What's a good interest rate for financing a car?

[colleyvillesooner]

I will be need in a car sometime in the future. (hopefully a while) and through USAA, my auto insurance carrier, I am pre approved for an auto loan for 6.5%. I have no idea if that is good. Can I talk them a little lower?

I have a little credit card debt from college, but nothing excessive, and my credit score is over 700. Just looking for a little info about financing a car so I'll be ready when the day comes and ole black beauty blows the hell up. :D

[Harry Beanbag]

0.0% is pretty good.

[jeremy885]

new or used and for how long?

[OUDoc]

0.1% is a little worse.

[Mjcpr]

0.0% is pretty good.

Yes....not sure if they're still offering this like they were recently but I would think you could beat 6.5% with the dealer financing.

[Hamhock]

Dave Ramsey says you should never borrow money to buy a car. :D

[TopDaugIn2000]

You can beat that at a dealer. Unless you go to one of those "NO credit auto" dealers or something. With 700+, I don't think that's a problem.

[colleyvillesooner]

new or used and for how long?

New
48 or 60 months Fixed 6.2%
Variable 5.75%

Used is about .5% higher.

What's the difference between Fixed and variable?

[slickdawg]

Local credit unions are 5 to 5.5% here

[colleyvillesooner]

Yes....not sure if they're still offering this like they were recently but I would think you could beat 6.5% with the dealer financing.

Yeah, that's what I am thinking.

[Mjcpr]

New
48 or 60 months Fixed 6.2%
Variable 5.75%

Used is about .5% higher.

What's the difference between Fixed and variable?

You don't want variable.....I didn't even know they offered that on car loans.

It will fluctuate.....like an ARM. It can go up or down, depending on what the interest rates are doing I assume.

[colleyvillesooner]

You don't want variable.....I didn't even know they offered that on car loans.

It will fluctuate.....like an ARM. It can go up or down, depending on what the interest rates are doing I assume.

Yeah, variable just sounds like a bad word. I hated those ****ers in Algebra class.

[jeremy885]

here is a good link to look at from Yahoo for auto rates:

http://biz.yahoo.com/b/r/a.html

[TopDaugIn2000]

when I bought in November it was mid to high 4

[afs]

I got 4.5% from USAA.

[Beano's Fourth Chin]

Get approved online first. Usually the dealer will find a way to beat whatever you go in with.

[OUAndy1807]

Through USAA we just got 6.2% (reduced a little because we're using automatic withdrawl) on a 48 month lease and I had 798 credit score (my wife has semi-bad credit and it's fixed rate.)

If you're buying new, you should have them negotiate the pricing of your vehicle. You don't have to use their price, so if you can get them lower than you can just use your price. It's free.

[jeremy885]

Through USAA we just got 6.2% (reduced a little because we're using automatic withdrawl) on a 48 month lease and I had 798 credit score (my wife has semi-bad credit and it's fixed rate.)

If you're buying new, you should have them negotiate the pricing of your vehicle. You don't have to use their price, so if you can get them lower than you can just use your price. It's free.

How does your wife have semi-bad credit, when you have a score of 798 out of 850?

[jeremy885]

Get approved online first. Usually the dealer will find a way to beat whatever you go in with.


I did that through lending tree and Fowler beat their rate by a small amount. Just make sure you do not get stuck with extra items (car care packages, etc) that you don't really need just to get the lower interest rate. I did that and have been regretting it ever since. :(

[colleyvillesooner]

Through USAA we just got 6.2% (reduced a little because we're using automatic withdrawl) on a 48 month lease and I had 798 credit score (my wife has semi-bad credit and it's fixed rate.)

If you're buying new, you should have them negotiate the pricing of your vehicle. You don't have to use their price, so if you can get them lower than you can just use your price. It's free.

Have USAA negotiate the price?

[Harry Beanbag]

Go to carsdirect.com and get a quote for a low-a$$ price first. Then get your financing ready before you walk into the dealership. You'll probably **** off the salesdude, especially when he asks for your SSN and you tell him to shove it, but that's how you know you're getting a good deal.

Caveat to this system is don't expect to trade in your car. They won't give you even a halfway decent fair price for it. That's another way you know you got a good deal.

[Harry Beanbag]

Bruce says you're an idiot if you borrow money to buy a car. :D

fixed.

[colleyvillesooner]

Go to carsdirect.com and get a quote for a low-a$$ price first. Then get your financing ready before you walk into the dealership. You'll probably **** off the salesdude, especially when he asks for your SSN and you tell him to shove it, but that's how you know you're getting a good deal.

Caveat to this system is don't expect to trade in your car. They won't give you even a halfway decent fair price for it. That's another way you know you got a good deal.

I won't be trading it in. It's an explorer sport, but I'd like to keep it to pull a small boat, and take camping. I just need a nice car that gets good gas mileage.

Why do they ask for your SSN and why don't you give it to them.

[Harry Beanbag]

I won't be trading it in. It's an explorer sport, but I'd like to keep it to pull a small boat, and take camping. I just need a nice car that gets good gas mileage.

Why do they ask for your SSN and why don't you give it to them.


They need your SSN for the credit application. You don't need to apply for credit if you already have your financing in order. There is no other reason for those slimeballs to have your SSN no matter what they might try to tell you.

[SoonerInKCMO]

They need your SSN for the credit application. You don't need to apply for credit if you already have your financing in order. There is no other reason for those slimeballs to have your SSN no matter what they might try to tell you.

Don't they need it for the tax paperwork? :confused:

[olevetonahill]

Don't they need it for the tax paperwork? :confused:
Nope. and dont apply thru the dealer they will shop it to about 30 places who will ALL pull your credit and your score will drop like a rock.
As has been said get your finaning in order then go buy . Or specify that they only apply thru the Motor company credit . IE ford motor credit etc .

[OUAndy1807]

Have USAA negotiate the price?
they'll negotiate the price of the vehicle for you. They know what it costs, so they go to certain dealers who will play ball with them and get the vehicles for a very modest mark-up, but the dealer has to do little or no work to make the sale.

We ended up spending quite a bit less than we thought we would by going this route and we didn't have to deal with the hastle.

Also, I shouldn't say my wife has bad credit as much as she has no credit and a lot of student loans.

[colleyvillesooner]

they'll negotiate the price of the vehicle for you. They know what it costs, so they go to certain dealers who will play ball with them and get the vehicles for a very modest mark-up, but the dealer has to do little or no work to make the sale.

We ended up spending quite a bit less than we thought we would by going this route and we didn't have to deal with the hastle.

Also, I shouldn't say my wife has bad credit as much as she has no credit and a lot of student loans.

Wow, thanks. I'll look into that for sure.

[OUAndy1807]

Wow, thanks. I'll look into that for sure.
We got a fighting chance quote (here's a sample of the service the offer):
For most popular vehicles, these summaries also include the actual transaction prices (in relation to the dealer invoice price) reported by Fighting Chance customers across the country. Knowing what other knowledgeable shoppers have paid gives you a target range for your own price negotiation and strengthens your confidence in your ability to negotiate effectively.
USAA beat their lowest reported price by $2,500.