Kiplinger

Driving a Hard Bargain on a New 2018 Car

With car sales slowing from years of record highs, carmakers are ramping up incentive: cash rebates or low-interest-rate financing. But getting the lowest price possible still requires some smart tactics.

Negotiate. Assuming you aren't shopping for a hot model, you can probably haggle with the dealer until you get close to the "invoice" price, or

Saving a few bucks up front may be less valuable than picking a car with strong resale value. Cars depreciate at an average rate of 15% a year, says Eric Lyman, vice president of industry insights at TrueCar. One positive factor if you buy a sedan, he adds, is that resale values should start to improve over the next few years as supply tapers off in the used-car market (while SUVs proliferate, potentially hurting their resale values). Resale values and other costs of ownership can be found on . Try to buy a car one year after a full redesign or launch of an all-new model. Or buy a "mid-cycle refresh"--a car that has been revised and updated by the manufacturer about three to four years after it first came out. All-new or fully redesigned models tend to have kinks that need to be ironed out, so waiting a year is usually a good idea. And a model refresh usually includes significant improvements. In both cases, these cars should hold a bit more resale value than the outgoing model, says Brauer.

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