Are rebates and sales incentives available?

Chrysler and GM are offering attractive sales incentives on many of their models, including rebates, discounts, and special financing rates.

Chrysler is currently offering a number of rebates and incentives on 2009 models. For more details, go to www.chryslerllc.com and click on "Offers."

GM is offering zero-percent financing and/or cash rebates on many of its models, including some that we recommend. The company is also offering various ownership-oriented programs. Under its Payment Protection plan, for example, if you lose your income during the first 24 months of ownership, GM will make up to nine payments of up to $500 per month. Under its Vehicle Value Protection program, GM will give owners up to $5,000 when they trade in an existing GM vehicle for a new one, or up to $2,500 if they sell a GM vehicle in a private sale and buy a new one within seven days. For details on all of its incentive programs, go to www.gm.com/vehicles/currentoffers.

It’s important to remember that any deal is only as good as the vehicle you're buying. We recommend that you thoroughly research the performance, reliability, safety, owner cost, and owner satisfaction of any model you're considering. Subscribers to ConsumerReports.org have access to our Ratings in all of those areas.

In addition to advertised customer incentives, automakers often provide behind-the-scenes dealer incentives. Knowing about these can help you to negotiate a lower price. Consumer Reports' New Car Price Reports give you a list of all national and regional incentives for a particular model, including the hard-to-find holdback amounts, and the CR Bottom Line Price, which factors in all those to give you a good starting point for negotiating the vehicle’s price. Dealer sales incentives can also be found at various auto-pricing web sites.