Automotive Forums

I'm hunting for a new car and found one that I really like.  I've been leasing from this dealership for going on 8 years, and I'm looking to buy this time around.  I've negotiated a fair buying price and they're giving me some customer loyalty discounts.  The only thing that is holding up the deal is that they are not offering 0% financing.  I'm being told that 0% is never offered when a new model year is rolled out.  I'm thinking of just holding out for a 0% offer, but does anyone know exactly why car manufacturers offer 0%.  Is there usually a direct link to car sales and a 0% offer (incentive to roll them off the lot quicker)?  There seems to be a lot of interest in this particular car.  It's new this year, so I'm assuming a lot of interest in the car means a lot of interest in the loan - and not much interest on the manufacturer's part to offer 0%.

I'm very good at, and enjoy, negotiating prices.  I never thought that APR would be a deal breaker, but the dealership just won't budge.  The dealer insists that APR for specific models are set by the manufacturer and there is no way around it.  The dealer suggested, since I've been a loyal customer and have great credit, that I send a letter to the manufacturer's finance branch with my story to see if they will offer me 0% - but that seems like a wild goose chase.

Any dealers, or salesmen out there that may have more info about a pattern when it comes to the 0% offers?  I know this is an odd question, and I think I know the answer.  Car sales for a particular model suffer - more incentives are offered.  Probably just have to wait and see what the new year brings.  It just seems like I see them everywhere except the car that I want.  

Thanks.

- Skins  

I think you're right, I got 0% on a Mazda MPV 4 years ago, and the same dealership won't give me the loyalty rebate I saw in the ad. THAT aggravates me so much. They will only do it if you bought a car in the last 4 months. To me, that's really unlikely and that's just a tactic to get you in the showroom, sitting at a table, buying it anyway, but I didn't. If they don't want to do anything for loyalty, i'm going somewhere else. With the 0% the car I got with that was a less popular model, although I did get the latest model with that interest rate.

It all just depends on what they have too much of, what's in demand, etc. 0% financing doesn't happen very often. They're giving up too much losing all that interest.