Vehicle negotiation services and vehicle financing

Has anyone used a vehicle negotiation service provided by their bank, credit union, etc.? If so, how do you think they did? Do you think you got a better deal using them than you could have gotten yourself? How has the service department treated you if you bought your car this way? Any different than if you negotiated the price yourself?

Have you noticed any difference in the way you are treated by service and/or sales depending on whether you finance through the dealership or a third party?

Thanks, in advance.

My Y2K bug is buggy!

I didn't use a negotiation service but I did get financing from a third party. That way I had a max interest rate that I could get. If the dealer could beat the interest rate, I'd take the dealer's banks offer, otherwise I wouldn't.

It's good to check some sites to see the actual invoice price of the vehicle. I'm sure even with the negotiating service, you'd still have to deal with hidden fees and sales pressure. Your best bet is to shop around. Just email several dealers exactly what you want and usually they'll bend over backwards to give you a competitive quote.

I got a quote from three separate dealers, all at invoice after price matching each other. That gave me more leverage.

Check out intellichoice and edmunds.com BEFORE going to the dealer.

If at all possible, don't give them your phone number. Do everything over email. It was nightmare for a while with all the phone calls I received.

Edit:

I didn't read your post completely. Sorry! The dealer I went to tried to offer me financing that was several percentage points higher than what I had already obtained. I didn't tell them that I had external financing until after they told me the interest rate. When I told them that was ridiculous and that I had already obtained a lower interest rate, the financing guy played with his keyboard and looked in a book and miraculously got me a lower interest rate. It definitely helps to have financing arranged BEFORE you arrive.

My take on vehicle negotiation services is that they don't really negotiate. All they do is call around to dealers and get a few price quotes for you. Something you can do with your fingers and a telephone.

As for the finance:
Sounds like he found a newer rate by lowering his profit. The finance person wants to use his/her financing lenders wherever possible. So, it sounds like they were willing to at least break-even or make less money by lowering the rate just so they can complete the deal "in house".

Dealerships, at least in Texas, are allowed to charge no more than 3pts over rate they are given by the bank. ( i.e. if they are quoted 6%, then the most they can charge is 9%.) We are talking about regular lenders, not some "tote-the-note" lot.

However, in most cases, they are not able to charge more than 1 pt because most of the rates are incentivized. For example, VW doesn't want the dealer to be able to get someone an approval at say 1%, then mark it up to 4%.

A 1pt profit is a fair markup. Don't kid yourselves in thinking your loan officer at your bank doesn't do the same markup. You can negotiate with them too.