Holiday season makes a great time for hunting down a car bargain

As Clark has said again and again, cars are an amazing deal right now. What you can get for your money today is such great value, with both the quality and reliability of the average new vehicle being fantastic.

In addition, the car-selling business is so hyper-competitive. Look at Toyota and how the marketplace ate them alive after the debacle with sudden acceleration and the ensuing cover-up. When weakness is sensed, stronger players in the marketplace will seize your market share.

Who thinks about buying a car during the Christmas season? Right now, you have Lexus running imaging ads trying to convince people to buy a Lexus as a Christmas present. Maybe there are some people who would consider a Lexus an impulse purchase, but there are not many! For most of us, our holiday budgets are tapped out and our wallets are exhausted. We're not looking to buy a vehicle at this time of year. That's what makes the discounts that are available right now so very good.

According to CNNMoney.com, the average vehicle price is in the upper $20K range ($25,000 to $27,000), but we are in a market where you can get a well-equipped vehicle for $12,000 to $17,000. "Well equipped" in this case means power windows, cruise control and electronic stability control. The latter feature saved Clark's life in his Scion xB when he nearly rolled over on a highway.

If you're looking for specific deals, the Honda Insight hybrid has been a real bomb in the market. That's prompted Honda to cut the MSRP to $17,000 -- the lowest price ever offered on a hybrid vehicle.