Experiences with Dennis Dillon (Caldwell, ID) dealership?

[DevinB]

Just wondering how your experience went? Mine had/has been going well save for a potential bait-and-switch gotcha with a financing incentive. Signed POC sheet that I signed says a price is valid "With Chrysler Financing"...says it verbatim right on the stamp. Fast forward about 2.5 months and the truck is almost at dealer, and when I was chatting with the salesperson about intended financing via Chrysler, he relayed that the 0% Chrysler APR financing doesn't count for the 2k discount...says it has to be 'conventional' financing....seems like a classic bait and switch. Trying to decide whether to pull the plug and go after my deposit (can get it back pretty easily). Any good or bad experiences with them or similar financing gotchas?

 

[jdefoe0424]

Typically the 0% is special and it's an either or. Personally, I would take the extra 2k and then you can refinance with your preferred lender at a later date for a better rate.

 

[ElkoNV]

My truck is at DD now getting full PPF, lift, and tires. I have been working with Benny. He was very upfront from day 1 that they offer a 2K discount if you finance with them. I am sure that is because they can sell the loan for even more and get some more profit. They just asked I make 6 payments before refinancing, again I am sure to secure their spiff. I get it, I know how financing works for dealers and appreciated the honesty. The 0% was just extended to 5-3 so I am betting they did not plan on that being available at pickup and have already assumed I would not get both the $2K and 0%. That is always an either-or. I am happy with the communication and don't feel my deal is any kind of bait and switch. Not sure who your SA is and maybe he did not communicate that well to you. Here is a website with a great calculator to help you decide which financing is right for you.

Auto Rebate vs. Low Interest Financing Calculator

Use this calculator to help you determine whether you should take advantage of low interest financing or a manufacturer rebate.

www.dinkytown.net

 

[DevinB]

Typically the 0% is special and it's an either or. Personally, I would take the extra 2k and then you can refinance with your preferred lender at a later date for a better rate.

Thanks for the input. You do lose 6 months of interest that way, but it might be made-up-for in total savings, all things considered.

 

[DevinB]

My truck is at DD now getting full PPF, lift, and tires. I have been working with Benny. He was very upfront from day 1 that they offer a 2K discount if you finance with them. I am sure that is because they can sell the loan for even more and get some more profit. They just asked I make 6 payments before refinancing, again I am sure to secure their spiff. I get it, I know how financing works for dealers and appreciated the honesty. The 0% was just extended to 5-3 so I am betting they did not plan on that being available at pickup and have already assumed I would not get both the $2K and 0%. That is always an either-or. I am happy with the communication and don't feel my deal is any kind of bait and switch. Not sure who your SA is and maybe he did not communicate that well to you. Here is a website with a great calculator to help you decide which financing is right for you.

Auto Rebate vs. Low Interest Financing Calculator

Use this calculator to help you determine whether you should take advantage of low interest financing or a manufacturer rebate.

www.dinkytown.net

Thanks for the reply. Good to see another DD customer. I too have been pleased with everything in dealing with DD up to this point, especially their candor, which is why I was caught off-guard by this latest curve ball (to me at least). I did find some text buried in our email chains that says the words 'conventional' financing and/or 'preferred' lenders....but the document they asked me to sign just mentioned Chrysler financing, like verbatim per below, so I thought that was that and that was what they were referring to in the emails. Take a look at the POC sheet that they stamped and asked me to sign:



So now that I qualify for 'Chrysler Financing' with 0% APR because FCA extended the promotion and because my credit score and debt-ratio would support the 0% offer, ^ that price I'm told no longer applies (would be 2k higher). That's why I was taken aback and thought, "ohhh here we go"...etc with a bait and switch.

I'm comfortable enough with the math of different financing options to know which makes the most sense in the short and long term (i'm a nerd and made an amortization calculator/schedule in excel to know the decision points), I just assumed 'Chrysler Financing' meant 'Chrysler Financing' as written. Guess not.

EDIT: Forgot to mention though, your input helps about not anticipating the 0% and 2k together. Makes me feel a bit better, though still a bit disappointed with their wording choices as per above. I've never done a factory order or used dealer financing (1 time credit union, other times cash/check only), so I wanted other opinions such as yours. cheers. And yes, if I decided to finance through them for the 2k discount and lose the 0% APR, I've got no problem paying the 6 months before refinancing so they can get their spiff/kickback. Fair. They were upfront and clear about that, so no issues there. In order to go that route though, the total interest paid on the initial dealer-provided loan for 6 months PLUS the total interest paid on the refinanced loan would have to be less than 2k for that route to make sense.

