Should I jump on this 2018 offer right now?

Pretty much this. Usually we just come with preapproval from our credit union. We have nearly perfect credit so it's hard for them to play rate games.

If they bring up payments I tell them I could pay $1200 a month if I had to, and not to mention payments again. That is the one thing that makes me mad is oh here is the payment. Nah I want the price and interest rate. I don't care what the payment is.

 

Hello Taconator,
I live in So. Cal. I bought a 4 door Taco 2017 TRD 4X4 OFF-ROAD with tech package, and paid under 35k. I can help you out with any info you need. Just send me a message.

 

When I bought my last car back in 2012, I got the best rate from AAA. When I went to the dealer they asked about financing, and I told them I had my own. They asked for a chance to match the rate (2.9 for 60 months on a 5 y/o car), and it took about 45 min, but they came back with that rate so I went with them.

 

I wonder if I can bluff a rate?
Say I have 3% elsewhere and try to get them to beat it?

 

Do you belong to a credit union? I was able to get a 1.99% APR for 60 months through mine.

 

Exactly. The mistake is in telling the people trying to sell you a loan your monthly payment goal. They'll play the shell game to get that monthly payment low... and the way that they'll do it will cost you more money in the long run. This is what they want to do.

But you still need to figure out what you want the monthly payment to be, but with the goal of determining the total cost of the vehicle after paying off the loan.

 

Exactly, dealers are great at moving numbers around after you've agreed on a price to catch you off guard, they know once a price is agreed upon most buyers will drop their guard.

When I bought my wife's car the Toyota dealer brought out a worksheet with the price of the car, tax, title, so forth. Each time after haggling over the price a new worksheet was presented to me (this went back and forth several times), each time they had slipped another fee and/or increased the cost somewhere else.

Always ask for a copy of the worksheet before it leaves your sight and mark it so they cant pull a fast one by bringing you back a different sheet then the original. if they wont give you one (some dealers won't) take a picture with your smartphone. Once the worksheet comes back crunch the numbers between the two to make sure it all adds up. Do the same thing when you go to sign all the paperwork to finalize the sale.


I used the same technique when I bought my truck and believe I was able to get a good deal because of it. The dealer actually screwed up in letting me leave the dealership with the worksheet. I've come to this conclusion because after the sale was complete me and the salesman drove to a local gas station to top off the truck. I went inside to use the restroom and left all the paperwork in the truck. Once I got home I realized the worksheet was gone, the salesman had removed it from the truck when I went inside the gas station. They didn't want me leaving with the worksheet that listed all the haggled prices on it.

Morale of the story: never trust a car dealer, ever.