February Car Sales at 40 Year Low

RealCarTips.com

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1. February Car Sales at 40 Year Low
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Car sales just keep getting worse as the recession deepens. Sales
in February were down by more than 40% compared to the same time
last year. GM was the biggest loser with a drop of 55% while Ford
sales were down 48%. Toyota wasn't far behind with a 40% drop.

These are just horrendous sales figures, especially when you
consider the increase in incentives lately. Car manufacturers look
like they're starting to cut back on incentives since they don't
seem to be working. But desperate dealers will still be offering
huge discounts to move the inventory that's piling up.


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2. New Tax Credits for Plug-In Electric Car Buyers
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As part of the new stimulus package, buyers of plug-in electric
cars will get as much as $7,500 in tax credits. The new law will
allow each manufacturer to sell up to 200,000 plug-in electric
vehicles before the tax credit is phased out. GM, Ford, Toyota,
Nissan, Honda and Chrysler should all have cars that qualify for
the program.

Here are the requirements to be eligible for the tax credit:

* Car must weigh less than 14,000 lbs.
* Must be powered "to a significant extent" by a
battery-powered electric motor
* The battery capacity must be at least 4 kilowatt-hours. (This
will give the buyer a base credit of $2,500. Each additional
kilowatt-hour over 5 kilowatt-hours will add a credit of $417 up to
a maximum of $5,000 in tax credits)
* Must be able to be recharged from an external source


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3. California Car Buyers Get Stiffed
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People living in California will have to pay higher fees when
buying a car thanks to a new tax increase coupled with an increase
in DMV fees. Beginning April 1, 2009, the cost of buying a new car
will increase 1% due to the increase in sales tax. Furthermore,
California DMV fees will increase .65% to 1.15% starting May 19,
2009.

If you live in California and you're thinking of buying a car in
the next couple of weeks, make sure you do it before April 1st.



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