Stagnant Sales Spur Deals on Wheels : Automobiles: Showrooms across the country are overloaded with inventory, creating a buyer’s market with discounts and no-cost options.

The nation is at war, the economy is in a slump and consumer confidence has plummeted. What better time to buy a new car?

Inspired by such reasoning, Michael Beres of Westerville, Ohio, went shopping last week for the Plymouth Voyager he’s been wanting for over a year. Just as he expected, he says, he got a great deal--an additional $200 off the lowest offer he received after shopping around and extra features at no cost.

“I knew it was a buyer’s market,” said Beres, 40, a sporting goods salesman. “I could see the inventory sitting there in the lots. I didn’t have to buy now, but I’m figuring if they’re sitting on a bunch of units they’re going to want to move them. They’re going to do whatever it takes, and I’m going to get a good deal.”

Auto dealers and customers interviewed this week confirm that Beres’ logic was on target. “If someone is in the mind-set to buy a car, this is probably the best time to do it,” said Chris Cedergren, an analyst at J. D. Power and Associates in Agoura Hills. “When they go through tough times, dealers are more aggressive in providing a good deal to the consumer. At this point a consumer can get a good deal on anything from a Yugo all the way up to a Rolls-Royce.”

Slow sales and skittish customers have plagued auto dealers since consumer confidence nose-dived in the wake of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Dealers across the country had 91 days’ worth of cars on their hands at the end of January, 50% more than they would like to have on their lots.

Such unwieldy inventories, accompanied by mounting interest payments on the unsold cars on their lots and showrooms, make them more willing to take a “short deal” now than they have been in brighter times, dealers say.

Nick Alexander, owner of Nick Alexander Imports in Los Angeles, said he made 50% less profit on new car sales last month than he usually does.

“Anyone that came in last month got a heck of a deal. If they could walk and breathe and sign their name, they got a car,” Alexander said. “We have to keep them rolling and the consumer is the beneficiary of that.”

Indeed, some dealers complain that consumers are getting too cocky.

“This brings out the ones that are out there that really want to steal a car,” said Larry Waldstein, general sales manager at Culver City Nissan. “Whether it’s good times or bad times, you have so much the cars cost you and so much you got to make to keep the doors open. But people come in and want thousands of dollars back. It’s people whose minds are fried.”

But Wendy Grossman said Waldstein’s complaints didn’t stop him from giving her lots of extra features on the new Nissan 240 SX she bought this week.

“Let’s put it this way: My car’s completely loaded. It’s got everything except a CD player,” said Grossman, 30, a legal secretary in Los Angeles. Her father did the negotiating for her and almost walked out of the dealership five times.

“He’d say, ‘Well, I guess we’re not doing a deal,’ and they’d keep saying, ‘Come back, come back, we’ll work something out,’ ” she said.

Auto manufacturers are doing their part. U.S. and foreign-based auto makers alike are offering dozens of opportunities for dealers to earn extra cash when they sell a car. They are offering low financing rates and almost 50 programs that offer money back directly to the customer.

Dana De John, 39, said the $1,200 rebate offered by Howard Cooper Honda in Ann Arbor, Mich., persuaded him to buy the Honda Accord LX he had been eyeing for months.

“They’re very willing to deal,” De John said as he waited to close the transaction at the otherwise deserted dealership Wednesday afternoon. The floor mats, rear mud flaps and pin-striping he had asked for as part of the deal had also been readily thrown in, De John said.

The dearth of showroom traffic has forced salespeople to resort to working the phones to scare up customers.

Steven Thomas, a salesman at the Mitsubishi dealership in the Howard Cooper complex, says he tries to make 15 phone calls and send 10 letters a day.

“I go through the service books, see whose Mitsubishi is getting kind of old, call them up and try to convince them it’s time for a new one,” he said. And when customers do come in, dealers say there is a lot of pressure to make a deal before they get away.

“If we don’t make a deal with people the first time around, we don’t see them again,” said Mark Seymour, general manager at Chrysler-Plymouth East in Columbus, Ohio, where Beres bought his Voyager. Discounting accessories, allowing more than usual for trade-ins and transferring factory-supplied dealer incentives to the consumer are some of the devices dealers use to sweeten a deal. And if they can’t sell a customer on a new car, there are always leasing programs and used cars.

Brad Dawn, 26, was reluctant to spend a lot of money on a new car that would depreciate as soon as he drove it off the lot. A salesman at Nick Alexander’s dealership convinced him to take a 42-month lease on a BMW instead.

“They’re definitely looking to move cars,” said Dawn, who works at a screen printing business in Los Angeles.

Seymour explains: “We try to get them into a car today, get the cash, and get our customer back in two years or whenever the lease runs out. Hopefully times will be better by then and maybe they’ll want to buy a car.”

Used cars also have become a popular fallback for those who can’t afford a brand new model. Auto producers have flooded the market with late-model used vehicles acquired through their sale and buyback deals with rental car companies. The oversupply is one factor driving down prices on both new and used cars, adding to the consumer’s advantage.

But deals will not always be this good, Nick Alexander cautions.

“The smart buyers take advantage of times like this,” Alexander said. “When things get better, the factory drops its special interest rates, our prices go up, and that’s that.”

GETTING A DEAL Here’s how to get a good deal on a car, according to Consumer Reports magazine:

Don’t give your heart to any one car. You’ll lose your objectivity and, with it, your negotiating edge.

Find out what the car cost the dealer. Negotiate up from the dealer’s “invoice” price not down from the “sticker” price.

Don’t forget rebates. If one Buick dealer in the area is offering a rebate, all Buick dealers in the area can offer that same rebate. Check your newspaper to see what’s being offered.

Keep the deal simple. Don’t confuse negotiations over the purchase of a new car with discussions of a trade-in or an auto loan. That can come later.

Stand firm. Car sales are slow. Dealer inventories are up. Make them an offer they can’t refuse.