Attempting to get down to 0% or 0.9% financing

[SecondToLastDraftDodger]

I'll start by saying I'm new to credit and auto financing. Previously, I bought all my vehicles with cash.

I'm planning to buy a car either in the summer or early fall. I have enough idle money to buy the car I'm going to get four times over. However, I'd like to finance it for credit reporting reasons. But it seems counter-productive to pay 4 or 5 or higher percent interest to borrow money that I already have. 

So, my question is, assuming your credit qualifies you for top tier rates, can putting a sizeable down payment on a vehicle get the dealership to offer lower financing rates than they may otherwise? So for instance, if the vehicle's final price is $40k and I put down $25 or $30k, could than convince a dealership to offer very low interest rates, even if they aren't currently advertising that incentive?

[CreditCuriosity]

Won't happen with rates these days.  The only way you can get a rate at 0 or 1.99 or whatever is by a captive lender for a car/model that doesn't sell very well and needs incentives to clear inventory.  Won't happen on desirable cars in todays market.  The best you likely will do is through a CU at 3+% apr irregardless of how much you put down as first FI (financial) people make part of their salaries off point on interest usually working with banks or their captive lenders etc.  Best is to bring your own financing form a CU no matter what amount you want to put down.  Example bought a MB AMG about 5 months ago best rate MB would give is 6.99 and that was with 830ish score or something so best rate had to take it though before car was off lot then refinanced through NFCU at 3.69 I think at time their best rate a few days later and since rates have gone up on auto a bit more.  Putting more down helps very little on a car which is secured credit as they could just repo it if you don't pay, etc.  They prefer you don't pay anything down so they make more money.

[pizzadude]

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@SecondToLastDraftDodger wrote:

I'll start by saying I'm new to credit and auto financing. Previously, I bought all my vehicles with cash.

I'm planning to buy a car either in the summer or early fall. I have enough idle money to buy the car I'm going to get four times over. However, I'd like to finance it for credit reporting reasons. But it seems counter-productive to pay 4 or 5 or higher percent interest to borrow money that I already have. 

So, my question is, assuming your credit qualifies you for top tier rates, can putting a sizeable down payment on a vehicle get the dealership to offer lower financing rates than they may otherwise? So for instance, if the vehicle's final price is $40k and I put down $25 or $30k, could than convince a dealership to offer very low interest rates, even if they aren't currently advertising that incentive?

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I agree with the points above, you're not likely to find anything in that range due to how interest rates have spiked over the past year.   If you're interested in building auto loan history but don't want to pay a lot of interest then you can always pay the loan down faster / eariler and it will reduce the amount of interest you'll end up paying. 

[cashorcharge]

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@pizzadude wrote:

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@SecondToLastDraftDodger wrote:

I'll start by saying I'm new to credit and auto financing. Previously, I bought all my vehicles with cash.

I'm planning to buy a car either in the summer or early fall. I have enough idle money to buy the car I'm going to get four times over. However, I'd like to finance it for credit reporting reasons. But it seems counter-productive to pay 4 or 5 or higher percent interest to borrow money that I already have. 

So, my question is, assuming your credit qualifies you for top tier rates, can putting a sizeable down payment on a vehicle get the dealership to offer lower financing rates than they may otherwise? So for instance, if the vehicle's final price is $40k and I put down $25 or $30k, could than convince a dealership to offer very low interest rates, even if they aren't currently advertising that incentive?

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I agree with the points above, you're not likely to find anything in that range due to how interest rates have spiked over the past year.   If you're interested in building auto loan history but don't want to pay a lot of interest then you can always pay the loan down faster / eariler and it will reduce the amount of interest you'll end up paying. 

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+1

Unless you plan on buying a Buick (no offense given) or other "slow selling" model...you will likely not see that APR.  However, Automotive Sales are focused on monthly numbers and then quarterly numbers so suffice to say...depending on what vehicle your interested in, you may see an incentive near the end of a quarter...but then again....seeing 0% on any mainstream desireable model may be tough in this lending climate

[dunn2500]

nah it doesnt work that way.....best you can do is get a promo rate from the manufacturer and i have seen way lower rates than national rate which means they are carrying the paper to sell the vehicle.....depending on vehicle you want, saw a 0% offer from someone recently tho cant remember who.......big down payments are for people with challenged credit, if your credit is solid it wont matter