Reasons to buy a new car this year

Mint.com — one of the premier startups on the Web for managing your personal finances — has posted some persuasive arguments for buying a new car this year. And this, coming from a service that preaches conservative spending practices for its users.

Mint points out that the government stimulus package provides incentives for new car buying that its users may not see again.

There has rarely been a better time than right now.

For instance:

• You will be able to deduct the state or local sales tax on a new car purchase on your 2009 federal tax return.
• Warranties of struggling U.S. car companies are being backed through TARP.
• Several manufacturers are offering job-loss protection plans for new car purchases; i.e., they’ll make your car payment if you lose your job.
• The likelihood of inflation once the economy recovers means you have more spending power now.

Mint was launched in late 2007 as a service to track automatically all your finances, from bank and investment accounts to credit cards and budgeting. It’s easy to use and provides outstanding features such as graphs of your spending habits.

As always, you can check out local car dealer inventories at Iwanna.com.