Canadian 3rd Gen Thread

may I ask the dealer? I'm shopping around a few Calgary sites, also looking at Winnipeg area.

 

Do you have a credit card? Do you use it? Do you have a cell phone? Do you remember to pay it off every month?

Answering Yes to those four things will basically get you the lowest interest rate unless you are on the door to bankruptcy. Don't be fooled by some idiot in the credit office trying to tell you how hard he is working to get you the lowest rate possible, how many dicks he had to suck to get there. The truth is that credit is extremely easy to get for a car loan right now and is more tied to seeing at least semi-responsible credit use in the past rather than anything the finance guy can do when he digitally sends your information off to the banks and TFC.

 

I've had credit cards since I was 19, and I'm 25 now. I've had my own phone bill since I was 19 as well. I bought a tool box on a $5k loan, and that was paid off within a couple of months. I've never missed a payment on anything. Last time I checked my credit score was under the "excellent" category. If what you're saying is true, I hope that the bank will give me a better rate.

 

A better rate than what? TFC? What term are you after? Do you own a home?

 

I wish I owned a home! I'm only 25, there's no way I can get approved for a mortgage right now with the housing prices around here. Toyota Canada says 5.54% on a 84 month term (while I can afford to pay the bi-weekly payments on a shorter term, I'll be car poor). Sales manager said if he were to hazard a conservative guess, going through a bank instead of Toyota Canada would probably get me .5% less (5% instead of 5.54%). This is all speculation, of course. I've already talked to the bank and asked what I'd realistically get approved for and I'm well under budget, but the financial advisor was not able to get me a solid interest rate number without making an actual credit inquiry.

 

I bought my home at 23 IIRC. It's doable if you're willing to save the down payment. Past that getting a mortgage is easy.

The difference between a 5 year loan and a 7 year loan is only about $70 bi weekly with the current numbers. If that is making you car poor then you may not want to even look at a new Tacoma. Even if the interest rate from a bank drops to 3.99% over 7 years you'll only save about $15 every two weeks. I suggest playing with a car loan calculator so you can see how the interest rate and term effect your payment rather than rely on the dealer to do so. It'll also help you detect hidden costs the dealer may try to slip in. Here's one I found quickly:

http://www.onlineloancalculator.org/

No offense intended by all of that. Just laying out some information you may already have but you should know if you don't.

It sounds like you have good credit and a stable career so the bank will basically play ball with you to the maximum allowable limit. However remember that your car payment will reflect on your ability to access higher levels of credit like a mortgage. The more you borrow, especially under long terms, the tougher it may be to get a mortgage at some point because of the extra cost over a long term.

Sorry if I sound like an old man lol. I made quite a few bad car loans myself when I was younger and ended up driving a Ford Focus for a while just to get my payment low enough to get a house. It sucks man.

 

Just remember the dealer hires finance people to make them money and hide numbers well.

 

oh no, I definitely appreciate the advice. There's a lot I don't know about loans and credit and all that stuff. That's why I ask questions to mostly unbiased people. I'll definitely look into playing around with numbers.

off topic: are you in BC? Considering how much a studio apartment costs around here (300k+) buying a home seems like a very daunting task. I guess I won't necessarily be "Car poor", it's just I can turn into a bit of a jew Lol. I'm living well within my means while still providing for two people (my mom and my girlfriend)

 

Nope. I live in Alberta. I intentionally live in a small town about 30 minutes away from a major population center to. I paid just a hair over 200K for my first home. It's now valued at a hair over 300K. My down payment was a single year bonus from work.

The lower mainland, okanagan, and other touristy areas have crazy real estate values. It's a terrible time to buy in those areas and the market will have to correct at some point. You can't have a crack house valued at 750K for long.

It's good that you realize you have to take care of others so you need more money than you would like to think. It's a good philosophy to have.

 

I live with my mom right now, and my gf and I are paying rent on top of whatever money I give my mom.

iirc when she built the house 28 years ago, she paid ~$245k, now it's valued at a hair over $800k, but on the market it'll probably sell for over a million (houses around us sold for an average of 1.2mil). inflation is crazy. The house isn't even that big. we have a decent size plot in a nice suburb, and the house is around 2100 sqr ft.....but there's no way in hell I'd ever be able to afford that on my own, even if I bent over and took it dry from the bank...

 

Guess we'll see long term, but so far all the reports are saying otherwise. Even though sales in some neighborhoods have dropped 80% over last year, the values are holding at current levels.

Sorry, can't buy a crack house in Vancouver for 750K, minimum 1.2 million.

Crazy, to say the least. My house doubled in price over the last 4 years, and that's slow for the lower mainland.

 

Ha...I bought my first house exactly 30 years ago for 70K, same house is now over a million!

 

It's the Asians driving the value, and they aren't doing nearly as well financially. That plus Trudeaus promise to limit foreign investment in residential property could drop the market fast. However reality is a stall rather than a loss in value.

 

Some experts believe otherwise as less than 10% of homes bought in the lower mainland come from foreign investors.

B.C. imposed a new 15% tax on foreign investors, so we'll see what happens long term, but some are saying it will have no effect. Personally, I have no idea and it's a wait and see for me.

and now back to the new truck loan.....

 

Quick check on fuelly shows Tacoma V6 vs Frontier V6 for 2016 at 12.3L/100kms vs 13.1L/100kms. So a slight difference at best. It's interesting Frontier has had a +33% increase in sales in USA year to date. Where as Tacoma is sitting at 5%.

 

Cochrane Toyota. I put a deposit down in June and they let me know early August that they'd been allocated my truck. Earlier in May the Sales Manager (Kelly I think?) had spent more than 20 minutes on the phone chatting (speculating) about the Pro with me, which I appreciated. Country Hills Toyota is significantly closer but they haven't seemed particularly interesting in me on multiple occasions. They are polite enough but not exactly eager to please. To be frank, I've wondered if I'm not their target ethnic demographic. In any case, they wanted twice the deposit that Cochrane did.

 

My favourite part of buying my truck was when they added a $500 "finance fee" to the total. Literally a fee for the pleasure of paying them interest (the real finance fee). After hours at the dealership, this was the last straw where I started using lots of choice language. I did not pay it.

 

My favorite part is spending 3 hours listening to their garbage and paperwork. You'd think they would want to make it a little more friendly to purchase a vehicle. And then the return visit the next day to fix the errors they made on said paperwork!

 

Neither are great, but while it adds up after time, the 1L/100km would not be a deal breaker for me.

Frontier is actually my 1st choice if I decide to sell the Tacoma. I never thought I would consider one as I went straight for a Tacoma 7 years ago. Now it is not even apples to apples comparison considering it is 2nd Fronty gen vs 3rd gen Taco, but if I decide to part with my truck and get something with a warranty etc it is most likely Frontier or base Colorado 4wd crew. Lets say ballpark difference between Frontier is 6-8k OTD with 0.49% financing up to 60 months vs 4-5% that is a lot of money to just ignore. Tacomas are awesome, but not that awesome imo. I can have a trusty new truck with 200k less on the odo and a warranty. I really did not want a car payment, but with the way Tacomas holds value, after selling it, I will most likely be only financing less than half of the new truck and that at 0 or 0.49%.

If it comes to that, I'd still test drive new Taco and see what can be done price wise, but...

 

If you test drive a new Taco and not ready to buy... leave your cheque book at home.... You will be drooling all over the place man... The thoughts of "Nissans" will no longer be dancing in your head.... You will focus on only 1 thing "TACO"......

My 2 cents..!!