CharlieBRLa

I'm curious how financing works when you order a car like the C8 that may take six months or more to receive. Typically when I go to the dealer to buy a new car from their existing inventory, I can get prequalified in advance through my bank. That prequalification is good for 60-90 days in most cases. I don't want to get prequalified too soon then it expires before I am ready to use it.

For those of you who have ordered a new car and financed it, how does that process work? Do you complete financing when you order, when you take delivery, or some other time in between?

harley2

Some time in between!
You'll know in plenty of time when to pay for car.
In todays world you can get immediate approval with good credit.

onyx_z71

Your dealer can tell you when your order gets accepted for production and you will probably get a target build week at that time.

When I was waiting for my C7 order, I searched for the best rates and I had no intention to use the dealer for financing. When they found that out, the dealer's finance person told their bank that 1.99%/72 was my bank's rate. Dealer's bank came back with 1.6%/72 to get my business.

Cenzoooo

I don't know if you have CNBC, but there markets have been confused for the last couple of weeks. Good luck trying to predict an interest rate for next June... I mean haven;t you heard about the inverted yield curve?!? The President just called the Fed Chair a bigger enemy than Xi!
You might as well buy your Vette in Bitcoin if you are trying to clock next year's interest rates.

Cenzoooo

I'm sorry, I should have answered the OP better.
If you order a car, the programs are whatever is available when you take delivery, not make the order. I ordered my last car 6 months in advance, and didn't know what the lease program would be until it arrived.

HooosierDaddy

unless rates are stupidly low I'm paying cash for whatever I get.

direct007

I had the same question when I ordered my first new Vette in 2015. My concern was not knowing if I would be approved for the amount and the interest rate. I had visions of the car arriving and then not being able to finance it at a competitive rate.

Here were the steps taken:
1. Leave deposit when the car was ordered.

2. I checked my automotive FICO scores with each of the big 3 credit bureaus before ordering so I had a good idea where it would be when the car arrived 5 weeks later. (in the case of the C8, it could be 9 months later but as long as you don't have anything drastic going on like maxing out your credit cards or having a late pay show up and you keep your credit cards paid, there shouldn't be any large variance in scores).

3. I gave my scores to the dealer to make sure the lowest rate financing shouldn't be an issue before ordering. Obviously, income should be sufficient to support the loan amount.

4. When the car arrived at the dealership for delivery to me, they submitted the financing app and everything was done on the spot the day of delivery.

If there is anything unusual about your financial or credit situation, discuss it with the finance manager before ordering. Nothing worse than a surprise when your brand new car is about to be delivered.

Also, find out what the lowest rate the dealership can offer you ahead of time. I see people on this forum getting all worked up over the amount a dealer charges for a car, doc fees and other dealer add-ons but nobody ever brings up the fact that interest rate discrepancies between different dealers, banks and credit unions can add thousands of dollars in payments over the life of the loan.

Dealer A charges a $489 doc fee and offers the C8 at list price and can get you financed at 2.89% interest for up to 72 months.

Dealer B charges 0 doc fee and offers the C8 at list price but can only get you financed at 4.99% interest for a 72 month loan.

You saved the $489 doc fee but paid over $5500 more in interest on the loan. Now which dealer really had the better deal?

Same deal for trade-ins. One dealer offers you $3000 more for your car but you get reamed on the back end with the finance rate.

Better to do your homework ahead of time and look at the overall big picture rather than wait for the day of delivery. Just google a car loan amortization calculator and look at the difference between paying 2.89% interest vs 3.99% interest (or higher) and you may be quite surprised at how much more you will pay over the course of the loan.

SladeX

Approval should be same day, if not the same hour you say you want financing.

air86

You won't need financing until your car is ready to be picked up. Anything can happen between then and now. My suggestion would be to look at financing after you receive word that your car is being built. No sense on doing it now. Rates will change etc..

Darknight21

thanks this very helpful as I'm in the same boat, for your step 3 did they actually run your credit at that time or did they sort of guess based off past experiences?

direct007

They offered to run credit ahead of time but I wanted the least amount of hard credit inquiries necessary. So I asked them based on my True FICO 8 automotive scores. (It's also important to know the FICO scoring model a lender uses as if you just run your credit using Credit Karma or one of the other "FAKO" scoring models, it's meaningless).

Some dealers will skirt around the question or won't give you a straight answer and to me that's a sign they will be playing games with the finance rates. A good, honest experienced finance manager will know the range of scores needed for "A" tier approval (best rate available), the credit bureau used and the FICO scoring model used by any particular lender. Unless you have something unusual reporting on your credit or a thin credit file, their estimate should be about right.

Darknight21

Thanks, i'll be dealing with Kerbeck, from what everyone is saying on the Forum i shouldn't run into any problems with them.

CharlieBRLa

I appreciate the details, very helpful! I spoke to my dealer after I posted and he said that once the order goes to 4150 status, he would let me know because it is only a week or two away from delivery at that point. The VIN is also generated at this time so I'll be able to use that for insurance quotes and financing.

direct007

Kerbeck is excellent. As long as your credit score is solid, they will get you financed at one of the lowest rates available...ANYWHERE!

Phil1098

The whole thing is based on your score. If you're a 800+ you don't even need to ask the question (you're dipped in gold), if you're a 450, you're not getting a loaf of bread on credit. I would use creditkarma and get your score. I guess if you land in the middle I would go talk to a bank before placing an order, not for preapproval, but just their thoughts. If you want to lock in on a rate you should go when the dealer calls you and says he has a VIN. (car is built)

ATC399

If the White House Occupant gets his way they will be low.

golddog

Take care of financing when you take delivery. You can pre-qualify about a month before you are scheduled to have the car delivered. I run a credit union and we only allow a pre-qualification to last 30 days. People can easily screw up their credit and debt ratio with an additonal 60 or 90 days.

FringbirdAloha

Wow, how terrible. Low interest rates.

RapidC84B

I'm doing museum delivery and financing half the cost of the car. I was told I can't finance until I have a VIN. I have a CU that I have used for my wife's last 2 CPO Mercedes, but I've never bought a brand new car or custom ordered one.

pkincy

Maybe in a year we will have negative rates like many places in Europe. Why pay cash if you can get a loan at -1%/year. Let the bank pay you to use their cash.