DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Bought used car, dealership called back with better deal.

Bought a 2006 Chevy HHR last week.
Salesman called me today and said a bank made a offer with a better interest rate which of course would make my payments lower.

Sounds like a typical refinance, but I didn't try to get refinanced. They just called out of the blue. I am skeptical of car dealerships as I am always thinking they are out to rip me off. My salesman had no numbers for me, just told me to come down tomorrow and sign. I said tell me over the phone, he replied to talk to the finance guy.

Does this sound legit? I figured that once our contract was signed, a bank couldn't come with a better offer unless I applied for it?
What's your thoughts. Thanks.

And the more I think about it, he said it was a lower monthly payment, but didn't know the numbers. If he doesn't know the numbers, how does he know it's a better deal? He just said get down here tomorrow and sign.

Red flags are up.

Am I correct in assuming that you just purchased this vehicle?

If so, a dealership typically shops a loan to more than 1 bank, and might "spot deliver" a vehicle on their preferred lending source's contract. They might get better terms from another bank ...... including the dealership itself making more money ..... and have you re-sign on that new contract.

It is also possible in today's world that the initial bank may have turned down the loan for any of 100 different reasons, and you will have to sign papers for a different bank who did apporve the loan. As I understand from some friends still in the business, banks are making little sense on approvals right now.

Yes, we did purchase the vehicle. signed the contract with a good down payment.
I don't understand what you are saying that the initial bank might have turned down the loan. The papers are signed.

Maybe this is a legit thing with us getting a lower payment. But how does the dealership get more out of it? I can't see the dealership just calling me back out of the goodness of their hearts to help me out unless they have a piece of this. What is this piece? And is it good for me?

Just read up on spot delivery. This better not be the case.
I hope it's because of a better finance rate. If not, I see lawsuits coming if I can't get my down payment back. I will turn the car back in, no problem.

I hate to jump ahead here, but I am getting a little nervous.

Dealrships routinely deliver cars based on the credit report, and their experience with the banks to determine what terms wil be approved. With the current economic and banking circumstances, banks are definitely looking at loans a lot harder. It might be that the bank they signed papers with appoved the loan at different terms. It might be that they turned it down. It might be that another bank sent out a rate sheet the next day and had a much better rate and they decided to offer you that rate. It might also be that the dealership will make more money with a different bank while also getting you a better deal. (Dealerships get paid for handling the financing and signing contracts for banks) If you get a better rate and terms, who cares if the dealership gets a little more? You still benefit.

I think that you're jumping the gun a bit getting all bent out of shape. When I sold cars, I re-signed countless bank contracts. Sometimes we would get an approval from a bank we never expected to happen ... with better terms and conditions for the customer. We were in business to not only sell a car today, but to sell cars to "this" customer's family and friends ..... as well as selling them their next car. Sometimes it really is just that simple.

Do you need a brown paper bag to breath into Calm down and take a deep breath. Was the car a spot delivery? If it was you would have signed a spot delivery form with all of your paperwork, and it should have been explained to you. If it was not the finance person could have made a mistake on the rate (yes it does happen once in a while ) It is also possible that the bank rates changed on the day you took delivery and the finance person had not received the new rates yet. I know I enjoy calling somebody and telling them "Guess what your payment is going to be less than you thought, and all we need to do is get a new contract signed"

My experience has been when the finance person called and told me the samething, when I got there to look at the paperwork the interest was lower the paymnet was lower but the finance charge from the bank was higher considerably higher. Oh and they added 12 more months onto the loan agreement, and it was from a different credit union. Now I have financed through Ford credit and received a call back that Ford credit lowered my terms with no additional finance charge and was pretty happy with that. Both of these situations was with brand new cars. The first one was no money down the second was with about 35% down.

There is only one way to find out... go to the dealer,, look at what they are offering.. if it's truly a better deal, thank them, sign the papers and drive home. If not, thank them, then decline the offer and move on.

Pretty simple

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Or he could just call the finance guy, so that if it's BS, he didn't waste a trip.

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I'd wanna look at thier eyes... but that's just me I guess. also, I would think there is a high probability that finance guy is the one that told the salesman to call him into the dealership in the first place..

I'd go and sit with them,, make them show me in black and white that the Rate is lower, the term is the same or lower and there are no hidden fees...

If he can go there, not take a dime out of his pocket, get a lesser payment, not change the term of the loan by one day.. what the hell,, do the freakin deal.

Good news!
They cut 3 months off of my term and saved me 50 bucks per month off of my payments.

I am thankful for this, but with me being paranoid, when I studied the drop info on the internet it was shaping up to be this scam. We had the car for five days and they called with this info. I went in, they said the original bank deal fell through, I'm thinking here we go. They are gonna hit me with crazy numbers or turn the car in. Thankfully that wasn't the case, but it sure seemed to be looking that way.

I told the finance guy that because of the fred martins of the world, people are paranoid about getting ripped off. And all dealerships get lumped together.

We are very happy and I give props to VanDevere. This will be the only place I ever will buy a car from again.