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Anyone happen to know if providing a larger down-payment will get you a lower interest rate with Honda Financial? I suppose I could simply call them and ask, but I'd prefer to not show my hand this early in the game.
HFS: Bigger down payment = better interest rate?
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http://automobiles.honda.com/current-offers.aspx
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Special APR offer from February 13, 2012 through February 29, 2012, to well qualified buyers on approved credit by Honda Financial Services through participating dealers. Must take new retail delivery on vehicle from dealer stock by February 29, 2012. Not all buyers may qualify. Higher rates apply for buyers with lower credit ratings. Example for 2012 Civic Si Coupe 6 Speed Manual High Performance Tires and Navigation: 0.9% for 24 months financing at $42.06 a month for every $1,000.00 financed. Dealers set actual prices. See your Honda dealer for details.
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to my knowledge, the apr is not altered based on the amount financed at the dealership. I'd call a local credit union and see what their rates are.
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Special APR offer from February 13, 2012 through February 29, 2012, to well qualified buyers on approved credit by Honda Financial Services through participating dealers. Must take new retail delivery on vehicle from dealer stock by February 29, 2012. Not all buyers may qualify. Higher rates apply for buyers with lower credit ratings. Example for 2012 Civic Si Coupe 6 Speed Manual High Performance Tires and Navigation: 0.9% for 24 months financing at $42.06 a month for every $1,000.00 financed. Dealers set actual prices. See your Honda dealer for details.
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to my knowledge, the apr is not altered based on the amount financed at the dealership. I'd call a local credit union and see what their rates are.
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Yeah, I guess I was just curious if anyone knew definitely. Honda's online payment estimator doesn't factor in down-payments in the interest rate. They basically make you fill in your own percentage...like as if you had a choice over it.
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any time I've heard someone say they couldn't get the advertised rate or whatever... it was purely based on their credit score.
http://www.kbb.com/car-loans-and-financing/#calculator
you can play with figures/rates/amount down here
http://www.kbb.com/car-loans-and-financing/#calculator
you can play with figures/rates/amount down here
MissE
Well-Known Member
Ok, not sure if US is the same as Canada but assuming it is, here is what my dealership told me when I bought mine in January... your downpayment amount is irrelevant, but the length of your payment terms will increase or decrease your interest rate. For example, when I bought mine I agreed to a 3 year payment plan and my interest rate was 0.99% (same rate was offered for 1-3 years), if I had gone with a 4 year payment it was going to be 1.99%, and a 5 year was 2.99% (basically a 1% increase for each year added on).
That said, these advertised rates were based on Honda financing approval with an assumed good or better credit score (like Webby said). If you have a poor credit score it can impact you negatively and they may offer you a higher interest rate than their current base rate, but you'll likely never get a better than advertised interest rate just because you put more money down. I paid for approximately 75% of my purchase price in cash the day I picked up my car and still there was no negotiating on the interest rate (it was a pretty kick-a$$ rate to begin with so I didn't exactly raise a fuss but a flat 0% would have been lovely).
That said, these advertised rates were based on Honda financing approval with an assumed good or better credit score (like Webby said). If you have a poor credit score it can impact you negatively and they may offer you a higher interest rate than their current base rate, but you'll likely never get a better than advertised interest rate just because you put more money down. I paid for approximately 75% of my purchase price in cash the day I picked up my car and still there was no negotiating on the interest rate (it was a pretty kick-a$$ rate to begin with so I didn't exactly raise a fuss but a flat 0% would have been lovely).
KennyGS
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I would think that 0.9% is about the best anyone can hope to get from Honda at this time.
wanga
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3rd finance contract from HFS, down payment does NOT affect interest, it may affect you getting approved or not, it will also affect your monthly payments.
0.9% is great if you have good credit OR have good history with honda, my credit is terrible but they gave me 1.9% because this is my 3rd finance through them
0.9% is great if you have good credit OR have good history with honda, my credit is terrible but they gave me 1.9% because this is my 3rd finance through them
MissE
Well-Known Member
That's why I didn't bother attempting to negotiate... but even if it had been at a higher % they wouldn't have budged just because I had a large downpayment. They said the only factor in decreasing it was to shorten the length of the payment term so I took the 3 year rather than 4 or 5. It made for easy to manage payments and my total interest to be paid over the next 3 years is only around $132 total, which is pretty darn cheap.
TeeEyeVany
Well-Known Member
I bought my car in September... and interest rates through Honda Canada on the Civics were 2.99% but they had a special on where they gave everyone 1% off....When I went to purchase my 2012 SI I put a downpayment down of $20,000 and financed the remained $11,000ish....they never gave me any deal or anything except for a financing rate of 1.99% over 5 years (which everyone got anyway)