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The business world is hurting. Employees are being fired, services are getting slashed and revenues are generally down across the board. Everywhere that is but car lots. In many cases, dealers say business has never been better.

"It's booming. I don't remember a time we were so busy," said Richard Marona, sales manager at Cadillac of Menlo Park.

During a downturn in the economy, a big item like a $30,000 luxury vehicle usually gets put on hold. But if you open up the Sunday sales ads, you'll see why auto dealers are staying out of the red. It's the incentive of interest free financing, in essence, free money. Many manufacturers are offering zero percentage rates as enticements to lure hesitant buyers.

Drive down El Camino Real in Menlo Park and it's hard to miss Anderson Chevrolet's newest financing offer plastered on the window in the patriotic red, white and blue. Who wants to pass up an opportunity to borrow money without interest?

"We really feel the difference. This zero interest rate, it really works," Marona said. According to Marona, up to six Cadillacs are being sold everyday. Before the zero-interest deal, Anderson was selling two a day on a good day.

One dealer in the Bay Area is running an ad announcing in big bold lettering that takes up half the page: zero percent annual percentage rate up to 60 months on all 2001 models. The fine print says 'in lieu of rebates with approved credit.' So, what's the difference and who's coming out on top in this transaction, the buyer or the seller?

It depends on how you crunch the numbers. I sat down with Victor Bhatia, a management consultant from Stanford's Graduate School of Business, to better understand how the deal really works. We used the example of a 2002 Chevy extended cab advertised by Anderson Chevrolet for $23, 952.

In this situation the buyer has a choice between taking the truck at the suggested retail value of $23,952 and paying no interest or taking $3,953 off the sticker price but paying interest on the borrowed $19,999. Which plan works in favor of the consumer?

Under the zero percent option, a person would have to pay $406 a month for the next five years in order to pay off the truck and the dealer keeps the discount of $3,953.

If a buyer rejects the zero percent option and instead takes the discount and makes the same monthly payments of $406, that equates to an interest rate of 7.5 percent. In essence, zero percent is equivalent to 7.5 percent.
If a person takes the discounts but instead finds a lower interest rate of 5 percent, the total interest paid in five years would be $2,600. That's compared to the 7.5 percent in which total interest paid in five years would be nearly $4,000.

.Bhatia said the dealer makes money no matter how you look at it. "Truthfully, the zero percent option isn't giving away any money as it seems in the ads,".he said.

Like most deals in life, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. The advice from consumer experts is buyer beware and always read the fine print because there's no such thing as a free ride.

"It's a way to get people into the dealership and get the cars off the lot," said Bhatia.

Even some other auto dealers admit this is just another tactic to get browsers into the drivers' seat.

"No such thing as free money," said Wolfgang Roeck, a Mercedes Benz salesman in San Francisco. According to Roeck, sales are holding steady on the high-end German cars even though the company doesn't employ the zero percent interest rate option. "We're selling at about 4f percent right now and that's a good rate."

One saleperson at Bob Lewis Suzuki in San Jose is blunt with customers. "There's no such thing as zero percent. Nothing's for nothing, let's be realistic."

Editor's note: This was a really good business story. I loved the enterprise you showed and I thought the piece had the kind of information that helps people get through the confusion of percentage points, discounts and so forth.

Watch the clutter that keeps the story from moving as briskly as it ought to. You need to be scrupulous about attribution. Get your speakers up high in the quotes. And as I said, I wouldn't have switched to the first person voice in a straightaway story like this.