Like the title says, I have been visiting a few dealers in NY/PA/CT areas and experienced something very frustrating.

Background:
I am looking to purchase a pre-owned Lexus 2015 GS350 AWD or also pre-owned 2015 Infiniti Q50 AWD (I know two very different cars, but I am willing to pay a higher price for Lexus) and have visited multiple dealers in the area to test drive and talk about the numbers.

Situation 1 @ Infinity
The dealer and I agreed on the number ($21K OTD). No financing or anything was discussed at this point. As soon as I told them I would pay down payment/deposit of $10K cash NOW and have my credit union (they offer extremely competitive rate @ less than 2% for 36 months) send them a check/fund, a process of which could take 3-5 days to close. I told them I will be back in 3-5 days or whenever the dealership has received the fund to pick up the car, yet they would not let me do it.

They insist that I take the car on the same day...and I told them my bank/credit union will not be able to wire money today because they need a purchase order from you, etc., and I reiterated my plan to (1) put $10K down payment TODAY, (2) have my CU send them a check and (3) come back and pick up the car later.

In the end, the dealer suggested (1) I go through their financing since it's approved within 20-30mins (of course @ a much higher rate...) and (2) leave my current/old car with them and take the infiniti with me TODAY. I thought their suggestions were total BS and I ran away fast.

Situation 2 @ Lexus
The dealer and I agreed on the number ($25K OTD). Again, no financing or anything was discussed at this point. I was willing to put down $10K cash NOW and have my credit union send them a check/fund, once again a process of which could take 3-5 days to close. I told them I will be back in 3-5 days or whenever the dealership has received the fund to pick up the car, yet they would not let me do it.

They were shooting the same crap at me, insisting that I take the car on the same day. They were more flexible though, in that they were willing to give me until January 31 to come back and pick up the car. I know instantly that the only way I can make it happen is I (1) use their financing option and (2) take a day off from work to pick up the car. Can I do it? Absolutely! Am I willing to do it? Hell NO!

In both cases, some of you might think I should just pay cash all the way and be done with it. I do have enough capital to pay everything, but I need to finance a car as I am looking to add more varieties to my debt portfolio (e.g., I only have revolving credit line) which I am hoping to leverage when I buy a condo in 2-3 years.

Anyway, why do they NOT want to hold a car for me even if I suggest $10K cash deposit? We are not talking about a month, we are talking about 5 - 7 days needed to put all paper work in check.

 

 

Makes sense, but GS350 has been sitting in the lot for more than 60 days (Carfax shows "offered for sale" in Novemeber)...if I were them, I'd be MUCH MUCH happier to get rid of it instead of having to deal with additional customers?

 

 

Both may also be pressuring you due to end of month sales metrics timing to get a sale fully completed.

You should be able to have the CU turnaround in a day, maybe even use that to your advantage if you can "if I get this pulled off by end of month, can you do another $500 off"? Or take their financing with an added discount on price for the differential with your CU loan vs theirs.

 

Brilliant idea. Obviously, I've never financed anything but I am learning a lot here! Thank you DaveGS4!

 

I could but am not going to as I am financing a car to boost up my credit score within next 2-3 years to buy property.

I was even thinking about paying 90% cash and 10% finance, but I'd rather use my equity to earn some return (even savings account now offer 2.4%) so decided against it.

 

A couple thoughts on this, until the LS430 that I got in 10/16 for which I paid cash, I did finance 3 cars. And believe it or not, I had the same experience as you did, with one exception.

I'll name them--my financing is going to be through Navy or PenFed. Why? Because at least 5+ years ago, new, used, etc., same rate. And at least 2% lower than non CU online. We can get into how it's unfair how they compete etc. but as consumers we want to pay less interest, not more.

For the BMW. This car was ordered, so all they gave me was an allocation number, and they took a credit card deposit for $500. This did make me nervous because I was borrowing around $15k and it did matter what the rate was--they told me don't worry, whatever your credit union is, we'll match it we have over 20 lenders we work with. It was true in the end, they assigned me to Bank of America at the same rate as the credit union, and a rate that was 2% lower than what BAC had online.

On my wife's GM SUV--PenFed actually had checks they mailed without even having applied for any loan, which you can make out to the dealer (Capital One did the very same). THE DEALER STATED THEY WOULD NOT ACCEPT IT. They stated, however, they will match any rate the CU offers. Again it was like 1.49% and they assigned us to a local credit union, and they even charged us $5 more, which went into a savings account at that credit union, to become a member. Going online, there was no such rate at that CU, it was 3% higher.

So yes, in my limited experience, the dealers did not want me to use my own CU. However, they matched the rates, which they could easily look up online.

When shopping Infiniti, I did feel they played hardball, which meant I did not want one. But not Lexus, they have over the top customer service, but at the same time, over the top prices, especially for maintenance.

 

Nothing you stated seems unreasonable or unusual.

A couple points to note:

• Dealerships (Lexus, Infiniti, MB, etc.) are mostly all franchised organizations and those organizations have policies in selling that vary greatly. Even though the brand might be "Lexus", it's the company, ABC Automotive (for example) that sets the guidelines.
• As another member pointed out, 5-7 days can be a long time to an organization looking to move vehicles quickly - every day a vehicle is on a lot is potentially money lost
• In addition, if you leave, then decide you don't want the vehicle or your bank decides not to honor the loan - the dealership has incurred the expense of going through the process, and at the end, has no sale. Yes, it's the cost of doing business, but also areas dealership look to mitigate, if they can

One idea I might consider, being in your shoes, would be to take their financing and take ownership of the vehicle same day, then go down to your bank and refinance the vehicle at the lower rate (if available).

Either way, both sound like great vehicles, and hope you find a resolution to your situation!

 

This is the ONLY way your CU will operate? Last time I financed, my insurance company approved me up to $XX, and sent me the loan papers that I could walk into the dealer with, and fill in the final amount at my purchase. With the papers in hand, the dealer can't bait and switch on the rate--they can match it or beat it, and if I went with the dealer financing, I called my ins. co and canceled.

 

That's what we got in the mail (but this was 2011-2014, haven't seen such mailers recently), both from the CU, and Capital One, and we never even applied for anything (can you imagine the impulse buys they may have prompted). Maybe that's not done anymore, who knows. Dealer told me they would not accept it but would match any rate that paper represented....

 

 

 

It would be as you say if the OP wrote a personal check for the full amount. Or, presented a cashiers check for the full amount. Some monies is coming from a lender.

In our case the BMW dealer wanted a cashiers check, the GM dealer accepted a personal check (which I found very odd as it was for over $30k, but the finance mgr. said we know where to find you lol)--both these dealers financed through their own lenders and did not want my CU.

 

see if your cu can provide you with a blank check of some sort.