Car dealers make much more money financing your car than they do selling or leasing it to you. Most buyers concentrate on the price they pay or the monthly lease payment, but you should focus and concentrate even more if you’re thinking about letting the dealer “arrange” your financing. Most people do this and they shouldn’t.
- First, the good news about dealer financing. If you’re buying a new vehicle, most manufacturers offer very low interest rates to induce you to buy…often as low as 0%. If you’re buying a new vehicle, you should always find out if the model you’re buying has special low financing offered by the manufacturer. You also need to know if you’re credit score will qualify you for this low rate. If so, remember that there’s usually a special discount offered as an ALTERNATIVE to the low interest rate. You can’t have both the discount and the low interest rate. The dealer’s advertising doesn’t make this clear because he wants you to believe you can have both. You need to do the arithmetic, taking into consideration the amount you’ll be financing, the number of months you finance, and how the difference between the low rate and your bank or credit union’s rate. Remember, the 0% may be offered for 60 months, but you’re going to trade the car in after 48 months.
- If the manufacturer doesn’t offer a very low interest rate on the model you’re buying, that you can use, always get a rate from your bank and credit union. If you’re not a member of a credit union, consider joining one. Just because the company you work for doesn’t have a credit union, there are credit unions you can join without the affiliation of your company. If you don’t have a banking relationship with a specific bank, contact one and ask. Be sure that you understand that the dealer is getting the money he wants to loan you from a bank (often owned by his manufacturer). The dealer then MARKS UP the interest rate the bank charges him and applies that to your car loan. The dealer “pockets” the mark-up. The amount of the mark-up varies, but 2% is common. If you’re financing $30,000 for 60 months, the dealer’s mark-up is about $1,700. Some dealers retain all of that, but most keep about 75% or $1,275. The dealer will usually make another $1,000 in warranties, maintenance and “products” like GAP insurance. The dealer averages less than $1,000 on the sale of a new car. He’s making twice as much financing the as he did selling it
- If you were raised like me, your parents told you never to borrow more money than you absolutely must. When you do borrow, you should always make as large a down payment as you can afford. This doesn’t always hold true today because interest rates are at historical lows and sometimes manufacturers offer even lower rates. If you have excellent credit, your down payment should be as low as the bank will accept…hopefully zero. Today, you can conservatively invest your money to earn a higher return than you must pay to finance your car. But, if you’re going to finance with the dealer and intend to make a large down payment, NEVER TELL THAT TO THE DEALER before he gives you his final out-the-door price. Why? Because the banks dealers finance your car through limit the amount they will finance based on your credit and, the more you put down, the higher the dealer can increase his profit margin. Dealers will often push you for a larger down payment because they can’t finance as much profit as they’d like. They’re likely to tell you that the bank requires a larger down payment which is true, but they don’t tell you it’s because they’re making a huge profit on the car.
