Car Deals Grow As December Goes On

SANTA MONICA, CA (WWJ) - Not only is December shaping up as a good car sales month, but it's also shaping up to be a good month to get a deal on a car.

"December's actually shaping up to be a great month to buy a car, with seven out of the ten best days of the year, in terms of discount from MSRP," says analyst Kristen Andersson from Truecar.com, a Santa Monica, California-based auto research company.

The deals come as dealers are trying to meet sales goals, and companies are working to clear out remaining 2011 models. There are also sales races, as BMW and Mercedes fight to take the luxury crown from Lexus.

"Luxury brands kinda have a race to the finish," Andersson said. "There are some very good deals with luxury brands like Mercedes and BMW."

There are a lot of discounts on leases. And Andersson said the deals vary depending on the product.

"The Chevrolet Silverado 1500 is actually the highest discounted vehicle from MSRP. That has about a 32 percent discount," she said.

Vehicles like the Silverado have been on the market for a while, without significant changes, and have had issues with sales and inventories recently. That means they are ripe for discounting.

We've actually missed the best car deal day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving. But Andersson says as December goes on, the deals will get better.

"New Years Eve is actually the second best day of the year, with an average discount of 9.3 percent."

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