Turbo6PGT

I priced out my car at the local dealer but their APR was pathetic. Im just getting a base model tC with the 5-speed. They offered me 7.6% for 6-years. I looked around online and even captialOne was 6.19% for my area. My credit is very good and my score is usually around 810-815 so getting financed isnt a problem. I've seen others on the board here get between 4 and 5% APR for 5-6 years and wonder HOW?? And some said they even financed through Toyota so its comparing apples to apples here and I dont see how thats remotely possible. I refuse to get hosed on the APR just because they wont find me a better rate. So any advice here would be apprecited. If I have to drive a couple hundred miles to get a rock bottom rate it might be worth it.

If this is the wrong forum for this I apologize, please move it accordingly. Thanks -Dan

TCMONKEE

try other scions dealers in your area and see what they say?

Turbo6PGT

I havent called around yet but I've come to the conclusion that all dealers, regardless of the company, will push you towards THEIR financing plan which usually has a higher APR.

ElChupacabra

Right now the lowest APR Scion offers is 6.15% on 60 months. That is with a FICO score of 730 or better. If a customer asks us we will check the other banks we work with to see if there is a lower rate... ...I would call other dealerships in the area.

bobotheclown

Visit your credit union to get pre-approved. They tend to offer some of the lowest rates. Just make sure you are eligible for their field of membership.

Here is a website with all/most of the Ohio credit unions.
http://www.ohiocul.org/CHAPMAP.HTM

Kilo6_one

yeah you have a really high score like myself, your considered tier 1 credit, same thing happened to me, toyota gave me mid 5%, i have never paid anything higher then 3.5% intrest for a car. i went to my credit union and got 2.3% for 5 years.......it was a special, and in january banks like to move loans as much as dealers like to move cars, so go to a creidit union or you bank, capital one is not a good lender if they are offering you that for your credit rating......shop around banks. even join one if you have to......you'll save some money

ShadyEye16

The Scion finance rates are right on par with the national averages (best rate here right now for 72 months is 7.10%).

Now with that said, I'm sure you can get a lower rate from a credit union or a bank; especially if the bank is running a special rate, which usually requires a stellar credit score, which you said you have.

Credit unions and banks also have flexibility with their rates, Scion does not. According to Scion's F&I rules, if financing through Scion, the only way to give a customer a lower rate is if the customer provides documentation that they are getting a better rate through another source, then the dealer can match, but not beat the rate. Now this is not to say that the dealer will follow the rules, but by the book, that's how it should go.

Scion finance program was not designed for adults with multiple cars and houses paid off and years and years of credit history. It was designed for first-time buyers who have little or no credit.

Example: 19 year-old, $2,000/mo. job, has one credit card with a $500 limit that's been used and paid off in full a few times. His credit score is 750 but his history is next to nothing. Every dealer he goes to tells him one of following things: 1)get a co-signer. 2)put 50-80% down (remember he's got a $2,000/mo. job here), and still get a double digit interest rate or 3)nothing at all because he's a "19 year-old kid" and the salesman didn't want to waste his time. But then he walks into a Scion dealership, where he's greeted like any other customer (because Scion spent all that $$$ training these Scion salesman to recognize the "Scion demographic" by their baggy pants, hipster hats and hip-hop swagger ), allowed to drive the car, pick out his options and get a great interest rate, say 6.1% for 60 months. This would be a very good rate for anyone with the same score as him (not the best possible as I explained earlier, but still very good and on par the the national average) but when you consider that he's a first time buyer with hardly any credit history, this rate is a third of what he'd get if he went to one of the "we'll buy anybody, bad credit, no credit" loan companies.

The above example is exactly what happened to me a year and a half ago, when I needed a new car (also how I got my job selling them). No other dealer could finance someone with such little credit history, and a couple of them even admitted than even if I could get financed my rate would be through the roof.

The whole point of the Scion brand is to get young people into the cars, if they didn't have special finance programs, then young people couldn't buy the cars which would defeat the whole point. In a market full of incentivized interest rates, when a normal/market driven rate is presented, people scoff and say "that's way too high." And its true that it's higher than the incentivized rates, but its not that it too high either, its just not "on sale" so to speak. Scion's financing works great for the majority of buyers, but the percentage of buyers with through-the-roof credit scores, it does not present the best option, still a good one, just not the best.

Anyways, this is only what I learned in a year and a half in this business, so I'm certainly not an expert, but I think Scion has done a great job with its first-time buyer programs. If the Scion rates are not for you, then there are many differant banks and credit unions available that may be able to help.[/i]

Turbo6PGT

Well so much for plan A haha. I called the credit union and the rate of 5.49 was out of date on their website and its now 6.4% for 60-month loans. Whats sad is everything else I looked up in my close area (provided by thelink above) was just as high. Evidentally the government doesnt want manufacturers to sell cars or houses now with these high interest rates. EVERYONE I looked at from banks, online creditors and credit unions all had high 60-month APR's compared to this time last year. Most all were lower or equal to Toyota's 7.6%. I may end up being forced into a 4 yr lease just to afford the payment, then of course to buy it at the end of the lease. I have some thinking to do.

ShadyEye thanks for that great interpretation. I realized everything you just said, and I too applaud Scion for giving people good rates that have no credit.

i007spectre

Im paying 9.1% for 72mo through chase. There the only ones who would approve me. At the end of that time I will have spent 24,000 on my tC. Im refinancing in about a year, because that interest rate is a load of bull.

