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Smart Shopper Questions About Financing New Vehicles
2253 messages, Last post on Nov 18, 2009 at 12:07 PM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
| Nurse, since the dealership told you that you can't control the loan, the trade, and the price, why don't you take some of those factors under your own control. Try selling your car yourself instead of trading it in. This is a good idea if your are upside down on your lease because this is the way for you to get the most money for your used van. You can also go to a bank in order to secure financing instead of doing so at the dealership. | |
| I bought a 97 Kia last July and financed it through my State Employees Credit Union. I want a Ford Ranger (or other small truck). Should I continue to be pleased driving my Kia (great car) or trade it in for a small truck? With all of the great finance plans that dealers are offering, I am confused if this would be a good move or not!! | |
| I don't think the financing will interfere with your decision. The question is, will you be happy with the price you can get for your Kia? Depending on how much you put down on the vehicle and how good of a deal you got, you may not get what you owe. I think you will really be disappointed with the low ball trade-in offer a dealer will likely give on a one year old vehicle, so you will probably need to be prepared to market it yourself. But you never know until you try. I suspect the value of the Kia will be the deciding factor for you, not the financing. Good luck! | |
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I had the most wonderful experience dealing with PeopleFirst internet financing over the last few days. Both the SERVICE and QUICKNESS OF RESPONSE beat everyone, including my local credit union!! For a new car, 36 month loan, their rate was 7.25% if you have payments automatically deducted from an account. You can decide which day of the month the payment is deducted. The credit union insisted my husband must co-sign the car loan or I must open brand new accounts (fat chance!) and car finance.com's interest rate was slightly higher. PeopleFirst states you must have excellent credit, own your own home and they will have an answer for you within minutes. Well, they are located in California and I'm on the opposite side of country. I had to wait until they opened to get an answer!  But they had one within minutes of opening!!You can check out their web page at http://www.peoplefirst.com. I'm not affiliated with the company in any way except that's how I'm financing my VW Cabrio. |
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Ditto what Rochelle said! I had a very pleasant experience with these people. They exceeded my expectations on all claims they made. Scott |
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Thought I'd pass along something I discovered when I bought a 98 Passport last week. I was planning to get my financing through my credit union which was running a special rate of 7.15% fixed for a 60 month loan (no down payment required). When I made the offer to purchase, I told the dealer that I wouldn't finalize the deal until my financing was approved, UNLESS they could match the 7.15%. They did. 6.99% for 60 months, no down payment required, and with no creative financing tricks. What I learned is this. In addition to their published loan rates, banks also provide lower preferred rates in some circumstances. These rates are not generally available to the public, but through a combination of volume (dealer referral in my case) and excellent credit on the part of the lender, an individual can sometimes get the preferred rates. The 6.99% I got was through NationsBank, whose published rate was somewhere in the 8.25% to 8.75% range. My advice is to always let the dealer try and beat the rates you can get on your own. But DO be very careful that any dealer financing which beats what you can already get has the same conditions (i.e. fixed/variable rate, same length, penalty clauses, down payment, etc.) |
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Gamen's right about about lower rate offered to dealerships; they're dealing with hundreds of loans everyday, so they often do get a preferred rate. As to whether they will pass that discount onto you, that's all in the negotiation. It amazes me how many people will go to such extremes to get the best car price, then they just settle for the what ever interest rate the dealership offers. Don't sign the purchase agreement, until you've seen the financial officer and have agreed on the interest rate. If they say, that's the "best they can do" and you don't believe them, get out of your chair and head for the door. More often than not, they'll try to find a way to lower it. The dealer will be eager to match or beat your lowest rate so you'll take possession of the car right then. |
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| So after the purchase price is agreed upon, and without signing anything I should then let them check my credit and begin negotiations on the credit rate and terms? What gets signed then, a credit form or a purchase agreement? Is the agreement the last thing signed? Also when the rate, term and finance rate are written up, if there is an "error" in the calculations can the delaer keep the extra money? In order to check the calculations I guess I need a financial calculator since I won't have a computer. | |
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AY107, You can negotiate the deal after which they will probably ask you to fill out a buyers order describing the vehicle you negotiated on and the price, including trade-in and such. DO NOT SIGN it and just tell them you will complete the form when the financing has been agreed upon. The buyers order says it is a legal contract somewhere on it, so if you sign it, all they have to do is provide financing to you. The buyers order has your SSN and enough info for them to decide what sort of interest rate they will offer you. I always shop around so they know what they have to beat, then if they can't beat it, they'll give you a Promissory Note and you have 5 days to get a check to them. Just did this about a month ago. Scott |
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Hi Scott, Wanted to thank you for the info on the Edmund's site re: car buying. I have never purchased a new car before and so I have been painstakingly researching everything. I did get outside financing thru CarFinance.com and would just as soon stick with them if the Factory rebate for Toyota goes into effect again. There is a dealer incentive on now though. I am also putting down almost 50%. I understand that I should NOT sign the buyer's agreement until either my financing or the dealer's financing goes thru. In the case of CarFinance.com that means faxing documents to them and providing proof of income to complete the qualification process. I assume I can do this before actually committing to the vehicle by signing the buyer's agreement. Then if financing goes thru,(I assume that happens right away?), I sign and drive. If it takes longer, then I do not sign, and I do not drive, until it does? I was confused about the prommissory note you mentioned. What is that and is it given only after a buyer's agreement is signed in the case of someone wanting to shop around for a loan after they have committed to a purchase agreement? Suzanne,Scared -but -making- progress |
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