you know you always here 0% or the other option? Is 0% good? Should I try to negotiate BOTH?
i meant to say hear…not here.
First negotiate the total price of the car. Never give a salesman an amount per month that you want to pay.
Next, work out the payments–often credit unions have better offers than dealer financing. If you can pay cash to the dealer and work out the financing elsewhere, then you can take the maximum dealer/mfr. rebate instead of a lower financing offer on a higher loan principal.
Finally, if you have a trade-in that is a completely separate transaction from the sale.
EVERYTHING is ALWAYS negotiable. So, yes try to negotiate at every step of the way.
You must have a good credit rating to qualify for those 0% financing deals. If you don’t have good credit, you might be able to get 0% financing if you can find someone with good credit to cosign the loan.
Negotiate the price of the car, and then once you have agreed on a price, see what kind of financing you qualify for. If you have a low credit score, you might not qualify for one of these financing deals.
The 0% deal means that you will pay more for the car. Typically, you would be better off taking the rebate and getting a loan on your own. If you belong to a credit union, you might get the best deal there. Get pre-qualified for a loan from a bank or credit union then go looking for a car in your price range. Then get your best deal on the car you want at the dealer and finally check into their financing options.
Sometimes, even the credit unions can be out done in loan rates by another bank. Visit google to find all the banks in your area, then visit their websites to see what the interest rates are(they’ll probably have some kind of promotional lower rate going on if you’re an existing customer or new customer with their bank). If their websites don’t list the rates, call them up and ask them.
One will shop for days for a new car, but not take a single though about shopping for the lowest interest rate they can get; even a 1% difference can mean hundreds of dollars in the long run.
Once you get a good price for the car you want to buy, ask them what kind of rates they can offer you, keeping in mind the lowest rate you found by calling other banks around town. If they can beat it, offer to let them finance it, if not, show them the rate you found on the bank’s website and ask if they could try and beat that rate for you.
Above all else, [i]know your credit score BEFORE you enter the showroom[/i]
I had you in mind when I said “might”. I recalled your experience with your Mazda.
Yeah, it was pretty bad that a national bank offered, like, 1% less than the credit unions were at that time.
What thread is that?
I’m currently contemplating the purchase of a Mazda RX-8.
BC.
That thread was about a year ago now, and hard to believe I’ve had the car that long.
I’ve pretty much detailed my buying experience in a few threads; ranging from the order form being filled out, to waiting 4 months to get the car built and shipped from Japan, to selecting financing options and finally picking it up, to the bad taste the service department left in my mouth, and trying to get more people interested in Mazda in general when they ask what cars they should look at.
We negotiated a price for a new 2003 Toyota 4Runner. Once we established the price, the salesperson asked if we wanted to finance at 0% interest on our negotiated price. The interest rate, however, was for a 3 year period, so the payments were quite high. Even though we could have paid cash, we let our money earn the interest while we made the payments.