I mentioned before that I took out a loan for a car last year.

The first thing I determined is what my budget would be - I was primarily looking to pay back about £300/month over 2 years, and went car shopping.

When I finally decided on a car to buy, I found I needed to up my budget, which basically meant rising the monthly payments a bit, and extending repayments over another year.

In the end I bought a VW Touran for £17k - paid around £5k in cash, and got a loan for £12k, to be paid over 3 years @ around £360/month, so that worked out fine.

What was good to see was HSBC normally offered a rate of around 85, but without any haggling, they offered me a rate of around 5.5%, which I thought kind of cool. Means I could probably have haggled for something lower, but I was just happy to get everything moved forward smoothly.

I wish I'd known!! I always used to shop thinking that the rate they offered was a final figure! I'm not planning to take out any more loans any time soon (thank god!) but if I ever need to then at least I know I can try and negotiate!

Please do and remember that banks need you to make money off and to sell their services and money too so dont feel too intimidated.

ninikins,

good advice, you shop for a car to get the best rates, you can do so with your financing options too. You don;t have to settle for their inhouse financing service, check banks and credit unions - even online sources to get the best deal after you've made your best deal on a vehicle.

When I have gone for a loan. I just go in and tell them how much I want, and let them take care of it. I never new that you could negotiate. I would do a lot better If I had know. So call me dumb. I guess it is live and learn.

Also keep in mind that the better your credit score the more negotiating power you have. The best way to get a good deal on future loans is to handle your finances right at the present.

Yep, you absolutely can negotiate and kelkat is right on here, the higher your credit score, the more power you have.

Credit unions are the way to go. I find them to be more personal to deal with also. Sometimes they can be strict though.

If I can get a considerable discount with loan payments then I might consider a loan the next time I buy a car. My first two cars were paid in cash so what I got was a cash discount. I'll just compare which one is better the next time I buy.

We have dealt with are credit union before. And I agree they are a lot more strict then other places. But they also seem to treat you more like a person then other places do.