Best holiday deals for new car buyers begin after Christmas

Manufacturers and dealers have had to slash prices more than they have in decades -- and the bargains should soon be even sweeter as sellers push to move inventory before the end of the year.

"All the planets are aligned in your favor," said W. James Bragg, who runs the car buying information service FightingChance.com. It's the best time to buy a new car, Bragg said, in 15 years.

The days after Christmas -- before the new year begins -- are always a prime time to purchase a car. Business is slow and dealers often need to sell additional cars to meet monthly, quarterly and annual sales goals. At the end of this dismal year, dealers should be even more eager to end the year on a high note by selling you a car, which could also make them more willing to offer you a price unthinkable only a few months ago.

And even though automakers are desperate to sell, to get the best deal a buyer still needs to understand how cars are priced and sold -- a process as straight and as penetrable as the Great Wall of China. Fortunately, there's now more information available to figure out what to pay and how to draw the best offer from a dealer, through both commercial websites and Internet forums organized by car enthusiasts. Here are some tips for bargain hunting after Christmas.

You can pay less than invoice -- sometimes way less: Just about everyone knows the sticker price is more than you should pay. Then there's the "invoice" price, which is supposed to indicate what a dealer paid for the vehicle.

Many consumers are under the impression that the invoice price is a true wholesale cost and that dealers generally can't sell a car for less without losing money.

That leads prospective buyers to look up invoice prices on websites such as Edmunds.com or KBB.com, and then negotiate upward from the stated invoice prices. Some car buying websites also deduct rebates and "holdback," a system some manufacturers use to refund dealers 1% to 3% of a car's value. Some also use sales data to come up with "true" prices for a region.

But a savvy buyer can sometimes get a price below the invoice price and the additional manufacturer's rebates and discounts.

Knowing the invoice price is useful, but changes in the auto industry in the last few years have made invoice figures less significant, Bragg and other analysts say.