When you buy a car, can you avoid buying through a bank and paying instead on your own?

[Amy10223]

=In other words, can I give a hefty down payment on a car and then pay the rest on my own, without going through a bank to finance the rest?

I'd like to give most of the payment in a form of a bank check, and then pay the remaining balance on my own. Am I able to do that, or do car dealerships require that you finance through them or a bank?

[Anonymous]

You can do anything you can negotiate, but if the dealership has a finance division they will probably require you to use that. A dealership that doesn't have a finance division will probably require you to get your own financing somewhere else, they won't want to be dealing with the paperwork and having to chase you down or find and repossess the car if you don't pay. Even if you pay 50% or 75% down, they still risk losing the rest if you disappear.

[ManOnFire]

I could be wrong but I'm not sure this is possible. Reason being that when you finance a car you were given a loan for it to pay off, from either the dealership or the bank. Eventually they want that money in full/car paid off. You didn't give yourself the loan in the beginning, so you can't pay yourself back.

[Stevepro68]

They do not require that. But kickbacks from finance and associate banks are part of the profit margin. Which often makes dealing with the dealer more difficult since they have lost money on the back end. Sometimes you can end up paying too much.

[Amy10223]

That's why I prefer to just make my own payments after a down payment. I will try to make it so that not much is left to pay it off (used car).

[msc545]

Unless you pay the full amount of the car when you pick it up, you are going to have to get some sort of financing through the dealership through a bank or through somebody. You can't just pay if you want to on your own in most cases.

[Amy10223]

Even if I pay all but $2000 of it? I just dont want to deal with paying interest on a car.

[msc545]

Of course you don't want to pay interest but the only way to avoid that is to actually pay cash for the car when you pick it up. The car dealership is not going to give you an interest-free loan which is really what you are asking for. A car dealership is the owner of the car now and they want to be paid in the full when they give it to you. They can be paid in full by you or by a bank that has loaned you money or a finance company that has loaned you money. That way they have no risk of you not paying for the car.

[DryGermanGuy]

Maybe a small dealership would accept such a construct? Corporate chains won’t.

[Amy10223]

That's a possibility.

[loveslongnails]

It's very rare for a car dealership to accept personal guarantees for financing. You might be able to negotiate a zero interest finance deal if you have a hefty down payment, but interest rates are too high these days. Depending on the rates you can get, a home equity line may be cheaper than a car loan, but that does involve a bank or credit union.

[slatyb]

No, you will have to get a loan from a financial institution. Do you have steady income?

[Amy10223]

Yes I do, I have a pension. I'm retired.

[slatyb]

Then it should not be hard to. hrt s loan.

[eagle1951]

credit union

[Amy10223]

That's a good idea. Better than a bank.