 

[ElkoNV]

i'm a nerd and made an amortization calculator/schedule in excel to know the decision points

LOL did the exact same thing in excel! Have to admit that website makes it easy though. I have never kept a vehicle for a full term so I am bouncing back and forth. I think I have figured the break-even is right around 30 months if I don't double up on the payments. The responsible side of me says I will have this truck forever take the 0%, the realist says you kept your last one for 14 months take the $2K.
I signed a page just like you it says Chrysler Financing went and looked at the email. I guess I have just gone through so many vehicles I understood the 0% is an incentive program and you can only mix and match so many. That stamp should say conventional financing though you are correct. Enjoy the truck! Mine is there now at their sawtooth shop getting built. Cheers my friend!

 

[jastevenson]

My issue with them is that they did not tell me what the “conventional” financing rate would be when I ordered. It ended up being very high, plus they required a 6 year term, so even 6 months of financing would have cost quite a bit.

They sprung this on me the day I picked up my truck. They said i had the option of paying the 2k extra and financing it on my terms (which I knew when I ordered it, just not the rate or term).

If they had been fully transparent when I ordered it and told me that I must finance at X% higher than the rate I would normally get and must finance for 6 years, I could run the numbers and decide whether or not their price was a good one.

But since they didn’t, and I wasn’t going to wait another 3 months and order from a different dealer, I was overall disappointed.

Other than the finance rate shadiness, I had no other issues with them.

 

[DevinB]

My issue with them is that they did not tell me what the “conventional” financing rate would be when I ordered. It ended up being very high, plus they required a 6 year term, so even 6 months of financing would have cost quite a bit.

They sprung this on me the day I picked up my truck. They said i had the option of paying the 2k extra and financing it on my terms (which I knew when I ordered it, just not the rate or term).

If they had been fully transparent when I ordered it and told me that I must finance at X% higher than the rate I would normally get and must finance for 6 years, I could run the numbers and decide whether or not their price was a good one.

But since they didn’t, and I wasn’t going to wait another 3 months and order from a different dealer, I was overall disappointed.

Other than the finance rate shadiness, I had no other issues with them.

Thanks for sharing. Interesting about the high APR & 72month term requirement. What’d you end up doing?

 

[RJS]

Thanks for sharing. Interesting about the high APR & 72month term requirement. What’d you end up doing?

When I bought my 19 I took the $500 to finance it through Chrysler Capital. When the finance guy said I should take 6 payments to pay it off I said I'll lose most of the $500 in interest because I planned to pay it off in one payment. He said just pay off 90+% on the first payment to lower the interest.

In truth, I didn't promise anything so when I found out I could pay it off in a month I did, but the big upfront payment may help you with total interest if the lender will allow it.

 

[Neurobit]

Interesting comments all around.

I have an aversion to paying interest on anything I buy, so ended up doing the 36 months 0% deal through Chrysler Capital, and got the truck around $5k below MSRP. I believe that included some incentives that they threw in, so it can be done. If they believe you are serious and will walk away from the deal they may change their tune.

Cheers,

 

[DevinB]

When I bought my 19 I took the $500 to finance it through Chrysler Capital. When the finance guy said I should take 6 payments to pay it off I said I'll lose most of the $500 in interest because I planned to pay it off in one payment. He said just pay off 90+% on the first payment to lower the interest.

In truth, I didn't promise anything so when I found out I could pay it off in a month I did, but the big upfront payment may help you with total interest if the lender will allow it.

Understood thanks. If they come at me with a conventional financing offer that will result in a lower total cost (including the overall interest), I'll do the 2k-off conventional and I'll pay the 6 months just so they can get their kickback if they're honest with me. If not, I'll do 0 % APR Chrysler for 2k more or credit union.

 

[DevinB]

If they believe you are serious and will walk away from the deal they may change their tune.

Have always found this to be true as well I will honor what I agreed to if they do.

