I'm looking to get a new car soon, have my eyes set on the Pulsar hatch. currently Nissan's promo of 1% finance i am kind of confused how it actually works. they make it clear on what you could be paying per month, but then there is the Final balloon payment.
Is the balloon payment i have to pay upfront at the end of the 1% interest promo end (36months)or the interest rate shoots up on the remaining balance on the loan?
These articles should be required reading for anyone looking to finance a car. Something obvious but I think not mentioned in the articles - when finance rate is in excess of secured loan rate, the financier pays kick backs to the dealer by way of commissions. And they'll try screw you on the price anyway since you're on the hook to them for vehicle finance! The only time promo rates make sense is if they are in conjunction with runout/driveaway pricing, rare but not unheard of.
I went to the dealer and asked if they could make a better price if I paid in cash. They told me they really can't do much and said better off going through finance. So is the way of paying hard cash to get a cheaper price no longer an advantage?
Check out this thread for some general ideas / resources on buying a car
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/143961
However having a look at the deal on the Nissan website it is for the ST-L (not base ST) - that car in manual driveaway is normally 25,714 according to their price calculator.
They are quoting 22,490 as the driveaway price in the fine print of the finance offer for same car, with total payments over term 23,001.52. Assuming this is for the st-l spec it doesn't sound bad on paper.
Just make sure not to get stung on accessories too badly by the usually hot accessories lady. For accessories you can always get third party installers for paint / fabric protection and tints if you need them, if you don't bite they'll usually drop price - it's high margin for them. Also think about whether extended warranty is necessary or not since they'll try sell it to you.
I wonder if they're cutting deals on the ST-S? For just a 3k premium over the ST-L you get a bit of a pocket rocket!
Yes you pay the balloon at the end of the 36 months, if you can't pay the balloon at the end then you can refinance that amount, but obviously at much higher interest rate.