GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Earlier this year I got rid of my son's 04 Acura TL. The only Honda product I have ever owned that I consider junk.I was going with the vibe or matrix for the replacement and have been playing let's make a deal for the last month.Here is what I came up with. A new 09 AWD with the preferred package, polished alloys, radio upgrade (not monsoon), alarm, fog lights and rear deck cover. The car listed for $23,365. I got the supplier pricing, the $3K rebate, another $1K from my GM card and the dealer knocked it down to a round number $18,000.It sounds pretty fair but any input would be appreciated.I did not wait for August as I am not sure GM would do much better at this point on the deals (cash for clunkers customers are getting into the market) and the cars are getting harder to find.Here are a few interesting things I learned along the way.One dealer offered to find me a car from Michigan which would have conquest cash but I could not use my GM Card. In retrospect that may have been a better deal as I did not realize GM would cap my card use to $1K ( I have $2160 in points on the card).One dealer offered me $1500 more off if I am coming from infinity or Nissan. No luck as I have a lexus.If you do not have GM points and are going with the 0%, you may be better off at Toyota. I was offered $2600 off a nicely equipped matrix whereas the supplier pricing system does not go much above $1K on vibes. I would have gone withe the 0% except he may only need the car a year or two.I found most GM dealers were discounting by the book and were not interested in dealing (what fun is there if dealing is not a part of the transaction?)The car is a great value and I am sure he will have fun with it.

I'd also look at Certified Used cars. There are already year-old '09's out there, and you'll absolutely have a larger selection of models, colors, and options. (They had a wide selection of Vibe and Matrix models at locations all over the US on the CarMax.com website when I looked yesterday.) Understand, I'm not recommending CarMax, just using it as one measure of used car inventory.I've searched for a 1.8L Vibe on the Pontiac.com website recently and found that EVERY Vibe listed in my area had the 2.4L engine when I viewed to the actual sticker.Happy hunting!

At the present time on the '09's I am seeing1. Supplier pricing2. 2,500 in rebates for anyone3. an extra $1,000 from the dealer - probably dealer incentive money and maybe the dealer is dipping into his holdback.I also think I read on this board that if you are actually getting supplier pricing because you are a supplier or "friends or family" of an employee etc. there is $4,000 in supplier rebates, not $2,500.Different GM Cards have different rules. I have the legacy card - $500 max a year, Points expire on a rolling basis after 7 years so the max you can accumulate is $3,500. GM has offered to increase exisitng points if you buy a car by a certain date. My $1,850 got upped to $3,000 last January. I took advantage of that deal.Then there is the picture of the dealer with a goat discount - varies on how ugly the goat is.

A Chevy ad in todays paper had an extra rebate described as "Overage rebate $1,000".I am not sure what that is - maybe the dealer gets an incentive for selling beyond quota that he is passing on to buyers. This dealer has a full page ad in the newspaper every day of the week. You would think he would need any overage money to pay his advertising bill.

Hi newbie here - I will do the whole 'intro' thing when I pick it up on Friday... and I get photos, and figure out a 'name' for it...But deals - yeah, they are out there.I got an '09 AWD, with the preferred package (I think that is a bunch of interior stuff like auto door locks, etc), 17" 5 star alloys, roof rack, radio upgrade for right at $15,000 out the door (taxes and fees included)...There was a $2500 rebate, a $1000 reduce stock incentive, the $3500 I am getting for my 'clunker' (a '98 exploder with 180,000 and tons of rust - worth less than $1,000 on the open market) a $750 GM deal from USAA, and a Upromise kick in later as well...Plus, if you plan on financing - I went in with an offer from my bank (USAA) at 4.8% and GM financing came in at 4.0%.Screaming deals out there.... even without the incriminating 'goat' photos...

Oh - "overage" = "reduce stock incentive".I thought maybe it was just for old people, as in "over age".

Foxpaws, your deal is sweet.I don't have a clunker so no play there for me.I checked in with the dealer today and they haved maxed the offers. He said I got some $250 couposn GM gives dealers to help make up the difference between customer offers and what the dealer is looking for.The supplier deal would not apply for me. If it did they said it would not be off red tag so it would be less of a deal. The $5365 I am getting off is about 20% off sticker. I am also happy to be buying the car from a dealer in a high unemplyment area to help support some jobs there. What was the USAA deal? I am going through my credit union and getting 4.45% got 60 months on the loan.

Quote, originally posted by LexusGuy »Foxpaws, your deal is sweet.I don't have a clunker so no play there for me.I checked in with the dealer today and they have maxed the offers. He said I got some $250 coupon GM gives dealers to help make up the difference between customer offers and what the dealer is looking for.The supplier deal would not apply for me. If it did they said it would not be off red tag so it would be less of a deal. The $5,365 I am getting off is about 20% off sticker. I am also happy to be buying the car from a dealer in a high unemployment area to help support some jobs there. What was the USAA deal? I am going through my credit union and getting 4.45% got 60 months on the loan.Nothing to complain about on your deal either. About the only ways to beat those numbers is a GM Card rebate, and /or the govt. Clunker rebate. If you don't have 'em you don't have 'em.That finance rate is also excellent. Obviously you have a good credit score, but I think 60 month new car loans for people with good credit scores are at least 6-7% elsewhere. In the old days I used my GM Card for purchases that otherwise would have got me only a 1% rebate. So my $1,850 GM Card earnings only cost me the $370 in cash rebates I gave up by not using another credit card. The beauty was that GM upped that $1,850 to $3,000 so that made the trade off even more worthwhile. The only risk was that I would never by buying a GM car and thius the GM earnings were oif no value.I now have a Schwab Visa that rebates 2% so the math on risk/reward gets a little fuzzier. Do I give up $800 cash in hand for $2,000 in GM earnings that I might not use because GM has nothing I want to buy?However it would not surprise me if Schwab cut that generous rebate. Then again it also would not surprise me if the 5% GM Card earnings was reduced.

