Things I've learned from my purchase

my only regret was not bringing my own financing. with a credit score well over 800, i thought i would be getting a great rate. i was wrong! what made it worse was i went in on a friday night at about 4PM and left 5 minutes to closing. in the end, i got the truck i wanted at the price i wanted. could have saved some money, but lesson learned.

 

Good idea. Instead of a down payment how about a cash payment. You have a Toyota. How many repairs are you gonna need to make?

 

You can still roll out of that loan and refinance. Shop around because everyone can beat the dealer loan percentage.

When your credit score is in the 800's it's considered "super prime" which is the highest quality credit group anyone can be in.

Sometimes it's a good tactic to take the dealer's higher interest rate to get the deep discount. It makes them feel like they are getting something. You can literally refinance the next day or two. All the new lender needs is the payoff amount, which they can obtain or you can obtain ahead of time.

You never know what tomorrow brings. Jobs are here today and gone tomorrow, so just shaving a couple of percentage points off a loan can have benefits you never realized. Anything beats having a car repossessed or having to take $5,000 hit bailing out of a new car because of changing circumstances beyond one's control.

 

yeah i've been looking around and its in the works. it just makes me think how dealers work with financing? last year when my wife bought her used 2014 camry, she got it financed through toyota financial services. with my truck, we went to a different toyota dealer and they found me financing through a local credit union. looking back, our rates were similar (maybe 1-2% difference). considering mines was new and hers was used, it was just confusing. maybe it was a camry vs. tacoma thing...

 

They got me financed through a credit union, as well. 2.89% was better than I expected with my score.

 

I did not pay destination fee and mine was new on the lot with 3 miles.

 

Strictly speaking the "maintenance & repairs" part was with my prior funcar in mind since it was decidedly not a Toyota.

As for all-cash, personally I like to give the dealer the option to potentially finance as the spif they earn can potentially work to my favor in how low I can negotiate the deal. Plus with the cost of money is as low as it has been lately, I'm earning more on investments than I'm paying in interest. Have to be careful with assumed risk of course, but if I needed to I could pay off the loan in days.

Be ready for dealer shenanigans, but give them a chance to beat the financing you bring to the table.

In my experience the rates the dealer finance guy offers can vary, and sometimes be to your advantage. For example, the Toyota dealer I bought from has a direct relationship with my credit union and was able to write a CU loan at the same rate I'd have gotten from the CU (I'd checked beforehand) without my having to run back and forth ferrying paperwork and a check. I've also had (a different) Toyota dealer finance guy try to argue me into taking his "so much lower monthly payment!" loan instead of my pre-arranged credit union financing. He did at least shut up when I asked what idiot would write a seven year note on a two year old CPO truck. In a third case, the factory financing was a half a point higher than the rate I brought from my CU, but the factory financing paid the first three payments up to $1500. I maxed it out of course. Since I paid that note quickly I didn't bother refinancing since the principle wasn't all that high.

My point being to avoid assumptions and see what's available; work the numbers to see what the best overall deal is for you.

 

I suppose everything is possible, but in all likelihood the cost of it was baked into the deal somewhere; even when paying invoice.

 

You're right. That's what I get for relying on my memory.

 

No worries, I just didn't want some other reader to get confused.

Rereading, I may have been a bit blunt in my delivery; just meant to be succinct, no offense intended.

 

I have often thought it would be interesting to bring a friend along that is a legal Notary Public to have on hand for every time the dealer says he will do this or that for me.

Basically have the dealer "sign here" and then have the Notary sign as well. No going back on what was said.

On a side note, never be an impulse buyer. Take your time and do your homework.
I'm going on two years now preparing to buy a new Tacoma. That and I'm still rocking my trusty '97 Taco so absolutely no hurry.

 

Honestly OP, don’t feel bad about your purchase because some have paid less, because I guarantee you some will be paying a lot more than you.

Suffice it to say the stealer is like the house in the casino and the house always wins, simply because we go in there willingly.

But having said that, you can minimize your losses by simply being ready to walk away, even if they have the exact color\trim you want and no one else has it, and it maybe another six month before that exact trim is available for sale again in your area.

And you also have to know when to hold them, meaning they can’t sell it for any lower price.
The reality is, stealers “need” to sell but you may not need to buy today. Until they sell it, they may have to carry a note on it, usually after thirty days.
Some can afford to hold it longer cause they may have cash, but as long as it’s on their lot, its still a liability.
A lot of things can happen while in their lot that can lessen the value.

For example, they could have a recall or hold sale on a rear differential, just saying....

Don’t give it another thought and enjoy your truck
Cheers!

 

The first lesson is to never buy in the SE region if you can avoid it, unless they have exactly what you want on the lot and you know the price is right, because you already did your homework.

Seriously. SE is one of the 'crook' regions with lots of 'port' add ons and other shenanigans that make it very difficult to 'order' a vehicle.

The 2nd lesson is to never buy a 'package' that isn't a Toyota corp package. The biggest ploy is the margin that you've already found, but the sales pitch is you get the 'upgrades' rolled into financing. Which too many people are all about 'how much is my payment' as opposed to 'how much does the product cost, out the door'.

If a buyer can't afford a couple G's of bolt on stuff the next day, should they really be buying a $35k ride? Bet their accountant would say no.

For you @Reagan2791 it's just a life lesson. You'll make better choices the next time. But for now its done. Just enjoy the truck and move on with life. If a $3k mistake is the biggest whoopsie you ever have financially, you'll either be doing excellently or not taking enough risk!

 

Interesting. Do dealers where you are not do "WE OWE" sheets on every transaction?

Maybe it's a Georgia thing. In every vehicle purchase I've been a part of, there's been a "WE OWE" sheet on which they would list every single promised-but-not-yet-delivered item or service that wasn't addressed in writing elsewhere. When there wasn't anything, the sheet would say so. Both sides signed it and each retained a copy. Never had an issue with followthrough.

If you dont' have such a sheet, definitely be worth getting one. I suspect just having it written on the sales order would be sufficient, a notary might be a bit of overkill though. (Can they notarize for friends, I know they can't for family)

 

May depend on the dealer. I had no trouble ordering my truck in Atlanta with *exactly* what I wanted, no more and no less. Everything on it was there because I wanted it to be there.

There's certainly a lot of shenanigans in SouthEast Toyota territory though, I don't dispute that one bit.

 

Toyota isn't the crook making the trucks with these options. Those are all port installed. The distributor and dealership are making the money, not Toyota

 

OR you negotiate a low trade price and then take the trade off the table when you go to sign the papers

 

It's a margin thing. The more they make the lower rate they can offer a good credit customer. The less they make, the higher the rate will be.

And some people can't get credit elsewhere, but the dealer will take them to make the sale.

It always pays to have your own financing pre approved. When you are all done with the bottom line price on the vehicle, then talk finance. If they beat your pre approved, good for you. If not, doesn't matter.

Don't forget term is as important as rate. I know someone who just bought a used vehicle for $24k that was worth about $15k. And took a decent rate, but a 7 yr term. On a 50k used ride! Why? Because the monthly payment came out where he could work OT 3 Saturdays a month and make the payment............ Now less that 6 months in, still likes the vehicle, but wants Saturday's off to be with his kids.

 

Refinance it - I used State Farm out of the gate but my Brother dropped from 3.9 to 2.9 one day after his purchase by making the swap from TMC to SF with no fees, free gap insurance and replacement cost.

 

What @InfernoTonka said... there you go, I should have kept reading...