GA Tacoma Owners BS Thread

Email like @CowboyTaco said.

Nalley and Hendricks Toyota were total assclowns to me (30yo white male, look not a day older than 21 though) even though I had cash in hand. They actually were less cooperative when I told them I had cash. NEVER tell a dealer you can pay cash, they'd rather you finance and pay it off immediately... Plus they'll be less willing to budge if you're well-off enough to pay cash and are young.

I ended up buying from Toyota of McDonough after emailing about half a dozen dealers back and forth. I brought all the email printouts with me, because the first salesman pulled the same "youngun, lets get you in a TRD PRO for *monthly payment*" and ignored the emails - "you kids can fake those." It took me talking to another sales guy, a guy who was in his 20s, to even take me seriously, who immediately got the commission by just selling the damn truck I came to the lot for at the price I had agreed on online.


Toyota McDonough has free oil changes for life too, which is cool if you don't mind the drive.

 

I have heard decent of them, but they do not have what i am looking for unfortunately. But yeah hopefully they take me serious (24 years old with cash)

 

Don't mention you have cash and finance through the dealership. If you're in college or grad school, they'll be able to knock another ~$800 off (or they were able to for me) through the Toyota Finance (Omni Capital or something like that).

There's no penalty for early payoff if you pay 3 months. So do what I did, let them get the commission with it on finance - they make more money that way - and pay it off in full after 3 payments. It ends up costing you tens of dollars in interest, but is worth the money you'll save in negotiation from my experience.

If you're still having trouble with good negotiations, it can't hurt to check through Costco or TrueCar to see what you can get - but be advised - they'll sell your data so use fake info unless you're planning on going that route.

 

i graduated a year and a half ago, so i dont think i still get a college discount (started saving for the truck since then). would the hard inquiry hurt my credit score, or does it go up as soon as i pay the loan off?

 

Don't stress about credit hard checks. Having a car payment actually helps your credit in most cases. Too many hard checks in a month towards credit cards can look bad as an indicator of financial strife, but a couple while shopping for cars is a blip. Plus, if you're in a situation right out of college where you can pay cash for a Taco, you won't be too worried about your credit soon - buy yourself a house. I made my first $100k in my investment account from selling a house 3 years in after I bought it from equity in it (stay in a house 3+ years and you don't have to pay capital gains when you sell, do a 10-year loan to build equity fast). The real estate market has been absolutely crazy booming since 2008 and will continue to do so, as us millennials mostly rent.

When the loan is active, it is a monthly expense that lenders will consider against your theoretical maximum loan amount, so having it will decrease the ceiling for a loan on a house. That consideration disappears as soon as the debt is paid. With that in mind, the lenders I talked to when I bought the house I'm currently in were willing to finance me for over $600k and were baffled that I was buying "only" a $250k house, so it probably won't matter in your case if you're responsible with your money.


Completely off topic, but relevant to credit, I work in cybersecurity, you and everyone else here should keep your credit locked if you're not actively getting it hard checked. The government passed legislation this year requiring agencies to make credit freezes and unfreezes both free and online. I keep my credit frozen at all times, because the fucking DoD and Bank of America have both leaked literally everything. https://clark.com/credit/credit-freeze-and-thaw-guide/ is the first result in google on this, but it has good links and info on what that means and how to do it if I lost you somewhere along the way.

 

One day you need to school me in finances. My parents didnt do such a good job and my uncle I live with and dad both are pay cash always people.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-buy-used-trucks.641172/
I made a thread for my dilemma

 

Pay cash people are responsible people but when in trouble and need a loan are considered limited credit and will most likely need a qualified co signer. See it all the time. My primary job was lending for a while. It's hard to tell someone they don't qualify for a loan bc they have paid cash for everything their whole life. I always had older cars but when I bought my Tacoma, I financed it on a 36 month loan. Paid on it for 13 months then paid it off. I did this so I would have auto loan history on my on my credit report so in the future if I didn't have cash for my cars I could easily finance without getting a high rate bc I didn't have auto loan history on my credit or have to rely on using a cosigner. I put the money i was going to buy the truck with in a CD with a higher rate then I was paying on the loan so the interest was more than offset.
It's just an easy way to establish better credit history without paying interest and hedging for the future when you need to use credit and don't want to get raped on rates.

 

I have a good score on credit karma. But does having the auto loan make it go up that much?

