Where have the new truck incentives gone? Truck prices secretly rise again

Just a few years ago, it seems, new truck incentives used to be significant with thousands to tens of thousands of dollars off new trucks. Now? Not so much. What happened?

The pre-COVID times

Prior to COVID, new truck buyers were used to seeing trucks advertised with massive discounts. Dealers would advertise anywhere from a few thousand up to tens of thousand of dollars off with manufacturer rebates and incentives.

You could also often find zero to low percentage points for interest rates.

Trucks were cheap! The highest dollar trucks were maxed out at $55,000.

Times have changed

Well now, $55,000 doesn’t get you very far on a dealership lot.

The high-dollar trucks are now $80,000+ from most automakers like the GMC Sierra 1500 Denali Ultimate, the fleet trucks average around the low $40,000 mark and $55,000 gets you barely into the lower trim level consumer trims.

Automakers have taken all the trim levels up a notch with more technology, features and nicer materials meanwhile frustrated consumers counter that’s not what they are asking for from their truck.

New truck incentives gone?

Also, the last several years have seen incentives aka cash on the hood, largely disappear.

A June, 2025 Kelley Blue Book report found incentives have rebounded from pandemic, yet are still below the price of new vehicles which have steadily gone up.

This means your out-the-door price has you paying more for a new vehicle with getting less of a discount for buying one. More than a decade ago, the truck would be cheaper and you’d get more of a discount making your “out-the-door price” even better.

True purchase price

The reality is it doesn’t matter what the price of the new truck is advertised for, what really matters is the bottom line — what you actually paid for it.

During COVID, I bought a 2021 Ford F-150 XLT with the new Powerboost hybrid setup. My out-the-door price on this $61,000 2021 Ford F-150 XLT Powerboost was $54,000. Today, a similar truck is priced at $64,000 with just $1,000 in cash incentives and some additional discount for trade-in if you have a qualifying vehicle. This is just my example and many people have had similar experiences.

Higher interest rates, lower incentives, higher MSRP prices means, consumers now are paying more than they ever had to before. That’s the new bottom line.