Jeannine Fallon of Edmunds.com explains, "This is a great time of year to shop for a new car . But it's particularly good if you look at some of the models that aren't going to be the same for the 2013 model year."
According to Edmunds.com, 13 cars that are being re-designed for 2013 are candidates for major discounts.
They include The Chevy Impala, Malibu and Traverse, The Ford Escape, Fusion and Mustang, The GMC Acadia, Honda Accord, Hyundai Santa Fe, Lexus ES350, Nissan Altima and Pathfinder, and The Toyota Avalon.
Fallon says, "There are lot of people out there who want the newsest and the latest technology. If you're not one of those people, pick up one of those older model-year vehicles. They're going to do a lot of great things for you and your family and they'll be a much better price. You won't have the latest and greatest, but you'll have something great.
She adds that you can save even more by educating yourself about auto-maker incentives and not letting dealers count them towards your price.
"No matter what car you're buying, first negotiate the purchase price of the car," Fallon says. "Then you take away the rebates and incentives that are available for that car because that's a bargain and a discount that you're going to get no matter what negotiating you've done. Make sure that you keep those two parts of the transaction separate."
It's also important to figure out the cost of owning and operating the car and include that in your car shopping budget.
"The "true-cost-to-own" calculator on Edmunds.com gives you an estimate of what you should expect to pay in your area for insurance, gas, parking and tolls, maintenance, repairs, all the things that normally come into play with the ownership of a car,"Fallon says.
For more information on the leftover 2012 car bargains, click here.
