‘Chevy Confidence’ deals vary by model

General Motors introduced no-haggle pricing on all of its new 2012 Chevrolet models and a 60-day money-back guarantee on all of its new 2012 and 2013 models.

The incentives are designed to help dealerships to make room for incoming 2013 vehicles, independent automobile-industry experts tell Consumers Digest. But the deals that are offered through no-haggle pricing vary among models, and in some cases you likely will get a better price if you negotiate with the dealer rather than taking the discount that reflects the no-haggle price, experts say.

The Chevy Confidence incentive program began July 10, 2012, and runs through Sept. 4, 2012.

The “Love It or Return It” incentive allows customers who purchase a vehicle to return it within 60 days for a refund of the sale price. But GM won’t accept a return if the vehicle has more than 4,000 miles on it or if the vehicle has been damaged. GM and other manufacturers have offered similar money-back guarantees in the past.

But the Total Confidence Pricing incentive is much more complicated for consumers, because discounts vary dramatically among vehicles. Although some vehicles are priced as much as $4,000 less than the MSRP, others are priced as little as just $37 less than the MSRP, we found.

As a result, we believe that you could have negotiated a better deal for some models before the no-haggle pricing incentive began. But if you wait until after the no-haggle pricing incentive expires, the vehicle that you want might no longer be available, experts say.

It’s unlikely that dealers will have the authority to negotiate a price that’s lower than the no-haggle discount, says Jesse Toprak, who is an automobile analyst for Truecar.com. When we asked GM if consumers could negotiate the price further, spokesperson Afaf Farah told us: “The price that you see is the price that you pay. The idea behind the program is to take away the need for any haggling.”

Consumers Digest compared no-haggle prices at participating Chicago-area Chevrolet dealerships and found that pricing for some models reflects good deals. For example, the 2012 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe is being sold for $4,179 less than its MSRP of $53,600.

Toprak says a consumer could negotiate $4,000 off a $50,000 vehicle, but the no-haggle incentive eliminates the hassle of negotiating the lower price with a dealer, he says.

However, we also found a 2012 Chevrolet Camaro Coupe 1LS that has a sale price that’s just $500 less than its MSRP, and a 2012 Chevrolet Sonic that has a sale price that’s a paltry $37 less than its MSRP of $15,370. In those two examples, we believe that it would be worth the time and hassle to negotiate a lower price with a dealer.

We asked GM: How is $37 off a vehicle’s MSRP considered a deal for consumers? But Farah wouldn’t answer our question.

– K. Fanuko