Financing question

My FICO is 766, I had a check from ELOAN through Sam's club and got 5.35. The dealer could not match it, at 3 different dealerships, the best rate they could get me through Toyota Financial was 5.9% for the prius. Since it was 3 different dealerships, 5.9% seems to be the lowest for tier 1 credit which is you and me. This is for 60 months.

You have to negotiate this rate, if you don't have preapproved financing your chances are slim to none unless you can bargain hard. Good luck. They will say you only qualify for higher but bargain your heart out.

Alex

 

My FICO was 772 at the time I applied for my loan (in mid-December) with Capital 1 thru Costco. Got a 5.9% rate for a term of 60 months with no prepayment penalties (a huge plus for me, as I intend to pay the loan off early). When my car gets here (whenever that may be), I'll talk to the Toyota finance guy to see if they can match that rate or do better; when I was checking Toyotafinancial.com I was getting a rate in the 7% range too.

 

I don't know my FICO specifically, but I know it was "excellent". I went in with a preapproval from a credit union for a rate of 5.64, and the Toyota dealer matched that rate, almost, at 5.65 (60 months - no prepayment penalty), but the loan is not through Toyota financial, it's through Bank of America, apparently. I don't know if that's unusual to this dealership to work through other banks or not. It was more convenient to settle the paperwork there than to wait and work with my CU, which was closed that day (1/2), so I took it! Maybe ask the dealer who all they work with, and if you can, bring in another rate for them to try and match or beat!

 

ummmm, if you can get a better deal at your credit union why not go that route? I just did and still got 4.9% through my home equity loan. My Fico is 765. My wife is 774. Go figure......I pay both bills. :blink:

 

There's no way you should have to pay that much with your credit score.

Here's what I did when I bought my car January 2 -- I got a pre-approval from my credit union (for 5.xx percent). The Toyota salesperson said their rate (which I think was from Toyota Financial) would be in the low 6's (she quoted a specific number, but I don't remember what it was). She knew my credit union rate was less than that, so she said I could mail in a check from the credit union. Then, when I met with the finance guy, he was somehow magically able to offer me a loan through a major bank for a quarter of a percent less than my credit union rate, so I wound up going with that.

Anyway, I've deduced three things from this experience:

1. The quoted finance rate on the web site must include some margin of profit for the dealer that they can discount if they want to.
2. If you decide to go with your own financing, it's really not much of a hassle (i.e., they'll let you take the car immediately and mail a check later).
3. If you have a pre-approval for a decent rate, they may try to beat it. I doubt they would have gone lower than their initial quote if I hadn't had that leverage.

 

My fico score was 815 when I purchased my Prius last March, and went with my Credit Union because of the great interest rate.

When you need to finance a purchase I believe that you should ALWAYS go with the greatest interest rate offered at the best terms. ALWAYS.

Do not pay higher interest rates if at all possible. I would also suggest once you get your loan approved and make your payments to at least make smaller additional payments on the same day as your regular payment because you would have already had interested deducted from your regular payment. It helps to make any additional payments against your loan and especially on the day your regular payment is due. This is on a loan that doesn't have a prepayment penalty.

This is what happens with my loan and may be different with yours so please check all of the facts, etc. before deciding. I want you to save money.

Have fun with your new Prius.

 

It's a trick!! Don't do it. With a tier one and/or a down payment your rate should be under 6% if from toyota. With a teir one credit rating and down payment the FM tried to slip 7.6% in oct 2005! I ended up with 5.45% through toyota but that was hard fought. Don't be impulsive or procrastinate, that how "they get ya"--you will regret it later.

 

I just financed a small amount with Toyota at 5.55%. My credit rating is about 800 and I only wanted to finance $8k for 36 months. I had a quote for 4.99 at my local bank. I plan on paying off the loan within a year ( as soon as I get my tax credit refunded in 2007). For the $20 extra cost to go through Toyota - it was just more convienent than doing all the paperwork through the bank.

They do offer 3.9% on some model cars so they do have some wiggle room. It is always best to have a quote from a local bank before you try to get them to give you a better rate than what is on their web site.

Springtime

 

Ok, sometimes people get too wrapped up in one aspect, and don't pay attention to others, and you can spend a lot of time "spinning your wheels". There are only 3 primary factors in negotiating for a car. Align/manipulate these 3 factors for your comfort, if they're not met, walk out:

1. Finance rate
2. Trade in value
3. Price of car

If, for whatever reason, you don't obtain the "perfect" finance rate, you can always try getting the difference in the trade in, or removed from the sales price. Something like, "Ok, you can't get me x.xx%, so take XXXX off the price of the car, or give me xxxx more for my trade. Remember, they want/need to sell you the car, the greatest power you have is to walk out if you don't get what you want.

 

Not sure what our credit score is right now, but I know its above 750. So we are top tier. eLoans was at 5.65%, and Capital One first offered 5.5%, then dropped to 5.20% when we asked for a better rate. My credit union heard that and has pre-approved us for 4.99%.

When I finally get my Prius, I fully expect the finance guy to come up with a rate matching or exceeding the 4.99% ... usually they will give you one that's a quarter point lower. If you start at 7.1, he'll quote you 6.75, or maybe 6.5%. I don't know what the incentive is for them, but I suspect they get paid by the lending agency for the business. So go in with the lowest pre-approved rate you can get from your bank, credit union, eLoans or Capitol One.

By the way, if you are in the Navy, or retired, or work as a civilian for the Navy, check out the Navy credit union. They are offering 2.9% right now according to someone here on Prius Chat.

 

My credit union offered a .25% discount for buying a Hybrid. I just got my Prius last weekend for 5.34% (Tier 1) and the dealer had me approved and all paper work done by the time I arrived to pick up the car. I was in/out and driving away in less than 30 minutes. Through Cuttle the dealer can handle all finances with local lenders. They did quote me a .25% higher than what my rate is actually going to be, so I called my credit union to confirm that it was correct and they said yes, that the paper work only gets adjusted for the Hybrid after it arrives at the bank.

 

It all depends on the finance guy you deal with. Personally if I were you to avoid a headache get financed by your own bank before you go in to buy.

Between the two of us my bf score is highest, about what yours is. In that case you should get the best rate, period. The guy starts out offering 8.05. I laughed at him pretty much. He goes back and forth with me and offers 7.55. Again I said thats way too high for the credit scores we have.

He goes back and forth some more and is looking at that book with the charts of what interest rates their banks have depending on the credit rating and length of financing. He wouldnt let me see it so I just stood up and started looking at it. I pointed to one bank offering 6.59 for 60 months with 700+ credit. He tells me "that is the rate for dealerships that is what we pay". I said "oh I didnt know dealerships had credit scores". The look on his face was great.

I ended up telling him 6.99 and I wouldnt go any higher. Fought me some more and finally gave in. I know we could get better from a credit union, we may do that. When I bought my first new car in 03, like you it was %4.2. Times have changed!

Anyways thats my story, hope it helps. And this was in Maryland. We live in VA.

 

We just ordered ours yesterday and the Toy dealer quoted us 5.8% for $10-15k financed for 36 mo. Our credit union quoted us 6.4%. Who knows what it will actually be when we actually receive it in 4-6 months?

 

Pentagon Federal Credit Union (open to all, for a small fee) is currently 5.5% for up to 60 months.

Anybody who paid more, should transfer their loan pronto. PenFed allows 12 months for date of purchase; I am not sure about other lenders.