duquephart

And that, folks, is the sad truth of it. Several hundred potential buyers come of age every hour. What do they need you for?

Honda, Toyota, Mazda were all OK. Then I drove a Acura.

Switch?

They lie to you, straight to your face, and you're worried about messing up your relationship?

"it had some miles on it" Also known as "used."

"the dealer gave me $6k" ----- 12% from the dealer is great shakes? Everything else you would have gotten anywhere. Did you shop the deal?

Sorry. Knew it was FCA. Still think a full tank is standard, especially if new. Anything on the window sticker?

I thought a full tank is standard. Might want to check with GM.

And they wonder why folks think they're complete slimeballs.

Indeed. They "sell" the loan and get a spiff of some sort. Every kid on the corner knows that. It's in their interest for you to keep the loan and hence their interest in you doing so. But, as I said, they have nothing to do with the nuts and bolts of the loan.

Dealerships don't impose anything, they just arrange the loan.

Should be from the date titled. Better get to the bottom of this.

They set the hook with the rebate/incentive. Skinning you alive with the interest rate comes later.

Guy I spoke said there is a minimum loan amount and a minimum number of payments to retain the rebate - if paid off early the rebate is charged back to the balance. Presumably this would all be detailed in the paperwork. This came from a salesman so probably questionable info at best.

Why not cash in on a free $1500?

Getting a good rate is not the ultimate goal. Getting an additional $1500 discount and then getting a good rate, through refinancing, is the goal.

Did they explain why they'd like you to make 3 payments? 3 payments seems clearly to be the demarcation line. If I was sitting across from a dealer and he was candid enough to outline the scenario and ask me to comply I'd probably be impressed with his honesty and actually give it some thought. For about 28 seconds on my way to my bank.

You have located one of the "dirtball" dealers I referred to.

The dealer gets his spiff for selling the loan once the loan has been in force for three months. And not until. You refinance immediately they lose out. That's why they take steps to convince you not to refinance until that much time has elapsed.

Call them out. Complete and utter nonsense.

The down payment assistance didn't come from the dealer. Was it a GM document? Sounds like a steaming pile of turtle shit to me. Getting "a good price on the truck" is no reason to roll over.

There is such a thing as dealers who will not allow a test drive until a credit ap is filled out. I know there are "good" dealers out there but there are clearly a lot of dirt balls as well. Researching dealers is just as important as researching vehicles. My advice to anyone is to spend the first couple days of a car-buying journey no more than a few inches away from your keyboard.

Why wait two months?

And there you have it.

It is amazing that this needs to be brought up time after time on boards as sophisticated as this. The first, foremost, cardinal, etc. rule in price negotiations at a car dealer is to keep all transactions separate. The phrase "we'll talk about step two (three, four, etc.) after we complete step one" is your best friend. Within fifteen minutes of arriving at a dealership the salesman knows way too much about the typical dope: what he wants, what he is trading, what his ideal payment is, his time frame, etc. Don't be that guy. This is called "qualifying" and is standard procedure ----- they are way better at selling than you are at buying so you need to eliminate as much of their advantage as possible.