On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:16:24 GMT, (Doug
Miller) wrote:

In article , Metspitzer wrote:
The Ford place has a 2011 Ranger XLT I would like to have. The
sticker price is 25K. The last car I bought was a 2011 Honda Civic
last year when they first came out and I was able to get 2k off its
21K list price.

Woo-hoo! Big discount there...

Ford is giving a 4.5k rebate on the new (but a year old 2011) truck
with a sticker price of 25k. Should I expect to try to get the best
offer on the truck and then get the rebate or is the rebate usually
the best offer?

Buying a new car is *never* a financially sound decision, rebate or no. The
only thing that makes financial sense is to buy used, at least three or four
years old. Let someone else pay the depreciation.

You want to talk about discounts from list price? After our second child was
born, in 1991, we bought a 1984 Buick LeSabre for $4200; the original window
sticker was still in the glove box, showing a list price of about $14K. The
car had 54K miles on it when we bought it, and it was still running when we
sold it ten years later at 211K.
Actually, there IS a financially sound reason for buying a new car
IF you are going to be financing the car AND the dealer is offering
zero percent financing. You can often buy the new car for the same or
less money than a 2 year old used car at bank finance rates.

If you are paying CASH, a new car NEVER makes financial sense.