Purchasing New Car

Idnar7

Recycles dryer sheets
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Apr 21, 2008
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DW wants to purchase probably our last new car. We can pay cash, but are wondering if there is a financial benefit to doing so. Will dealers discount and all cash purchase or would they rather place a loan? We could take a loan and then pay it off after a couple payments. We have always financed cars before, but the last purchase we put 10k down. Wife thinks she wants a Kia Telluride, so any comments on that would be welcome also. TIA
 
I should have added I am 73 DW is 71 and she does 80% of the driving. Our 2nd car is a 2014 GMC Terrain with about 35k miles on it. We also have a 2005 Mitsubishi Endeavor that we will probably junk or ask them to take it off our hands. It is no longer safe to drive (shakes terribly once you hit 40 mph). Our mechanic couldn't find the problem.
 
On our two most recent vehicle purchases we originally intended to pay cash. Then the dealers offered a discount of several hundred dollars (don't recall the exact amounts) if we financed through the dealer.

There was a minimum amount that had to be financed - I think about $10,000 for the last vehicle. Once we made three monthly payments we could pay off the loan with no penalty.

The discount was much more than three months worth of interest we paid on the loan.
 
Typically you can negotiate a lower price by financing a portion, then pay it off when the first payment is due. If you choose to pay cash, don’t tell them. Work to negotiate an out the door price. Ignore the fees they try to push on you. If it’s taxable it’s negotiable.
 
In the past 20+ years I've always paid cash in full... Did I get a better price? Heck if I know. My latest (last month) was a new top of the line, full size 4x4 pick-up truck. In this case my trade was worth almost 10k more than the truck so they paid me the difference. :)



I don't know a lot of KIA's but I have read good things... Have actually considered them myself.
 
Can’t over emphasize to negotiate an OTD price first. If they want to offer an additional discount for financing it should be off the negotiated price. Secondly, the Telluride is in high demand and it took me a couple months to find one without all the dealer add ons and markups. Bay Area dealers in California all want $5-$10k above MSRP, with no interest in negotiating it down.

Ended up finding one in Irvine at $3.5k under MSRP. They tried some of the add ons but I held firm and got the car at my price before flying down to get it. Love the car so far. I usually buy used but the prices for used Tellurides were very strong, not losing much off the price of new.

Good luck.
 
I've always negotiated the price first, and then only consider financing if the rate is zero and there's of course no penalty for early payment. I usually demure and say something vague, and never show my cards.
 
Might look into recent litigation against Kia and Hyundai for failing to install anti theft vehicle disabling devices.
 
Might look into recent litigation against Kia and Hyundai for failing to install anti theft vehicle disabling devices.


I am a Kia owner, and in March Kia notified me of a software upgrade they are making available to address the situation - it disables the ignition in case of an attempt to star the vehicle without a key.
 
The last time I bought a new car I planned to pay cash. Then I found out that the manufacturer was offering no interest loan.

The dealer could not offer me a discount for paying cash vs the interest free loan.

I took the 48 month loan. Why not? I was making 6 points, sometimes more, on the money that I would otherwise have used to pay cash for the car.
 
Might look into recent litigation against Kia and Hyundai for failing to install anti theft vehicle disabling devices.
Not a problem if buying new or buying an older one with push button start. The problem is with older Kia/Hyundai vehicles with key in ignition starting systems. Many of those don't have an immobilizer function. Dumb penny-wise pound-foolish decision on Hyundai's part.
 
Isn’t that limited to just a few models

You are correct, here is the list:

According to the list received by WWL-TV, the affected Hyundai and Kia models are as follows:

2015-2021 Hyundai Accent (all body styles)
2015-2021 Hyundai Elantra (two-door and four-door)
2015-2021 Hyundai Kona
2015-2021 Hyundai Santa Fe
2015-2021 Hyundai Tucson
2015-2018 Hyundai Veloster
2015-2021 Kia Forte
2015-2021 Kia Optima
2015-2016 Kia Optima Hybrid
2015-2021 Kia Rio (all body styles)
2015-2021 Kia Sedona
2015-2016 Kia Sorento
2015-2021 Kia Soul
2015-2021 Kia Sportage
 
I paid cash for my last new car a 2019 VW Golf Alltrack. Wanted to put it all on the credit card for the cash back points. The dealership would only allow $5k on CC.
 
Generally the dealers don't want your dirty ol' cash or check. They want you to finance it so if you're going to pay cash don't let them know until the end. As others said get the out the door price first, then discuss financing (if any) and trade-in (if any). Those are three separate transactions and should be treated as such.

