Financing rebate - have to pay 4 payments?

[shishka]

Bought a 2025 Ram 1500 last month. Financed about 20k to get the $1,500 financing rebate through Stellantis. I was told by the dealership I have to make 4 payments before I can pay it off in full or refinance, otherwise they can take the rebate back. I see no documentation of this anywhere online. My loan documents have no mention of this anywhere, and it says there is no prepayment penalty.
Safe to assume the dealership is just lying? Should I have any hesitation to pay it off?
Thanks.

 

[mikeru82]

They’re lying to you. They want the interest for four months. If there is no language in the paperwork about a waiting period I’d just pay it off now to avoid the interest payment.

I’d also find another dealership for your next vehicle purchase as well. Just my opinion on that but I won’t work with a dealership that plays games like that.

 

[MarkTTU]

I can’t speak to how Stellantis works behind the scenes, but for others (Ford and GM I know for sure) the dealership will get a chargeback for the rebate if a customer doesn’t hold the loan for at least X months. So there may not be anything that holds you directly accountable, but it’s likely the dealership would be and if they told you if you don’t make at least 4 payments then I’d bet that’s the magic number for them to not get the chargeback. I’d just make the 4 payments. Even if you can legally get away with sticking your dealership with eating the rebate cost is the interest you’d save really worth nuking the relationship with your dealer over it?

 

[Dewey]

Last 3 trucks my dealer said 6 months but I paid them off in 4 months or less and nobody ever said anything.

 

[Jako]

Bought a 2025 Ram 1500 last month. Financed about 20k to get the $1,500 financing rebate through Stellantis. I was told by the dealership I have to make 4 payments before I can pay it off in full or refinance, otherwise they can take the rebate back. I see no documentation of this anywhere online. My loan documents have no mention of this anywhere, and it says there is no prepayment penalty.
Safe to assume the dealership is just lying? Should I have any hesitation to pay it off?
Thanks.

Attached is an amortization schedule calculator. You can plug in your loan amount and interest rate and it will show how much interest and principal is paid each month. Add The 1st 4 months interest and that is how much your $1500 rebate is reduced.

An example:
20K at 7% for 60 months works out to $456 in interest in the 1st 4 months.

Auto Loan Amortization Calculator

Use this car loan calculator to estimate your monthly payments and check amortization schedule, also see how factors like trade-in value and sales tax affect payments.

www.amortization-calc.com

 

[scottmoyer]

The issue is 100% affecting the dealership's benefit. They get additional rebates by the manufacturer based on the number of vehicles sold and the number of vehicles that they can get financed. They sell you on the rebate if financed because they want that extra amount from Stellantis. The 3 or 4 months is probably how long it takes to gather all numbers and to process accounting records. The dealership will never know who paid the car off and who didn't. They just get a blanket check for all transactions that happened that month.

 

[Lungs414]

I did this in 2020. I paid it off as soon as I got home from picking up the truck. Never heard a word from anyone. Although I was a little worried about it.

 

[DEG]

I think they teach this lie at car salesman school. All that matters is the terms that were listed on the paperwork you signed and I've never seen and auto loan that you could not pay off immediately without penalty.

This is one of several stunts that dealers will pull that will cause me to walk out the door and never return.

Another pet peeve that will immediately drive me out the door is when they add $100 worth of "dealer installed" options then add several thousand to the sticker price. As soon as I see this on the window sticker, I'm permanently done with this dealer.

Another stunt some dealers pull is they try to hold your drivers license hostage to keep you in the building as long as possible. They take it to make a copy before a test drive then don't return it and pretend like it's OK, you'll get it back later. I will not take a test drive or talk about buying a car as long as they control any property I own (e.g. drivers silence, car keys). If they need to take my car for appraisal, I will talk to them as soon as they place the keys back in my hand.

 

[1791]

that's why they call them STEALERSHIPS
I'll never buy a new car again. the best deal i got was on a 18 month old chrysler product with 15k mi on it. i paid half original MSRP. but i guess that don't really happen with trucks nowadays.

 

[shishka]

Thanks all. I figured it was just slimy sales tactics. I’ll just pay it off and not worry about it.

 

[notrascal]

If you refi before 3 months, the finance company will take back their commission for the finance contract. Nothing will effect you.

 

[millerbjm]

My sales manager explained it to me like this.

He lost money selling me the truck but wants the sales number and can make money on the financing. He makes a percentage of the amount financed but if it is paid off before 6 months he doesn't get that check. He recommended showed me how to reduce interest by making the 1st payment very large (no interest on 1st payment) and then 5 smaller payments- end result is only a couple hundred dollars in interest. He also said that folks who pay-off the financing prior to 6 payments are marked in the Stellantis Financial system and the dealer will not be able tonoffer SFS financing to them again for several years.

 

[DEG]

My sales manager explained it to me like this.

He lost money selling me the truck but wants the sales number and can make money on the financing. He makes a percentage of the amount financed but if it is paid off before 6 months he doesn't get that check. He recommended showed me how to reduce interest by making the 1st payment very large (no interest on 1st payment) and then 5 smaller payments- end result is only a couple hundred dollars in interest. He also said that folks who pay-off the financing prior to 6 payments are marked in the Stellantis Financial system and the dealer will not be able tonoffer SFS financing to them again for several years.

Sounds like another example of the fabricated stories car sales people tell customers. I seriously doubt Stellantis is flagging customers and denying loans because they didn't make 6 payments on their last loan. No sane loan officer would engage in such foolishness, but then Stellantis is in some financial trouble so maybe they are making these kinds of stupid decisions. People refinance loans all the time and just because someone refinances one time does not mean they will the next time.

 

[notrascal]

My sales manager explained it to me like this.

He lost money selling me the truck but wants the sales number and can make money on the financing. He makes a percentage of the amount financed but if it is paid off before 6 months he doesn't get that check. He recommended showed me how to reduce interest by making the 1st payment very large (no interest on 1st payment) and then 5 smaller payments- end result is only a couple hundred dollars in interest. He also said that folks who pay-off the financing prior to 6 payments are marked in the Stellantis Financial system and the dealer will not be able tonoffer SFS financing to them again for several years.

First, there is interest on the first payment, you accrue interest from the day the loan is funded (day you sign). Second, unless you are paying the loan off (cash, not refinance) making a large first payment will have a negligible amount on the interest paid (Ex. 50k loan, make a payment of 45k and payments of 1k'ish the next 5 months). Third, I have no way to verify Stellantis not financing someone if they pay a loan off early, but that sounds absurd and I highly doubt it.

 

[millerbjm]

Just reporting what I heard recently. I refinanced our Pacifica loan before the 1st payment was even due so it can certainly be done. My biggest challenge was needing the physical copy of the title in order to process the refi. Had to wait for the state to process and maul me the title before I made the refi.

 

[DEG]

My biggest challenge was needing the physical copy of the title in order to process the refi. Had to wait for the state to process and maul me the title before I made the refi.

That was only a challenge to you because the person handling your refinance did not know what they were doing. Your original finance company did not wait for the state to type your name on the title before giving you the loan and, unless you are using someone like Bob's Loans to refinance, they have no need to wait either. They should just charge you another title fee to have the title reprinted with the new lien-holder listed on the title. Even if they had to wait for the original title application had not cleared the state, it should not have impacted the loan and any wait should have been completely invisible to you.