That's what happened to me. Came in with a pre-approval through Cap-one and left with something like .5% better through Wells Fargo. I'm happy, the dealership is happy, I assume the bank is happy.

Cap-one's online portal is miles better than Wells', but Wells has actual locations, so it'll be easier when it comes time to sell if I decide to sell privately.

I have Citizen's banks near me, so paying off a loan was "simple" but the process to get the title is horrid as it comes from a main "documentation warehouse" and they won't send it with signature required (mine was lost in the mail as so much of my mail is due to complete ineptitude by the local post office).

The note on my 5th gen was with Wells Fargo. For the first few years they did the reduce your next payment thing. Which I still made the full payment plus 50. Then they switched it to applying to principal. Either way I was still on pace to pay off a year early.

All auto loans are no prepay penalty as far as I know. They are amoratized, so you pay more interest up front. They use a per diem, interest per day, which reduces as your loan matures.

I have literally never had this happen.

Just as a point of reference... While awaiting for delivery of my Camaro in a few weeks, I was pre-approved through my credit union at 1.99% APR for 60-month... If I wanted, 2.49% was available for 72-month.

No penalty or fee for paying off early.

Curious if the dealer will try to beat it.

They would happily run your credit against various other lenders. Here's the rub:

Your rates are already very good. Running your credit again will hit your credit report and drop your score slightly. And, unless the specific lender that they are trying to get better options from is willing to negotiate, they likely don't have much chance of beating it.

There are a few lenders that will actively negotiate terms, but many will not. So, you'd probably be best suited to make sure you know your actual credit score and talk very frankly with the finance person to understand whether or not there is actually a chance that they can get you better financing.

I've bought around 60 cars in my time since 1989 and with good credit, you can often get a better rate from one of the dealer's lenders than your own. I've gone back and forth with Navy Federal as well as dealer lenders.

Similar here to the point that I simply stopped checking with local lenders. I've only ever secured a loan outside of a dealer one time because I could get better rates on my own.

If you have excellent credit, the dealer will typically be able to get you rates that are "at least as good" as you can get on your own. The rates mentioned a couple of posts ago, though, are pretty good for the current market. So, a solid conversation with the dealer prior to allowing them run your credit makes sense. I did this sort of thing when I bought my Camaro this year to ensure that the dealership understood that I was looking for a very aggressive rate. They came back with two lenders that were close to each other. I wanted to use the lender with the higher rate and asked them about negotiating the rate down to at least match the other lender. The lender in question doesn't negotiate, so they lost my business over what amounted to a few hundred dollars over the life of the loan.

The real loser in that situation was me, though, as my loan is now being service by a lender that I hate. lol

1.9 on new cars thru my credit union. I have it preapproved when I'm shopping and no one has beaten it yet. We shall see again next year when hopefully my 1LE comes in since I plan to order late Dec./early Jan.

What credit union? clearly you're a prime customer.... its hard to believe a bank or CU would buy that low on a new car unless theres substantial trade in equity and or deep customer contribution.

Not the absolute best new rates but I really like Provident credit Union. They occasionally allow you to skip a payment without penalty. More importantly, the rates are the same for new OR used.

Trade-in equity will have little to no bearing as lenders don't care about that. They care about loan to value and your credit score. As long as the item being used to secure the loan is genuinely worth the value of the loan and you're a good credit risk, they would be dumb NOT to write the loan.

The other thing is that many of the lowest rates out there are shorter terms. 36, 42, 48 month terms are common for the lowest rates with steps up increasing the rate simply because the longer term still lowers the payment and the consumer will take it.

These are the terms for the 2016 Mustang GT I purchased and it’s with my bank Capital One. I put $1,500 down. If you’re wondering, true story, $27,4xx, under $30k out the door, brand new.

I couldn’t find better nor could the dealer that year, including their attempt with Capital One through their finance department. It does happen but is not the norm.

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Suncoast Credit Union (a Florida bank) 2.0% for up to 72 months. Hopefully if/when my 2021 2SS 1LE is ever built and delivered, might get lucky with a 0% and $500 cash back that GM sometimes offers.