I just bought a used 97 Mountaineer with the extended warrenty this pass April..I got a loan from ford credit for 36 months @ 16.90%..O ya that was with $4,000 down.I mentioned it here before..Ya i did get taken for a ride seeing our scores were 680's....Do they have places that will refinance?
Are car fininace companies, e.g. Ford Motor Co, GMAC, Toyota Finance, etc ... more willing to give people with damaged credit loans than private banks?
Advice from a previous car salesperson... When you trade, bring in the blue book. If you don't want to buy one, you can xerox the pages you need at the library, they always have them. Then at negotiation time: When you trade in a car, they tell you that 12,000 mi annually is "normal" and they will try to subtract for "excess" mi above that. When they SELL the car, they will tell you that 15,000 is normal. Challenge them with this fact. If they lowball the trade, tell them that you will accept that only if they will sell the car you want for the "tissue" price. (That is the price the dealer paid!) They will balk, of course. Then you point out: Oh, I get it, you want to pay me wholesale for MY car but want me to pay RETAIL for yours! Either we do wholesale for wholesale or retail for retail! Never accept the first price they offer. They will ALWAYS come down to make the sale. Next ALWAYS go at the end of the month. This is when the salesperson, sales manager, and finance manager are 'desperate' to make their quota. And you bet, all 3 are paid by commission. If you do want the extended warranty, tell them you don't want it first. As they try to talk you into it, offer 1/2 of what they were charging you. They will come down on that price too! NEVER EVER buy "undercoating". Oh they will sell it to you and they will actually put it on the car. Dumb, because ALL cars are now treated with undercoating at the factory! Do not upgrade the stereo. You can ALWAYS install a better sound system later and it will be cheaper! Final note: Smart thing is to consider a 'program' car. These are cars that were rental cars. First, they were extremely well maintained. Next, because they are "used" the dealership can build more profit into them ($3000 to $5000) which is very negotiable. You get a 1 year old car in great shape and someone else took the major depreciation hit during the first year! You will spend less time upside down on this vehicle! Next, balk at having them pull your CR. Act like you want to think about it first. When they try to "overcome the objection" start telling them what you know about credit and how you don't want unnecessary inquiries on your report. This is what I did yesterday. The salesman then informed me that they pull EQ (at Dodge for Chrysler Credit). This way I would only lose 3 points on EQ. I told him that I had to think about it and went for a smoke. (He now feels that I am on the verge of leaving and he loses the sale.) I come back in and tell him: This is the deal. You can ONLY pull EQ. No other CR. You may fax the CR to Crysler Credit. They are NOT to pull another CR. If I qualify with Crysler, then we have a deal, otherwise, I'm outta here. They agreed. Later in the FM office, she noted that my current 2001 car note is not on my EQ....wanted to pull a tri-bureau (look at my scores... would you?). I told her flat out NO. She didn't and now the car is in the driveway and there is only 1 Inquiry on my EQ!!!! You have power with knowledge! Hope this helps! HUH? EQ - 517 4/02 -> 693 5/02 EXP - 542 4/02 -> 590 5/02 TU - 432 4/02 -> 486 6/02 (they deleted all good tradelines!) Found this on another post by scmomof5...newbies should do searches on their questions...many times they have been answered before. clc
Matt, not sure that I understood your question, but I think that you were implying that the dealers were trying to do the financing. And yes, I think that is definitely the case.
I agree with clc18940. One of my best car buying experiences was when I wanted a certain style of car and went to 3 different dealers for that model. Talked with the FM, but refused to sign papers and said I would get back to them. Went down the street and looked at same style car and said, so and so dealer down the street is offering this type car at X amount, what can you do for me. This back and forth between the dealers went on for a week, till I felt I got the best deal. Then when I had to sign papers and they wanted to add in the extras, I refused and said, you add in either free or at cost, or deal is off. Don't be afraid to walk away when you feel you are being taken for a ride. There are tons of dealers and some will be more willing to work with you. FM and GSM have the final say so, not the salesman. You have to do your homework as well, know the prices and what they paid for and what they will try to add on, such as the undercoating to boast their profits. Also look over the paperwork, cause they can add in profits. I just know that most do not walk away with a great deal, most walk away with what they think is a great deal, but the FM or salesman is boasting about how much they made. BTW, the salesman only makes money on the cars he or she sold, the FM and GSM make money on all the units sold or wrote.
My credit union just approved me at 6.25% on a used vehicle . I asked for a $15k loan. They didn't ask for any money down. My Equifax score has been around 660.
I would love to take credit for the post....but I actually copied it from Scmomof5's post...she used to be a car salesperson.... so big thanx to her for the info... clc
