Experience at Honda dealer

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 22:22:12 -0500, "Dave L"
> wrote:

>My current credit union is from 5.35% for 48months. I picked up my Accord
>about 3 1/2 months ago for 4.74% w/Honda financing. I walked in there with
>a pre-approved loan from my credit union, and they beat their best offer by
>a quarter point. It really pays to walk in there with a pre-approved check
>and see what they are willling to do.
>
>-Dave

I am so surprised that the rates are this low. I can understand that
Honda might subsidize the loan through Honda Finance as a buyer
incentive, but 5.35% from the credit union is outstanding. Lenders in
today's paper are advertising 30-year home mortgages at 5.875 to
6.25%. When did car loans become lower risk than home loans?

I usually pay cash for my cars but at these rates I might consider
financing.

"Brandy Alexandre" > wrote in message
...
> Dave L > wrote in rec.autos.makers.honda:
>
>>
>> "Brandy Alexandre" > wrote in
>> message ...
>>> Nicholas Coday > wrote in
>>> rec.autos.makers.honda:
>>>
>>>> I think you got reamed on the interest rate. 2 weeks ago I got
>>>> 5.74% after the rate was increased through my credit union.
>>>> Honda financing could not come close to that rate
>>>>
>>>
>>> I got 5.1% in October. When I still complained about the monthly
>>> payment, they increased the loan from 60 months to 72 without
>>> increasing the rate, which should have been at least a point
>>> higher. Of course, my credit score was 808, so your mileage may
>>> vary.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Brandy Alexandre®
>>> http://www.swydm.com/?refer=BrandyAlx
>>> Well, would you?
>>
>> Yes, the business mgr offered to increase the months to reduce my
>> payments too, but that would mean extending the length of the loan
>> and increasing the amount of interest I'd have to pay. He tried
>> doing this so I would go for one of the extra packages they try to
>> sell. I wanted to the the lowest bottom line cost, so declined
>> the offer.
>>
>> Here are a couple of good sites for auto and other finance
>> calculators: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/rate/calc_home.asp
>>
>> Or you could go here for the auto payment calculator and fill in
>> your numbers:
>> http://www.bankrate.com/brm/auto-loan-calculator.asp
>>
>> It really helps with figuring out what you need to pay ahead of
>> time so if they do the financing for you, you'll know if they
>> added other things to the final cost.
>>
>> Hope it helps!
>> -Dave
>>
>>
>>
>
> Well, It wasn't so much that I couldn't afford it, but that I wanted
> the lowest possible obligation in case anything happened. I have
> and intend to continue paying significantly more than the payment
> amount, and few lenders are actually set up that way. That's why I
> like the Honda finance. That extra year doesn't amount to a hill of
> beans in the scheme of things.
>
> --
> Brandy Alexandre®
> http://www.swydm.com/?refer=BrandyAlx
> Well, would you?

Yeah, same here. No penalty for the prepay is nice too. That's what I
asked, although I have yet to put any significant prepay into it. Those
sites are still useful to make sure they don't try to sneak something in.
They initially tried to put the extended warranty in but I noticed the
payments were higher than I figured. It was no problem after that.

-Dave

On 27 Nov 2005 07:36:49 -0800, "pichula" > wrote:

>Hi,
>Just to add some info on my trade-in. Although some say negotiating my
>trade-in and the new car at the same time was a mistake, I still think
>I got a decent price for my trade in. The blue book (kbb) amount for
>trade-in was 18,800 (in good condition, not excellent) and they payed
>me 20,500 (that's what I asked them). The front bumper had a dent, so
>it needed to be changed, the tires needed to be replaced, etc.

Wow, you had a $20,500 trade-in on a Civic? What was left to finance?

"Gordon McGrew" > wrote in message
...
> On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 22:22:12 -0500, "Dave L"
> > wrote:
>
>>My current credit union is from 5.35% for 48months. I picked up my Accord
>>about 3 1/2 months ago for 4.74% w/Honda financing. I walked in there
>>with
>>a pre-approved loan from my credit union, and they beat their best offer
>>by
>>a quarter point. It really pays to walk in there with a pre-approved
>>check
>>and see what they are willling to do.
>>
>>-Dave
>
> I am so surprised that the rates are this low. I can understand that
> Honda might subsidize the loan through Honda Finance as a buyer
> incentive, but 5.35% from the credit union is outstanding. Lenders in
> today's paper are advertising 30-year home mortgages at 5.875 to
> 6.25%. When did car loans become lower risk than home loans?
>
> I usually pay cash for my cars but at these rates I might consider
> financing.

I never compared the car loans vs. home loans at the same time. Only looked
one up when I needed to. Credit unions normally have very good rates for
loans and such, vs. your traditional bank. For the 5.35%, you may be able
to get it a little lower if you do direct debit for the monthly car payment.

At the moment, I can pay cash for a new car as well - Matchbox, Hot Wheels,
etc... lol

-Dave

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> So you learn how not to play his game, how to turn the game to YOUR
> rules. Rule number 1: you have a max price you're willing to pay.

and NOT a monthly payment price. they LOVE to ask how much you can
afford a month they can rejigger the numbers to make just about any
monthly payment fit.

Jason wrote:
>
> Believe it or not, some (if not all) of the Honda cars sold in California
> were built in Japan. I have a 1999 Accord and I found out that it was
> built in Japan. One poster told me that it was less expensive to import
> them from Japan than it was to transport them on trucks from Ohio. The

not necessarily. is yours an accord EX? theres more margin on the
expensive models, so theyre more likely to import em and have ohio make
the "cheaper" models.

< Wow, you had a $20,500 trade-in on a Civic? What was left to
finance?

The loan was payed in full and the remaining was applied to the new
car.

> Wow, you had a $20,500 trade-in on a Civic? What was left to finance?

The loan was payed in full and the remaining was applied to the new
car.

Carmax is a joke. Their offer was only 50% of the kbb trade-in on my
parent's car. They ended up getting three times that amount in an
insurance settlement, after it was totalled in an accident.

On 27 Nov 2005 20:17:39 -0800, "Tush Smells Bush Kills!!!!!!!!!!!"
> wrote:

>Carmax is a joke. Their offer was only 50% of the kbb trade-in on my
>parent's car. They ended up getting three times that amount in an
>insurance settlement, after it was totalled in an accident.

My only experience with them was helping a friend car shop. They were
low pressure and friendly, but their prices (both buying and selling)
were not competitive. If their no-haggle price was just an asking
price they might be in the ball park. i guess they have a lot of
overhead to pay for.

Still I can see why they might appeal to someone who is used to
getting raped in the car buying process.