DENVER -- In this tough economic climate, Colorado car dealers are getting creative to bring in customers with attention-getting ads and unusual promotions.

While insiders say there are some amazing bargains as dealers and manufacturers try to think outside of the box, buyer beware, there are also plenty of gimmicks.

Shoppers are used to the idea of buy-one-get-one free at the grocery store or the shoe store, but more and more ads are promoting a two-for-one deal for a car.

"It takes that type of deal to get people in nowadays," said Tim Jackson, president of the Colorado Auto Dealers Association. "There are sales incentives in the forms of rebates, discounted interest, manufacturer’s cash, dealer’s cash, customer’s cash."

Cash is what Burt Ford on Arapahoe is offering.

The dealership is giving away $15,000 every month for the next three months.

"I think what it does is make people aware of the Burt name, and that we’ve been around here 70 years, locally owned the whole time," said John Chavez, the dealership’s general manager.

While Chavez said he supports finding ways to bring in buyers, he said other dealership’s two-for-one car claims may sound better than they actually are.

The idea, he said, is customers buy a high-end pick-up for full sticker prices, and there’s enough profit for the dealer to thrown in a low-end car, essentially substituting any discounts for another vehicle.

"The thing I think people need to realize is that they could have done the exact same thing for the exact dollar amount anyway," said Chavez.

Just like dealers offering free gas when it was $4 a gallon, he said, it might be a gimmick that goes away.

Potentially a better bargain, said Chavez, are the manufacturer’s rebates and deals such as employee pricing.

"That’s not a gimmick," said Chavez. "We pull out the invoices and you get the rebates off of that. It’s a real deal."

According to numbers just released, Colorado’s 2008 new car registration was down about 18 percent compared to 2007, so the bottome line, said Jackson, is that car dealers are desperate to bring in customers.

"It’s a very fortunate opportunity for consumers, because there has never been a better time to buy," he said.

Jackson said some of the best deals are for the smaller, fuel-efficient cars, which were in much greater demand when gas was $4-a-gallon.