Buying a car questions

[bjl584]

Get your own financing before buying the car. Or, refinance immediately after purchase.

Don't get lost in all the double talk that they throw at you. Negotiate price of car first.

[MonkeyMama]

I really like the car but I walked away. If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

I'd probably just buy the car and pay it off the next day. We generally pay cash for cars, but I have taken a dealership car loan for a better deal on the car. Of course, I'd read the fine print and make sure that I could just pay it off. If you wanted a loan, just refinance. (I don't know if refinancing is more complicated, since it is something I have never done, but I am speaking from a cash experience).

*shrugs*

They want to hook you with the loan but generally there is no commitment to actually keep it. So it's very win-win in the end.

[disneysteve]

About the only thing he told you that is true is that the APR on shorter loans tends to be higher than on longer loans.

Actually, it's the opposite. Shorter loans have lower APR than longer loans.

I haven't bought a lot of cars but I've found the opposite to be true. The special promotional financing you often see offered tends to be on a 5 or 6-year loan. When we bought my wife's van a couple of years ago, they agreed to my request for a 2.99% rate but only on a 6-year loan. They wouldn't do it on a 3-year loan. It makes sense since they'll make twice as much in interest charges when the term doubles.

It didn't matter to me since I had no intention of keeping the loan for 6 years so I was happy to sign for it.

[safari]

I haven't bought a lot of cars but I've found the opposite to be true. The special promotional financing you often see offered tends to be on a 5 or 6-year loan. When we bought my wife's van a couple of years ago, they agreed to my request for a 2.99% rate but only on a 6-year loan. They wouldn't do it on a 3-year loan. It makes sense since they'll make twice as much in interest charges when the term doubles.

It didn't matter to me since I had no intention of keeping the loan for 6 years so I was happy to sign for it.

Weird. Maybe it was a special deal for a 6 year loan, but from what I've seen, the APR is always higher for longer term loans. For example, here are the current rates from PendFed Credit Union: https://www.penfed.org/Auto-Loans-Overview/#tabs-2.

36 months - 1.49%
60 months - 2.24%
72 months - 2.74%