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Edited on Thu Jan-10-08 09:45 AM by LynneSin
You can do 2 things
First - you can get 'pre-approved' for the car loan up to a certain amount. Second is you can pick the car out of your choosing and then put a deposit on it - deal with the paperwork monday.
Here's the thing - the dealership will still want to make a deal to get you a better rate and if they can, go for it. Most of the time dealerships are also working thru various banks; a few times thru the car manufactuerer (Like GMAC).
If you walk in to the dealership and tell them you are pre-approved say at 6% interest then there's a good chance they'll come back with something even lower. So it behooves you to have that available negotiating power for interest. CU aren't necessarily the by-all end-all of cheap loans.
BTW, if you bring the pre-approved letter the CU is going to want an idea of what you're buying (Brand New, pre-cert, used) and therefore might have some conditions (they aren't going to want to finance a car that has 200,000 miles on it or is 10 years old unless this happens to be a straight loan, not car loan). The CU will then say that you are approved up to a certain amount and may provide rates varying on what type of car you are buying (not model - but back to the New, Used etc. etc.). You will have to go back to the credit union after you buy the car to finalize the loan application. Just because you get pre-approved for say $25k means that you have to buy $25k worth of car.
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