Toyota Dealers have 3400+ “New” 2023 or older cars on lots

We’re doing our roof on credit card, basically for the points. Only one outfit (and our preferred one) was ok with that. I can see their point of view; it’s 2~3% they get dinged.

last time we bought (our 2010), the dealership wouldn’t even accept a personal cheque, had to be some sorta bank draft.

 

for 40 years, i've had to get a bank cheque to buy a car. sometimes, they would let you make a downpayment with a cc, but no personal cheques.
suddenly, when we purchased the new hycam last summer online, they delivered it to our house and accepted a personal cheque for 20 something thousand, which was the balance after trade in.

oddly, when i bought the bolt a few months later from the chevy division of the same dealership, they wanted a bank cheque

 

My bank offers free unlimited cashier's checks.
Cashier's checks are signed by banks and drawn against a bank's account, while personal checks are signed by an individual and drawn against their personal account.
With all of the money scams out there I can understand why a stealer would not want to let a customer drive a car off the lot with just a hunk of paper in their cash drawer.

I buy far too vehicles to be much of an expert in the field, but the strategery I used on my last two cars was to let GMAC beat my local CU's pre-approved rate (they WILL eventually even if you have an 800++ credit score) and then just pay the loan off at my leisure - which in the case of my last truck may not be....'leisurely.'
If you can make 10-15% in an index fund and only pay 5% in interest for a $30K loan - why not let the loan run for a year or two as a hedge in a turbulent economy?

One of the unintended consequences of our current "booming" economy (implosions make a BOOM too!) is that car loans are now at >5% from what I'm told.
Yes.
Car stealers offer 'teaser' rates for fools that pay MSRP but that's them being them, and I make the presumption that people who know a thing or two about a thing or two DO NOT fall for those.
See also: Caar Leases.