 

[DevinB]

Pick Up went smoothly; glad I bought from them. I would recommend them to others. One thing I would recommend to them though is to change their agreed-to pricing approval stamp (see above) that they stamp on the Priced Order Confirmation sheets. It's the one they ask customers to sign as sort-of a handshake agreement on price. The stamp says 'With Chrysler Financing." But that's not entirely true....only with 'Conventional' financing that doesn't include Chrysler Financing with 0%. They need enough kickback in the loan to justify the 2k; probably don't get enough or anything from the 0% FCA loan to warrant the 2k discount.

Aside from that, pickup was straightforward, the people were competent and friendly, and their accessories/parts/service department did a good job with an OEM wheels & tires swap pre-delivery. Everything was in good aesthetic shape.

They also had a giant U.S. map on the wall of all their customer locations marked with pins. Pretty neat. Of course, being in Idaho, it was heavy on the West Coast and local area but they had folks from nearly every state it looked like...all the way over to Florida. And a good amount from my area.

 

[Neurobit]

Pick Up went smoothly; glad I bought from them. I would recommend them to others. One thing I would recommend to them though is to change their agreed-to pricing approval stamp (see above) that they stamp on the Priced Order Confirmation sheets. It's the one they ask customers to sign as sort-of a handshake agreement on price. The stamp says 'With Chrysler Financing." But that's not entirely true....only with 'Conventional' financing that doesn't include Chrysler Financing with 0%. They need enough kickback in the loan to justify the 2k; probably don't get enough or anything from the 0% FCA loan to warrant the 2k discount.

Aside from that, pickup was straightforward, the people were competent and friendly, and their accessories/parts/service department did a good job with an OEM wheels & tires swap pre-delivery. Everything was in good aesthetic shape.

They also had a giant U.S. map on the wall of all their customer locations marked with pins. Pretty neat. Of course, being in Idaho, it was heavy on the West Coast and local area but they had folks from nearly every state it looked like...all the way over to Florida. And a good amount from my area.

Glad to hear everything went well.

 

[Aseras]

DD is pretty good. They don't play games and usually have the best deals and selection, if you are willing to travel or ship. They are great for leverage on a local deal, end of quarter. If their price plus $1k to ship, or you don't mind the road trip and mileage, use them if the price is better.

Financing is the same song and dance at any dealer. Always do the math. You can always refinance locally to a better rate if an incentive gets you a lower net out of pocket after interest. Doing the 0% is fine if you want to budget and you are not severely overpaying for that number by leaving money on the table just for the magic 0% that costs you more. 2% interest on a $60k-$70k truck over 5,6 8 years whatever adds up. Always do the math. leaving 10-15k in incentives on the table to get 0% almost never makes sense.

 

[DevinB]

DD is pretty good. They don't play games and usually have the best deals and selection, if you are willing to travel or ship. They are great for leverage on a local deal, end of quarter. If their price plus $1k to ship, or you don't mind the road trip and mileage, use them if the price is better.

Financing is the same song and dance at any dealer. Always do the math. You can always refinance locally to a better rate if an incentive gets you a lower net out of pocket after interest. Doing the 0% is fine if you want to budget and you are not severely overpaying for that number by leaving money on the table just for the magic 0% that costs you more. 2% interest on a $60k-$70k truck over 5,6 8 years whatever adds up. Always do the math. leaving 10-15k in incentives on the table to get 0% almost never makes sense.

Good to hear another vote of confidence in DD. And yep I did the math ahead of time with a custom ammortization tool on my phone so I could check total interest paid, Interest paid over X months before a refinance etc. Ultimately there was no deal on the table the would be better than the 0% APR at +2K. Even with a mid-term refi. In my case, a conventionally-financed loan would have to be less than I believe it was 1.7 % for total interest paid to be less than the 2K hit, and that didn't exist for the term I wanted, even at 820 credit score. My best credit union offer was 2.19% on roughly a 70k truck. Happy with the 0% APR. It's a 72mo loan no-interest loan, and I'll pay it of at my leisure. Happy Camper.

 

[Aseras]

I took the 0% 84 month on my Longhorn. Even "leaving" the 6k in incentives last year, it was a better deal. interest on the lowest rates was more than the incentives, and for much shorter terms. always do the math. plus always factor in flexibility. with a long term 0 % you can always pay more sooner. and pay a lower payment if something comes up. I personally don't need to worry about that, but it is something to factor in as well if they are "equal" money wise. Also lenders. I wouldn't take some banks no matter how low their rates were, but I will shop them to my bank and credit union to match, which is a thing.