Auto refinancing.

Jebus. I heard rumors people paid interest rates that high but I've never met anyone who willingly did so. You say your rate was 12.5% with a 684 score? That seems a bit high for that score. I would have thought you needed to be in the 400's to get that kind of interest rate. Definitely hit up a credit union, your bank and then AFTER getting pre-approval numbers from those twoand deciding on a car THEN hit up the car dealership for their best competitive interest rate offer. Then when they come back with a marginally better offer go ahead and call up your bank/credit union right there on the spot and let them fight over who can give you the best deal.

Note* This is assuming you have already done the prerequisite and mandatory walk out at least once. Never. Ever. Ever buy a car without walking out of the dealership at least once. Preferably to go to another 2-3 dealerships with what they offered you and see who comes up with the better offer.

Depends really. Some credit unions are pretty strict on requirements to join, others are simply community CUs and will take anyone that lives or works locally. Google your area, easy enough info to find.

I'm more shocked that they are offering 80 month loans

Eyashusa_sl said:

I'm more shocked that they are offering 80 month loans

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When I was car shopping with the special lady friend, just about every fucking salesman would listen to "I want a used car around 10k" and would respond with "YEAH BUT YOU CAN WALK OUT OF HERE WITH A BRAND NEW CARif you finance for 84 months." It was pretty ridiculous. I'm glad that some in the industry are speaking out about it, because I think that shit should be illegal. Anything past 5 years for a car is getting pretty ridiculous.

Ford Credit bucks shift to longer, riskier loans

Yeah, that is a common trick they are using. They don't ask you how much you want to pay for your car, they ask you "what do you want your monthly payment to be?" then just extend the loan out as far as needed to get into that range while getting you into the most expensive car possible.

Ah, here is the link that I was thinking of when I said that some manufacturers are bucking the longer term trend:

Ford CEO wants to buck trend to longer auto loans - Business - CBC News

Granted, her comments indicate that they're primarily concerned about making sure that the "churn" rate of vehicle purchases doesn't slow, but at least they're on the right side of things.

You're better off taking whatever bonuses they give you for doing the financing, then just paying it off afterwards.\

Many dealership offer money off of the car if you do financing.

Eomer_sl said:

Anything past 5 years for a car is getting pretty ridiculous.

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If the rate is low, I don't think the term really matters. In fact, it helps keep more cash on hand.

Interest rates and terms on auto loans are a hell of a lot better than the rates and terms for student loans.

Eomer_sl said:

When I was car shopping with the special lady friend, just about every fucking salesman would listen to "I want a used car around 10k" and would respond with "YEAH BUT YOU CAN WALK OUT OF HERE WITH A BRAND NEW CARif you finance for 84 months." It was pretty ridiculous. I'm glad that some in the industry are speaking out about it, because I think that shit should be illegal. Anything past 5 years for a car is getting pretty ridiculous.

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Little bit of a derail, but I sold cars for a few years when I was younger, and it always makes me chuckle when I hear or read stuff like this, as if the salesman is doing them a great service by switching the customer to a used car. I've met hundreds of car salesmen and never once ran into one that would rather sell a new car than a used, unless we're talking about a special or limited vehicle. This was back in 2003-2005 era when online invoices for new cars just started to show up, but weren't widely used yet. The margins and commissions are higher on used cars 90% of the time, because the customer doesn't know what the dealer paid for the car, whereas they can see the dealer invoice on a new car with 30 seconds of work. With that said, buying a used car is a far better value most of the time. That's why the manufacturers have to do all this 0% new car financing and rebates, otherwise most people would just want used since dollar for dollar they're generally a better investment.

They weren't common, but I did do a few 84 month deals. I imagine they're much more common nowadays just to drop that payment down. Saw several 16%+ APR's as well on credit criminals. We're talking like 450-525 credit score people though that couldn't be trusted to return a DVD they borrow.

The best way to buy a car is to pick one out that you want by looking online, looking at cars your friends/family/coworkers have, etc. without stepping foot on dealership property. Then call up dealerships and see if they will make you a fax or email offer. The dealership can be one near you or one far away, the rates to ship a car are pretty cheap, in the hundreds. I did this to buy my last car, ended up having it shipped from two states over, never stepped foot in a showroom, and got it for well below MSRP.

This is a decent guide:How to Negotiate When Buying a CarExcept I paid by mailing a cashier's check and did all of the paperwork electronically or by mail. I never once stepped foot in a dealership. The moment you do, you've lost.