Anonymous wrote:Dealers in this area are shady.

Yes, yes, it's only the dealers "in this area." The dealers in other areas aren't shady at all. lol

Anonymous wrote:Dealers in this area are shady.

Except it’s not shady to do what the OP is suggesting. The OP is withholding information about paying in cash. Most deals online include all possible discounts. The salesman doesn’t make commission unless he sells. The OP is costing these people money by being dishonest. She should just finance it then pay off the loan. I’m sure all the sales folks have suggested this so the OP is probably being hardheaded and stubborn. Either take a loan and pay it off or pay the cash price. The dealer will make that money one way or the other.

Dealers in this area are shady.

Anonymous wrote:I thought prepayment penalties were part of loan disclosures?

They are. The OP can finance and make sure there is no prepayment penalty. I’m not sure why the OP thinks she can get a better deal hiding that she’s paying cash. Cash is NOT king. Anyone paying the same price in cash as they negotiated before telling the dealership they aren’t financing is overpaying for the car.

I thought prepayment penalties were part of loan disclosures?

Not always so easy to pay off an auto loan early...

https://www.moneyunder30.com/pay-off-your-car-loan-early

https://www.cbsnews.com/media/7-hidden-costs-of-taking-out-an-auto-loan/

Anonymous wrote:I bet it's a Kia-wide promoation if you do financing.

Simple solution: finance it, then pay it off a week later. The dealership will be pissed (they get a cut of the financing) but it's totally legal.

Exactly this— why not just finance it and prepay the loan for $2k?

In the meantime if you want you can complain to the consumers affairs branch of the AG but not sure how much they care in VA.

OP here. Thanks, all. Will keep trying. Had no idea how much harder it was to buy with cash than credit!

We bought two KIAs at Fairfax KIA and love them and the way we were treated. Deal only with the manager, Frank MacDonald

I bet it's a Kia-wide promoation if you do financing.

Simple solution: finance it, then pay it off a week later. The dealership will be pissed (they get a cut of the financing) but it's totally legal.

It depends. The best and worst experiences I ever had were with the same carmaker. Read Edmunds.com, and they even have some dealership comments and reviews. I believe that any business is going to have a few bad reviews due to people with ridiculous standards or expectations or just being nuts (the customer is not always right) and they will likely have a few too-good-to-be true reviews that were planted. I tend to disregard the very top and bottom. But I have found that the really bad places tend to have a consistency in their reviews and descriptions of what went wrong with rational details that you can find.

I also had the best luck with online negotiations.

pp- to clarify, the last two cars we bought had online negations that resulted in prices that were honored

Beyer Subaru - especially now that the owner has to run for reelection every two years

I’ve never had that happen to me, but I tend to buy Hondas.

So been trying to buy a new car for my daughter the past month without financing. She fell in love with the Kia Soul. According to what I have read, it is not a good idea to tell the dealership upfront that you are paying cash because they make most of their money from financing. So that is what I've done -- negotiated an out-the-door price first without discussing financing. I've been doing all of the negotiating via email so there is a paper trail.

The first time we were about to purchase the car, the dealer emails that actually, our price was contingent on financing and that if we pay cash, we will have to pay $2500 more (even though there was no mention of this price difference before). So we walked and went onto the next dealer. Same thing happened.

At the third dealership, we asked for out the door pricing for financing and for cash. Salesman said it was the same for both. But then once again, at the last minute, he says "Oh, sorry, the manager made a mistake. It will cost you 2K more if you pay cash."

It seems like all the Kia dealers are doing the exact same thing and we have given up on the Soul. Any recommendations for a dealership that doesn't play this game? We are ready to buy, but can't do business with salesmen that waste our time by lying.