First, wrong. Factoring in opportunity costs ( like missed investments) of paying cash or putting down large down payments vs financing absolutely matter for the informed. Even more so when someone is factoring in 'money saved on interest' as a % off msrp calc. It totally varies in that if I took a $500 rebate for financing with Chrysler at X%, but paid the loan off the very next day, I paid the same finance charge as someone who took 0% ( minus a few bucks for the day maybe). Guy with 0 interest didn't save anything off MSRP by having 0 interest. In that example, I saved $500 more that the 0% guy by financing at X interest and paying the loan off, not to mention the rebates I got in lieu of taking 0%. But, I also tied up a big chunk of money into an asset that won't grow, so did I really do better, financially? Factoring what you would save on the life of the loan is valuable and IS an incentive ( you were actually right about that part), but is irrelevant to price negotiated off MSRP, which is the title of the thread.
Does someone with terrible credit get to cite that they would have had to pay 10% had they not taken the Chrysler 0% and then subtract 10% for 84 months from their total?
No, because thats stupid.
I stated a qualifier, "if you are financing, that might be a terrible decision." If you and I buy identical trucks from the same dealer for the same price, but you get a 2.9% loan from your credit union and I get a 0% loan from Chrysler Capital, one of us has a better deal. And since the 0% is not out in the free market but is actually offered nationally, through Ram dealerships, from an FCA branded lender, and promoted on the Ram Trucks website, it IS a dealer incentive. You have to be able to identify which is the better deal if the 3rd party financed price is lower and the CC financed deal is a little higher because of removed rebates. It needs to be calculated. Is it a Ram offer? Of course it is. How much more of a discount would the dealer need to offer the 3rd-party-finance-rate buyer so that it was equivalent to the 0% rate? Calculate it, because that's its value.
No one is going to finance and then pay it off the next day. That's just silly and doesn't belong in your scenarios. If a buyer does intend to pay off a loan early, because he is waiting on lottery wins, or proceeds from a stock sale to become available, or for his rich dead aunt's will to be read and processed...GREAT! Obviously the total loan interest paid will be less. But that's really not the discussion I was making when I said "if you are financing, that might be a terrible decision."
The price off MSRP discussion that's regularly conducted here is absolutely fine and standardized. I have no problem with it whatsoever. Nevertheless, when choosing whether to accept 0% from Chrysler Capital, and with the intent of keeping the loan full term, interest avoided becomes a very serious consideration of which deal you accept. And yes, if your credit score disqualifies you, then price off MSRP is critical.
Good luck with your market investments. I eagerly await your offer to manage my or anyone else's nest egg with guaranteed rates of return.