Drive a hard bargain: Carmakers are desperate to move the metal off dealer lots. GM, Ford and Chrysler are still offering zero percent loans for five years or big cash rebates on most models (no harm in pushing for both). Even BMW now offers a low $299-per-month lease on its 325 model. To make your best deal, go to Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com) and get the invoice price of the car you want before heading to the dealer. Then push for a price that’s $1 over invoice. Negotiate the financing separately.
Cruising for savings: How does $50 a day to cruise the Caribbean sound? Or round-trip airfare and two nights in New Orleans for $340? Or San Francisco hotel rooms at $123, down 12 percent from last year’s already low rates? “The travel industry is in really, really bad shape,” says Jim Cammisa, publisher of Travel Industry Indicators in Miami. Airlines have reported more cancellations than bookings on some days since the war with Iraq started, reports the Air Transport Association.
Airlines are discounting like crazy to fill seats, just as hotels are slashing their rates to fill beds. The biggest discounts are on the cruise lines, which launched a fleet of new ships just as travelers pulled back. To get the best travel deals, don’t bother booking early.
“Soon, you’re going to see a lot of advertising that pops up offering summer travel deals,” says Robert Bowers of Smith Travel Research. If you can stand the uncertainty, haunt last-minute travel consolidators like Site59 (site59.com), where air and hotel packages to places like Vancouver, Ft. Lauderdale and Toronto are down a quarter from where they were last year. When you’re reserving hotel rooms, call the front desk of the hotel you’ll be staying in to see if they’ll cut a better deal than the advertised price. Check room consolidators like Quik book.com and hotelreserva tionsnetwork.com. Or cruise by Cruiseman.com which, lists the ship deals.
Home, sweet deals: You can fill your house with bargains, too. Furniture retailers have more inventory now than they’ve had since 1999. Major chains like Sears and Lowe’s, as well as smaller appliance retailers, are in a full-scale bidding war. “People come in here with ads from other stores that have been discounted more than ever before,” laments Edward Telis, manager of the Absolute Appliances store in Los Angeles. He’s meeting those deals and selling refrigerators at $349 this year that were $449 last year, and shaving $100 off the price of ovens.
Because home furnishings, appliances and electronics are commodities, you can save time and money by knowing the price before you shop. At Cnet’s Shopper.com site, you can click on “price drops” and watch the camcorders, computers and DVD players get cheaper right before your eyes, twice a day. If you’re in the market for a major home appliance, read all the circulars and then go to the store with the ads.
Ask for the best price and then see if you can haggle a free delivery or a year of free financing on top of it. Don’t feel bad for a second about pushing for a hard bargain. There’s only one thing worse for salespeople than a tough customer, and that’s no customer at all.
