Program Cars
Program cars have been owned by the manufacturer and given to employees for a short time to use for company
business. The idea is to have a Ford employee, for example, drive a late-model Ford to advertise the company's
product. These cars are maintained by the factory and usually sent to auction before the odometer turns 10,000
miles. The cars are sold to Ford dealers at closed auctions and then put up for sale on the car lot advertised as
"program cars."
"Dealers like these cars because they can get them at low prices and then sell them at a good profit," Lovejoy said.
"Besides that, they always get the service they need because they can work on them in their own shops."
Lovejoy said these cars can be a great deal for the average buyer. They have been well-maintained, so in essence you
are buying a nearly new car with no worries about mechanical problems. Furthermore, some dealers might extend the
warranty for the full term or you can drive it under the balance of the warranty.
So how would the average consumer go about buying a program car? Just call used car dealers or check the ads.
"Dealers are proud to advertise program cars."
However, knowing what to pay for the car is a problem because "You have no idea what the dealer paid for it,"
Lovejoy said. However, he added, you should never pay more than invoice for such a car. Or you could consider
assigning a certain value per mile the car was driven and deducting that amount from the invoice price. For example,
lease cars that are over mileage are charged 15 cents a mile.
"The deals are there," Shebesta said. He bought a finance car from a dealer he knew. It was a BMW with 3,740 miles
on it, and got it for $1,400 below invoice.
Bob Sykes, a video producer who lives in the Los Angeles area, wanted to buy an Infiniti SUV, but didn't want to pay
the $36,000 sticker price. Instead, he was shown an executive car, with 14,000 miles on it, by the salesman at the
dealership. He was able to buy the one-year-old car for $25,000.
"I looked up the price on Edmunds.com to get an idea what they were going for," Sykes said. "I feel I got a great
deal. But there were a few negatives: They had let the registration expire so I had to get it reregistered after
only three months and that was a $700 hit. Also, it needed new brakes. But still, I'm going to look for a similar
deal my next time buying a car."
Former rental cars sometimes turn up on used car lots advertised as "program cars." This will be revealed if you run
a vehicle identification number check using a company called Carfax. For a modest monthly fee, you can run the VIN
numbers of cars you are considering buying. The Carfax report will tell you who the previous owner was, whether the
car has a salvage title and if there are any outstanding recalls on the vehicle.