ScionofKirkland

Hehe, I got a 71month term, and I worked my way from a 11.00 rate to a 7.10 but then I did have two finance managers pull favors for me ^_^

fivepointnine

dude, Id kill to get your guys finance rates...haha.....my score was a 620 when I financed, now its considerably higher, so well see.

SSH_Motorsport

Hey Turbo6PGT,
I work for Washington Mutual, and I would suggest either checking out your bank, or if you own your home, maybe even a Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit. The afore mentioned are usual both tax deductible. So, even if the rate is around 6 or 7 percent. You will get some of it back in taxes at the end of the year. If you have any other questions feel free to email or pm me. michael(dot)flood(at)wamu(dot)net

TheQuietThings

interest rates are generally going up... the federal reserve has been raising them for quite some time now.
when i bought the car back in May05, i had was given a 5.1% interest rate on 63 months, and since then, i dont think interest rates have fallen at all. So to see something 1 or 2 points higher wouldnt be totally nuts.

Nick06tC

This is the bank I financed through. I cut and pasted for all to see there rates. I got 4.25% FOR 55 Months from then. Dont see why you couldnt apply online through them..???
http://www.nnsecu.org/site/rates_loan.html
Effective Date: 11-15-05
Type of Loan Approx Term
(Months) Daily Periodic Rate (%) Annual
Percentage Rate (A.P.R.)(%)
New Vehicle up to 84 4.24 - 14.25*
Used Vehicle up to 84 4.75 - 15.25*
New Boat up to 120 7.15 - 15.45*
Used Boat up to 120 7.40 - 16.45*
New Recreational vehicles up to 60 10.25 - 17.50*
Used Recreational vehicles up to 60 10.50 - 18.50*
New Motor Homes up to 120 07.15 - 14.75*
Used Motor Homes up to 120 7.40 - 16.75*
New Motorcycles up to 60 7.15 - 15.25*
Used Motorcycles up to 60 7.40 - 16.25*
FlexLine not applicable10.50 - 16.99*
Savings Secured up to 24 4.50%
Vacation Club Secured up to 244.25%
Share Certificate Secured up to share
cert term dividend rate being paid on certificate plus 2.50%**
PC Priority Purchase 24 or 36 8.99 - 16.99*
Personal up to 60 8.99 - 16.99*

Shoe_Here

i also got mine financed in May 2005 and i am at 4.2% for 60 months with 4500 bucks down. I am only 24 too. I feel some what lucky i guess. Over 6-7%, that hurts.

bobotheclown

If you are willing to change your finance term, you may be able to get a lower rate.

Don't recommend leasing unless you only plan to have the car for 2-3 years.

As SSH_Motorsport stated, you can look into a HELOC. Most FI offer Prime +0% HELOCs these days. Remember, with a HELOC, you are using your house's equity to purchase the car. You should talk to a tax advisor about the tax benefits first.

Turbo6PGT

Well Im not a home owner so none of that matters.

As far as leasing goes I agree and I hate the idea of it at all. But I really had a target goal of 235/mo. I've come to realize thats probably not going to happen with the current interest rates out there. Let's say I put $3,000 down and finance the rest (14,800 left after tax/title) for ~6.2%. That puts the payment around $245 and after my 6 years I pay about $17,750 for the car (3,000 more than what its worth).

Now if I lease for $229 for 48 months I will end up paying roughly $11,000 over the 4 years. I figure after 4 years the car will still be worth around $9500-10k. So if I have to finance what the car is worth at the end I will end up paying a couple grand over the 9500 or so that its worth. So I end up spending about 23,000 for a 17,000 car, an extra $5,000 over the msrp.

Seems to me I should be finding a way to pay a little more monthly and just buy it outright. Only problem is I have to find a bank to rob so I can pay the extra per month hehe. There were a few websites for the credit unions locally that had offers in the 5.25-5.5% area but they looked out of date so I will have to do some more research. Thanks for all the info so far guys, Im glad someone knows about all this stuff.

cliffy1

Bingo! Never ever lease a car that you intend to buy at the end of the lease. All you're doing is delaying the pain. While the payments may be lower initially, you end up paying a lot more over time.

Time is really the killer, not so much the interest rate. For instance, if you finance $15000 over 5 years at 6.05%, you'll pay $2464 in interest over the life of the loan. If the rate is 7.05%, you pay $2895 over that same time. If you somehow found a 72 month loan at that same 6.05% rate, you would pay $2969 over the life of the loan. That extra 12 months costs you more than a full percentage of interest on a 60 month loan.

Rates have gone up a lot over the past year. Last year, my best rate was 4.65% and right now, its 6.05% and I expect that to jump again shortly. You really can't compare what somebody got a few months ago with what you can get today. Even most credit unions are in the mid-5% range and banks are well over 7% (some as high as 10%).

camys_daddy

Yes, get pre-approved. Of course.

After my divorce (I don't think I'm in the Scion target demographic and this caused some confusion when I walked into my local dealer who sells BMW, Scion and Toyota and asked to see the Flint Mica tC) I waited a while, got my poo in a pile, had everything paid off and then got pre-approved.

The finance guy beat my 6.2% rate with a local credit union with a 5.5%

Of course, paying off 70K in credit card debt in two years while going through the divorce is impressive, and must have counted for something, LOL.

T

Nick06tC

http://www.nnsecu.org/site/rates_loan.html

4.25% is out there. Check out the bank I used.