Car dealership Thanksgiving promotions: 10 examples to learn from in 2026
See how 10 US dealerships used Thanksgiving to stand out from Black Friday, and the ideas you can borrow before November 26.
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Marketing
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November is a noisy month for car dealers. Black Friday ads start early, and every competitor is shouting about discounts. Thanksgiving gives dealers another way to reach buyers. It's a holiday about saying thank you, so a promotion built around it can feel more personal than a price cut.
Most big US dealer websites still skip straight to Black Friday. So we looked for dealerships that run real Thanksgiving promotions. Some give away turkeys, some run month-long thank-you sales, and others host community events. Here are 10 of them, what makes each one work and what you can borrow before Thursday, November 26, 2026.
Quick answer: what are the best Thanksgiving promotions for car dealerships?
The strongest US examples from 2025 and 2026 fall into five types. A free, valued turkey with purchase. A month-long thank-you sale. A Thanksgiving-branded model event. A "test drive for turkeys" event with a charity match. And a community turkey giveaway run with local partners.
Every offer comes from the dealer's own page, an official press release, or local news.
1. Walser Kia: why does a named turkey beat a holiday bonus?
The offer: Walser Kia in Minnetonka, Minnesota, gives a free Von Hanson's turkey, valued up to $60, with the purchase of a new Kia.
Why it works: This is the classic Thanksgiving dealership offer, done well. Walser names a local Twin Cities butcher instead of handing out a generic voucher. It also puts a dollar value on the gift, so buyers know straight away that it's worth more than the average Thanksgiving dinner for 10.
What to borrow: Partner with a food business your buyers already know, and say what the gift is worth. A named turkey feels like a gift. A "holiday bonus" feels like small print.
2. Carselect: how do you turn a sale into a thank-you note?
The offer: Carselect, an independent used car dealer in Aurora, Illinois, has lowered prices on every car in stock. No coupon is needed, and Black Friday is included. Veterans and active-duty military get an extra $500 off from November 6 to 21 with proof of service.
Why it works: The blog post is signed by the owners, Vasile and Chris. They thank "every customer who bought from us, sent a friend, or left us a review". That one line turns a price promotion into a thank-you note. The page also answers the practical questions buyers have, like which cars qualify and when the lot is open.
What to borrow: Let a real person explain why you're running the sale. Then put the dates, eligibility, and holiday hours on the same page. More ideas in our guide to used car marketing.
3. Evergreen Auto Sales: what if the perks fit the holiday road trip?
The offer: Evergreen Auto Sales in High Point, North Carolina, gives every buyer three perks: a $100 gift card at closing, a full tank of gas and a free 3,000-mile oil change. The promotion applies to cash sales only, and buyers text the dealership to claim a promo code.
Why it works: Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. Evergreen frames its perks as a way to keep "your holiday travel stress-free", which ties the offer to what buyers are about to do with their new car. The text-to-claim button starts a direct conversation.
What to borrow: Think about what buyers will do with the car over the holiday, then build the offer around it. A full tank before a road trip can mean more than a bigger discount.
4. Orange Buick GMC: Can a Thanksgiving pun sell an SUV?
The offer: Orange Buick GMC in Orlando, Florida, ran "Gobble Up the Savings". It offered up to $5,000 off the Buick Encore GX, up to $8,000 off the Envision, Enclave, and GMC Acadia, up to $6,000 off the Terrain and Canyon, and up to $14,000 off the Sierra 1500 and 2500.
Why it works: The dealership built a full event around one pun, with its own logo and blog post. The smartest part is a "Which deal is right for you?" section. It matches each model to a type of buyer, such as first-time buyers, small families, or anyone who needs to tow.
What to borrow: A playful seasonal name gets the click. Matching each deal to a buyer type turns that click into a lead. The same thinking works for audiences in paid social (see our paid social guide for automotive retailers).
5. Bonneville & Son: why pay people to test drive?
The offer: Bonneville & Son Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Manchester, New Hampshire, ran Test Drive for Turkeys. Every test drive earned a $15 gift card toward a holiday turkey. For every test drive, the dealership also made a matching donation to two local charities, Families in Transition and Veterans Count.
Why it works: The reward is small, but it's attached to the action that matters most on the lot. The charity match gives customers a second reason to book, because their test drive helps local families and veterans. The headline, "Our 2025 Test Drive for Turkeys Event is Here", also tells you this is a tradition.
What to borrow: Reward the test drive as well as the sale. A small gift with a charity match makes a low-cost offer feel generous.
6. Ed Koehn Ford: what does "no catch" look like?
The offer: Ed Koehn Ford Lincoln and Ed Koehn CDJR in Greenville, Michigan, team up with Leppink's Food Centers and the Bread of Life Pantry. For every test drive, a turkey goes to the pantry. Entrants can also win one of two $150 Leppink's gift cards or a Traeger grill from CJ's Ace Hardware. The page says it plainly: "There is NO catch!"
