You Can Buy a $34,000 Truck at a Cost to You of Under $14,000

It sounds impossible that you could buy a $34,000 truck for under $14,000, but in a way you can. Let’s say you own a business and need a truck. You pick out a Chevy Silverado that lists for about $34,000. Now that’s a pretty nice truck, probably 4 wheel drive and in a 4 door crew cab that would work nicely for your business. If you buy on the GM Red Tag program, you could get $10,000 or more in savings, leaving you a balance of $24,000. The recent stimulus package passed by congress allows you to take up to $25,000 in depreciation on up to $100,000 in vehicle purchases. If you are a C corporation paying 34% federal tax and 8% state tax that is a total of 42%. $24,000 in depreciation reduces your taxable income by the same amount, and at a 42% tax rate your tax savings is $10,080 making the net to you $13,920. In addition to that you would get a free tool box or bed liner. And if you qualify for other incentives your cost could be even less.

These are extraordinary times offering extraordinary deals. We almost need a score card to keep up with the incentives. There are incentives if you have a leased vehicle and don’t lease your next one. There are loyalty incentives and other incentives called conquest if you don’t have a GM product. There are incentives if you live in certain markets and others if you are a member of a club or organization that GM has a deal with. There are even more incentives if you have qualified for a predetermined demographic that GM has targeted and sent you a promotional piece in the mail. There are incentives if we have had the vehicle in stock too long and others if it is a brand new model. On some models you can get free service, OnStar and XM radio. You have GM credit card rebates and some business can get a $500 gift coupon from Lowes. Plus, the best darn military discount- for active duty and reserve members of the US military. There are so many different incentives that if I listed them all I wouldn’t have room in this article. And then there are the tax incentives from the government like I mentioned at the top of the article.

If you are a GM employee, a direct relative of a GM employee, a GM dealership employee or a direct relative of a GM dealership employee, you qualify for GM employee pricing on top of all of the Red Tag incentives. I have seen these deals come out to almost half off the sticker price.

I have been in the car business for 30 years, and I have never seen anything like this. And if you think the new car savings are good, you should see what you can buy a used late model car for. As the factory has put incentives on new cars, it has driven the price of off lease and rental used vehicles to record lows. And it doesn’t end here.

For all you have heard about financing, now some of the banks are competing for the car business. That has driven bank rates on car loans down for qualified buyers. And while you have to have good credit, it doesn’t have to be perfect.

While these may be tough economic times, there has never been a better time to buy a new or used car or truck. To see the basic Red Tag savings for yourself, log on to www.gmgiant.com. But remember you may qualify for even more. Drive safely.