Our last car we intended to pay cash but the dealer wouldn't do the deal if we didn't finance, then his next sentence was "There's no penalty for prepayment" so that's what we did. I suspect he had some contract with Honda Finance that required it, so okay, we still saved several grand (this was well pre-covid) after paying the $40 or so for one month's interest on it.
 
I am a Kia owner, and in March Kia notified me of a software upgrade they are making available to address the situation - it disables the ignition in case of an attempt to star the vehicle without a key.
Mine was updated a month ago. No cost & Dealership put stickers on both front doors advising the new system (guess they figure car thieves can read......). I also have a club steering wheel lock (bright neon yellow) that I use when parking overnight while on vacation. It can easily be seen from 6-8 feet away. Yes, updated ignition may be disabled, but did not want thieves to break my window to find out.
 
No financial incentive either way when I bought a new Tacoma a few months ago - same price cash or finance (and no low or 0% rate offered by Toyota at the time) so paid cash.

Previous Honda purchase years ago was also same price either way but Honda was offering 0% loans so I financed even though I had planned to pay cash. That was way back in 2007 - paid $22.5k for the Honda Element which I sold last weekend for $13.5k to someone willing to travel over 500 miles to buy it. They brought a stack of $100s to pay cash.
 
DW wants to purchase probably our last new car. We can pay cash, but are wondering if there is a financial benefit to doing so. Will dealers discount and all cash purchase or would they rather place a loan? We could take a loan and then pay it off after a couple payments. We have always financed cars before, but the last purchase we put 10k down. Wife thinks she wants a Kia Telluride, so any comments on that would be welcome also. TIA

About 3 years ago I helped my mom by a car. $700 discount if you used Hyundai financing. Paid it off 3 months later.
 
Be prepared for some sticker shock on most financing rates. We have pretty much perfect credit and the lowest we were offered was 7.99% no matter what terms we looked to finance. We will end up paying the vehicle off after a few months.
 
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Bought a new Mazda cx-50 2 months ago. No discount for cash. BUT if you financed at 0.9%, for 3 years, you got a $500 rebate. The rebate is more than the 3 year finance cost (so basically 0% financing), so I will just keep the loan and put it on autopay.
 
Not a fan of car loans for a few reasons.

One of the bigger PIA part is if you have a loan and you go to sell the car say 10 years from now after it's paid off you need to have the loan release or its not going to happen, at least in our state. So the best approach is if you had a loan that has been satisfied is to goto the DMV and get a new title with no lein (clear title). Either that or never loose the loan release.
 
Not a fan of car loans for a few reasons.

One of the bigger PIA part is if you have a loan and you go to sell the car say 10 years from now after it's paid off you need to have the loan release or its not going to happen, at least in our state. So the best approach is if you had a loan that has been satisfied is to goto the DMV and get a new title with no lein (clear title). Either that or never loose the loan release.

In NJ (not sure what the process is in other states), once your lien is paid, you get your title sent to you with the lien removed automatically.
 
I just blew some dough buying my daughter a car, a Hyundai Tuscon. For whatever reason, the dealers are really pushing the financing. I think they are getting incentives from the mfg or banks.

It really should make no difference, but it seems too.

The steps really shouldn't be different, negotiate the price for the car, then negotiate the financing. What you don't want to do is fall into the trap of "what do you want your payments to be" and they try to sell you a deal with 72 month financing.

In my case, we made the deal for the car, then I noticed 0% financing on TV. I'm in NJ, but bought the car in CO, where she lives. The financing was .09% there, so I made her apply for the loan, she was approved, and we set up auto pay out of my high interest savings account. I'll pick up an additional $4,500 in interest and she gets the benefit of the timely payments on her credit score.
 
DW wants to purchase probably our last new car. We can pay cash, but are wondering if there is a financial benefit to doing so. Will dealers discount and all cash purchase or would they rather place a loan? We could take a loan and then pay it off after a couple payments. We have always financed cars before, but the last purchase we put 10k down. Wife thinks she wants a Kia Telluride, so any comments on that would be welcome also. TIA

I had friend who at about age 70 bought a new truck. He told everyone "This'll be my last truck, so I wanted it nice. I got all the bells and whistles." 5 years later, he decided the "new" truck wasn't quite what he wanted, so he bought another new truck. "This'll be my last truck, etc., etc." Friend just died at 87. He was on his THIRD new truck.

Good luck with your new vehicle. Just don't be surprised if it's NOT your last new car! ENJOY!:)
 

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