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Don't let any stranger on Youtube or anywhere else tell you what color to get, you have to live with it so go with your gut. On the finance side short of Honda having a factory sponsored rate you can qualify for there is no reason to give the dealer a shot to beat the penfed rate. It's doubtful they can beat it, they will blast your app to everyone and their brother which will add a bunch of inquires (yes we all know they don't hurt theoretically within a set period of time but nonetheless) and its really tough to beat the customer service of Penfed or NFCU.
Penfed will send you a check, bring the check to the dealer and your done. Sometimes they will tell you they need to run the credit so they can have back up financing etc. Tell them you will just wait till to pick up the car, they will change their mind pretty quick. A check from Penfed it all they need.
The only reason they need your SS# is to run your credit.
They may say that they need it to comply with the Patriot Act. This is incorrect as there are many other ways they can confirm you are not a terrorist. Running a credit check is probably one of thje easiest but they don't need to.
@Appleman wrote:The only reason they need your SS# is to run your credit.
They may say that they need it to comply with the Patriot Act. This is incorrect as there are many other ways they can confirm you are not a terrorist. Running a credit check is probably one of thje easiest but they don't need to.
Not exactly true. Most dealers will need the SSN to do the required identity check because of the system they use. Bought two cars cash in the last 6 months and researched this quite a bit. I ended up making it clear to not run my credit, if you make it clear they won't run your credit because the CFPB is all over car dealers these days so you won't likely find one that will run your credit without authorization. The patriot act is pretty narrow, if your financing the car I don't belive they are required to do the identification verification beyond the basic drivers license and proof of insurance. The only circumstances that they have to do the ID for patriot is cash, personal check.
Congrats on having a preapproval in hand and not bending to their games. My guess is you are young so they wanted to see if you were a qualified buyer which is why they wanted to run your credit and they wanted to work you over and run up your interest because they figured you were an uninformed buyer. I am sure they will call you, if not most towns have more than one Honda dealer. Find a car in stock on their website and work out a price through their internet manager. The other option is if your a Costco member they have solid pricing through their car buying program and they hold their dealers accountable because they steer so much business to them.
I did somethig similar in 2006.
I found 4 trucks that I was interested in online, printed their sticker and visited the dealer lots off hours. Found the trucks I had stickers for. Made my decision as to first through third choice.
ran numbers on invoice minus rebates etc... got a solid price I was willing to pay.
contacted internet sales, we went back and forth a few times. What was nice is that emotion goes out the door when doing email. I can walk away, grab lunch calm down and reply back. The internet salesman asked if I had a trade (I said yes) he asked if I had financing, I said no. It was a cash deal.
we agreed on final price minus trade.
i went to pay and pickup truck, he said let's go look at your trade, he looked like I fed him a pile o crap when I told him I sold my car to my sister. No trade.
he tried so hard to get me to the finance manager but I wouldn't budge. Then I pulled out the blank check from capital one. I could tell he was super angry but in the end I got what I needed