Financing your new smart-How's it going?

[SmartJJ]

Just got around 4.8% from State Farm. Financed about 2/3 of the total price for the Passion. Credit score was in the top group (heh, I'm not putting that much detail on a public forum!).

[vibrato]

Join a Credit Union!! ..... I did specifically that to purchase the Smart car and to take advantage of the significantly low prime interest rates. I have VGood credit scores......they wanted to do the loan....really, wanted to do the loan.
I brought the general brochure with me to show them the vehicle. They were happy to write it. I got 4.49% 3yr fixed. I had to join the credit union for a whopping $5.00!! to get the loan.

I picked up the car, paid with their(our) money.

A week after I got home I got a personal "thank you card", hand written saying thank you for your business, etc., etc., and enclosed was a $50 Shell money card. I was flabbergasted!! I have never had such an easy loan, and a gift to boot. I'm going back to them from now on.

JOIN A CREDIT UNION ..... That's my advice and Money Magazine's too!!

[DebbieKat]

Originally Posted by vibrato

Join a Credit Union!! ..... I did specifically that to purchase the Smart car and to take advantage of the significantly low prime interest rates. I have VGood credit scores......they wanted to do the loan....really, wanted to do the loan.
I brought the general brochure with me to show them the vehicle. They were happy to write it. I got 4.49% 3yr fixed. I had to join the credit union for a whopping $5.00!! to get the loan.

I picked up the car, paid with their(our) money.

A week after I got home I got a personal "thank you card", hand written saying thank you for your business, etc., etc., and enclosed was a $50 Shell money card. I was flabbergasted!! I have never had such an easy loan, and a gift to boot. I'm going back to them from now on.

JOIN A CREDIT UNION ..... That's my advice and Money Magazine's too!!

They really are awesome. I wish BECU was doing auto loans on these. I'm really hoping they will be by the time I get mine!

[MinnySmart]

I've been a member of a credit union and I've gotten probably 6 auto loans through them and they're always the best. Granted I've got excellent credit now, but I could have gotten 4.49 x 48, 4.99 for 60, or 5.49 x 72. I went with the longer one for now. smart promised they'd beat it. Well, they offered me .1% better, but for the convenience of keeping my auto loan at my credit union, $.20/mo was worth it.

Find a way to join a CU... you won't regret it! (and don't say "I'm not eligible." There's always a way to find a connection to someone who's in one, or if you're an alumnus at a school, or through your employer, or through a friend... you can do it.... )

[jwight]

Couldn't agree more; financed through our local CU and with on-line application, electronic payment and a high mpg car we ended up with 3.7% for 36 months. That's as good as we could find.

[mkoryd]

4.25 60 month. fully financed through the credit union. They take the payment right out of my paycheck. Makes things easy.

[iconpyro]

Interesting.. I guess here in California MB is ripping off people. They quoted me a 6.75% and I have a tier 1 score. Chase gave me 5.47%. Interesting how you guys are getting the 4% and below rates...

[timhood]

iconpyro, note that those rates are for short, 3-year loans. You're probably looking at a 5-year loan. Yes, it does make a difference. But do the math and you'll find that there's not a big difference on interest, so if the higher payments of a 3-year loan aren't in your budget, go with a 5-year. On a 15,000 loan, a 3-year loan will be roughly $160 more per month. The extra interest on the longer loan works out to about $17 more per month.

[Dave Van]

No issues here. Walked in to the bank and asked for the full amount. 6.5%...hardest part was finding 'Smart' in their computer.....

[Big Panda]

hummmmmmm. after reading all these posts, maybe i had better join a CU also.

if for nothing else, they sound much friendlier than Chase Bank!!! ;)