 

Credit karma and sites like will not give the most accurate of scores. It also depends on what company they pull from when it's pulled. Experian may be different from TransUnion or Equifax. The auto loan will help your credit score over time as long as you make payments on time. Scores really only determine rates you will get from a lender. Approval is based on what's on your credit, debt to income ratio, job history. Dealer financing is a little different. They will often approve most anyone but will make they pay with the high rate if they have "colorful" credit.

 

Colorful? I have 9 loans (each semester student loan I took is seperate) and 1 card and it is all in good standing. Does that fare well?

 

If those are the only things, id still consider that limited credit. "Colorful" is the term I use for bad when I'm talking to the person haha.

Student loans, while yes they are loans, are a little different than a traditional loan with a set rate, payment, and maturity date. So they are treated differently in the eyes of an underwriter looking at credit. But like I said before, you will probably have no issue financing at the dealership but don't be surprised if your rate is high or a fair amount higher than your local credit Union or bank.

 

Also have to think about credit history, which is part of the score. Scores being mostly bullshit, but a bullshit that you have to deal with.

Just my opinion and what I'd do...
With interest rates likely near 2% or less at a credit union, although probably a little more for used car. If you have cash to pay for a car from a dealer I would put the cash in a high yield savings, which is going to earn you a little over 1% and take a credit union loan out for the vehicle.

I'd much rather borrow the money and pay a little interest over the next years and have cash in the bank for emergencies or any opportunity to make money. You'll also help build credit.

Same reason I have credit cards with good rewards, to help credit as well as free shit. Everything gets put on credit card and paid off monthly so you earn rewards as well as free extended warranties, rental car insurance, luggage coverage, price guarantees, etc all for free.

 

Do I even have enough history to get a decent payment? Paying cash is basically to avoid payments

wouldn't you still lose money with only a 1% yield. Inflation itself would negate those gains surely?

 

Delta Credit Union and USAA. I use them for just about any loan I ever need (auto or investment [buy to sell]).

Agreed on the don’t show the dealership the ‘you wanna pay cash’ card. Buying a vehicle for the best price, for you, is simply a poker game.

I personally only negotiate pricing on an all-in OTD basis. It isn’t until we have a final agreed upon figure in writing before I let them know I don’t need their financing.

 

Yeah I am just trying to figure out the game. I agree on the OTD basis.

 

Yes, not saying you will make money, but getting 1% on your money is always better than nothing....in my opinion.

Some numbers that popped up...

$20k loan at 3.1% interest for 60 months. Total cost of loan is $21,600.
So you're paying $1600 over 5 years to borrow that money. If you had that money making 1% in an account, that'll save you $500 off total cost and be at $1100, just over $200/yr.

The benefits of having $20k in the bank and making a monthly payment vs having $20k less and having title in hand, well worth that little you'll pay.

Your loan may come with gap coverage, so if you total it 2 years in and it's only worth 12k and you owe 15k, that'll be covered.

That's all simplified and rounded numbers, but gaining credit is much more important than not having a payment.

This all goes out the window when you start talking bigger numbers (mainly interest rates), but when they are so close to zero, it's hard to argue against using someone else's money.

Edit: just talking about simple auto loans... On something that most likely will continue to depreciate.

 

Only thing is, being under 25 (at least until next month) my insurance is high so i am trying to keep costs down. I wouldn't buy new, as someone else can eat the biggest bit of depreciation

 

PM me. I can call you on my way home from work tomorrow.

 

So I’m pretty close to your age. When I bought my Ford, I did what my old man taught me. I arranged primary and backup financing with my credit unions before even showing up, even though I could’ve paid cash. When the sales guy asked about financing, I answered “I’ve already got X%, but if you can beat it by all means please do”. As the others here have mentioned, the dealerships don’t care about the interest rate. Most times they just get a flat commission for every corporate finance account they open. So they WILL give you lower if they can. Plus they can usually offer an extra incentive off the drive out price for financing. There’s very seldom an early payoff penalty too. So theoretically you can take the “get $X off when you finance through Ford (or whoever)” and then pay the account off in full the next day.

BUT, being very close in age to you, one hurdle I didn’t expect was that since I’d only had credit cards in my credit history, it didn’t have the “diversity” lenders want to see. So what I ended up doing is instead of paying cash, I took the crazy low interest and am making auto payments from what would’ve been the cash payment. Basically I’m paying a couple hundred to up my credit for when I get ready for a mortgage. I’m told that usually a year or so of a “long term loan” like a car payment is what lenders will look for.

As far as insurance, my biggest advice is shop around. Talk to everyone you know, see who they have and get a quote from their provider. I ended up seeing an almost $700/year spread after all the quotes I’d called around for.