USAA is a financial group for members or past members of the military - I would imagine that perhaps, since GM now stands for Government Motors there might be a connection there on the extra $750 rebate on GM cars... You have to be a member of USAA to get the extra rebate. You use to have to be an officer to qualify to be a member, but I think they changed that to include enlisted personnel as well.Oh, as a heads up if you are thinking of doing the clunker program...I placed an ad in Craigs List to sell the wheels/Tires off the exploder (my clunker of choice - ) the tires were really pretty new, and had lots and lots of tread on them still...So I hooked up with a fellow exploder owner and we swapped his old steel wheels and pretty sad tires for my great looking alloys and really nice tires. He also got my spare, we switched batteries (once again, mine was only about a year old, and still had 4 years left on the warranty and his was really old) and he also grabbed the radio, switched air filters, took the towing wiring and ball, the original owners manual, the cargo cover and the floor mats. I made a bit of money - and we did our own 'recycling'.So, if you or someone you know is using this program, there maybe someone out there who needs the items on your car that are in good shape and would be able to swap things out.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the savvy dealers are not doing some of that. And if they are - I think they deserve it for putting up with all the govt. horse crap like changing the eligibility list at the 12th hour. A big dealer here said they projected that they would have to eat about 1 in 15 deals because of govt. rejection of the claim for this or that reason. That is $300 per based on a $4,500 claim; $233 based on a $3,500 claim.I think I read where the dealers can keep the junk value they get from the scrap yard.

USAAWho is eligible?Membership is open to: * Active-duty officers and enlisted personnel. * Children whose eligible parents have or had a USAA auto or property insurance product.1 * National Guard and Selected Reserve officers and enlisted personnel. * Officer candidates in commissioning programs (Academy, ROTC, OCS/OTS). * Former military personnel: o Retired officers and enlisted personnel. o Former officers and enlisted personnel who separated from the military on or after Jan. 1, 1996. * Former USAA members who had USAA auto or property insurance.

I just bought my new 2009 Vibe GT today. It included Automatic Trans. and Sunroof. OTD price was $20,530. Since I'm a credit union member, I was able to get Supplier pricing plus $250 cash back. Total incentives were $3250. - $2000 GM Customer Cash Back - $500 Dealer Cash Back - $500 Manufacturer to Dealer incentive - $250 Credit Union Cash BackIt was an OK deal but after seeing the dealer invoice, you can see how much money gets left in their pocket. My one "bonus" was that the service staff left the wheel locks in the glove box which this dealership hits you with a $50 fee to keep. The salesperson discovered it after we signed the paperwork. She wasn't happy about that. For what she got on that deal, it was a minor break in my favor. It was the last 2009 GT left on the lot and literally one of the last in SE Michigan. Two weeks ago, you had your pick of inventory and dealers were looking to deal. But in the last week between incentives ending and cash for clunkers, they were cleaned out. GM was evening advertising today 2009 Vibes for Cash for Clunkers even though there are none to be had, at least not GTs. None of the dealers were interested in dealing down (of the ones where you could even reach a live person) and I think I only was able to get this price because I had the quote before the first wave of clunker deals went down. Cash for clunkers has been great for dealers and terrible for value buyers of new cars. I think people are taking that $4500 and not even trying to deal, especially if they have employee pricing and rebates ($4,000 for GM employees). That means dealers aren't going to spend time trying to close a deal when free cash comes walking on the lot. As someone else said, I think come next month, those incentives are going to end or shrink so if I was going to go new, I think this was the time to do it even if I wasn't able to get as good a deal as I wanted.I also looked at some low mileage used 2009 GTs. There, I had the reverse experience. Since Cash for Clunkers doesn't apply to used, they know that those buyers aren't going to look at the older stuff. I talked a dealer down under $16,500 before taxes on a GT with Auto, no sunroof that had 12,000 miles and very clean. I personally was hoping to keep that extra $4,000 we spent on new in the bank but my significant other wanted a new car. What she wants, she gets.It's a nice car with a good pedigree and my first true new car. I'm looking forward to learning all the details of ownership among those who've gotten to know them.

After seeing the invoice you felt the dealer had a lot left in his/her pocket?If you are referring to the invoice price you see on-line, remember that there is almost $400 in fees (adv fee, consumer contact fee, gasoline fee) added to that number int he actual dealer invoice. The invoice on the base is about 94.5%. the invoice on options is about 88%. Destination fee invoice is same as msrp. DO THE MATH, ADD $400.My understanding is that supplier pricing is essentially invoice. Absent any other hidden incentives my guess is that the dealer made only the holdback which is 3% of msrp before destination fee.Dealers are loath to bargain away their holdback.[The $250 credit union rebate you got probably made up for the excessive document fees.]