It's closeout time and car dealers are offering all sorts of money-saving incentives to get the 2008 models off the lot. You can find incentive packages of two, three, even four thousand dollars or more on some models.

Consumer Reports tracked more than 2,000 incentives for all types and sizes of vehicles. Here are the national average savings available based on the size of the vehicle:

Hatchbacks and wagons it's $1,300.
Budget and small cars: $1,000
Sedans: $2,300
Minivans: $2,200
Pickups: $3,200

And these are just the average. You can find a lot higher cash-back deals. With the price of gas - and the move to smaller vehicles - it's no surprise the gas-guzzling Hummer has the highest average incentives -- $5,400.

But some premium brands also have significant money-saving incentives. With Lincoln it's $4,500. Both Landrover and Mercedes-Benz offer $4,100.

GM is back with its employee discounts. But will this program really save you money? Consumer Reports looked at some of its top-rated GM models, the Buick Lacrosse CX, Chevrolet Impala LTZ, and Saturn Outlook XR.

"We found that it was a very good deal compared to the best expectations you would have had with traditional negotiations," says Jeff Bartlett, an auto editor at ConsumerReports.org. In fact, in these three cases, the editors found that the employee pricing came in around 15% below the MSRP.

One word of caution; don't let the deal drive your decision to buy. "Focus on picking the right car for you," Bartlett advises. You want to choose a good, safe, reliable vehicle with good fuel economy and then see what you can do to get the best deal on it.

Remember, you are going to be living with this decision for years and you're going to be paying for that vehicle for years. So it's very important that you consider not just the cost to acquire the car, but also the ownership costs.

More Information:

Driving a great, end-of-summer new car deal