due to a number of reasons. These incentives are not advertised to the general public and usually won't be passed on to the customer unless they know about it. Manufactures will offer these incentives to boost sales on models that aren't selling well, when a set sales target has been reached or to encourage dealers in selected regions to move more cars. These rebates can be anywhere from $500 to $5000 which thereby makes the cost of the vehicle much cheaper for the dealer.
How Factory Incentives Can Help You
If you know about the current incentives available on the vehicle you are purchasing you can use that information as a bartering tool to obtain a better price. For example, if you are buying a $25,000 car and there is a $5000 factory-to-dealer incentive currently in effect you could effectively buy that car for $20,000 if the dealer passes that rebate on to you. Technically the dealer isn't losing any of his/her money by doing this because it's coming directly from the factory. On the other hand if the customer didn't know about the incentive the dealer would be able to pocket the $5000 which is why they are quite reluctant to tell customers about these offers.
How to Find Out if Your Vehicle Has Factory Incentives
Currently there are only a few places to find out about factory-to-dealer incentives. Depending on whether you live in Canada or The United States there are a few companies that provide this hidden information at a nominal fee. In Canada there is www.CarCostCanada.com a company that provides factory incentive information along with their new car invoice pricing reports. In the US there is FightingChance.com, a site that emphasis's on factory-to-dealer incentives. Last but not least is Consumer Reports, a company known for delivering relevant information to consumers of every industry. Their website, ConsumerReports.org, offers reports to both US and Canadian customers.
The information you need to get the best possible price on your new car is out there, the choice of using it is up to the customer. But when educated buyers are saving four, five or six thousand dollars off their purchase, why wouldn't you want to be one of them?