Why it works: This is a small-town partnership done well. Four local names share the event, so it has four audiences to spread through. And the cartoon turkey holding a "Test Drive for Turkeys" sign is impossible to miss.
What to borrow: Bring other local businesses into your promotion, because each partner brings its own audience. Plain "no catch" copy builds trust.
7. Mike Shaw Toyota: How do you make Thanksgiving a local tradition?
The event: Mike Shaw Toyota in Corpus Christi, Texas, hosted its 9th annual Turkeys for Troops. It gave free turkeys to active-duty military and veterans with ID, one per household. Partners included local TV station KRIS-TV, Brown & Brown, and Moody's.
Why it works: Nine years under the same name has turned a turkey giveaway into what the dealership calls "one of South Texas's largest military appreciation festivals". The event has its own landing page and a bold dog-tag logo.
What to borrow: Pick one community and give the event a name you can repeat every year. A tradition earns local media coverage, and search interest grows with every year it runs.
8. Plaza Auto Mall: What happens when a giveaway meets real need?
The event: Plaza Auto Mall in Brooklyn, New York, partnered with Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, Council Member Farah N. Louis, and Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn. Together they handed out more than 700 turkeys, 500 shelf-stable Thanksgiving meal kits and fresh produce to local families.
Why it works: General manager Adam Rosatti said the dealership has held the event "for a decade now". In 2025 it landed at a time of real need, after the government shutdown and the suspension of SNAP benefits. It also grew from more than 600 turkeys in 2024.
What to borrow: When your community is struggling, make the promotion about help. Local leaders add credibility, and a press release keeps the story findable online long after the day.
9. Car Pros Kia Moreno Valley: Can radio make a giveaway bigger?
The event: Car Pros Kia Moreno Valley and Car Pros BMW and MINI of Downtown Los Angeles gave food and turkey gift certificates to 300 local families, 150 at each store. They worked with the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and Spanish-language radio station KLAX 97.9 La Raza, which broadcast live.
Why it works: California is the country's biggest car-buying state, so standing out is hard. A radio partner on site turns a community event into a live broadcast that reaches far beyond the people in line. The press release also notes that Kia Moreno Valley, open since 2022, had become one of the nation's top Kia dealers.
What to borrow: Choose a media partner that speaks to your community in its own language. A live broadcast stretches your reach for the cost of a few hundred meals.
10. Rolls Auto Sales: How do you throw a Thanksgiving party on a car lot?
The event: Rolls Auto Sales, an independent used car dealer in Northeast Philadelphia, held its annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway. On the day, there was a DJ, a raffle for a 55-inch TV, a spin-the-wheel game, and Rolls merchandise.
Why it works: Rolls treats Thanksgiving as a block party, under the hashtag #RollsLove. The dealership has run turkey drives since at least 2018, and the local paper covered the event before and after.
What to borrow: Make the giveaway an event people want to come to. Music and games keep visitors on the lot, and they give you photos and video for the whole season (see our automotive video tips).
What do the best Thanksgiving car promotions have in common?
They say thank you first and make it local. Here's the pattern across all 10:
Gratitude comes first. The strongest campaigns explain why they're saying thank you, and to whom.
The turkey is local. Von Hanson's, Leppink's, and local food banks give the offer a sense of place.
Small rewards drive big actions. A $15 gift card or a donated turkey is enough to book a test drive.
Charity matches double the reason to act. Customers help their community just by showing up.
Traditions beat one-offs. Mike Shaw Toyota, Plaza Auto Mall and Rolls Auto have run their events for years.
Independents own Thanksgiving. We didn't find a Thanksgiving-branded customer offer on the flagship sites of the big public dealer groups. Most examples here come from family-owned or independent dealerships, which leaves room for any dealer willing to try.
Every event is content. Turkey lines and DJs on the lot make ready-made photos and video for your website and social.
Running a Thanksgiving promotion this year?
We'd love to see it. Send us your 2026 Thanksgiving campaign, and we may add it to this list. [Add contact link or form]
Your promotion brings buyers in. What makes them pick your car?
Every promotion on this list gets buyers to the dealership. After that, the car has to do the selling. In a 2025 CDK Global survey, 88% of buyers who started their purchase online said seeing pictures of the vehicle on the dealer’s website made them take the next step. Yet most of the pages we reviewed showed turkeys and stock images.
Phyron automatically turns the photos and data you already have into consistent listing images and a video for every car in stock, so every car in your Thanksgiving event looks its best.
Book a free demo with Phyron to see it on your own inventory.
