What interest rate on a car loan can I get if I have good to excellent credit?

I want to buy a used honda and will need to finance. My credit is very good. How do I know if they are trying to screw me on the interest rate?|||Difficult to tell because rates on used autos vary from lender to lender. To help ensure you do not get "screwed" on the interest rate, play "hardball" on the rate of interest and amount of payment you are willing to pay. If they give on the rate/payment at least once, you are making some headway into fairdom. But watch out for the sales price and other terms changing, behold:





1st, you need to know what a fair price on the vehicle is (www.nada.com) coming into the game. I would let them know I know what the true value of the vehicle is early on. If they they lose in one area ("screwing" you on the rate), they will try to jack the sales price up on you if it is not already maxed out. By maxed out, I mean whatever their maximum advance allowed by the bank is. In other words, if the true value of the vehicle is $10,000 and the bank allows 120% advance, they will try to sell it to you for $12,000, which puts you will in an inequity situation from the get-go. 105-110% advance with no down payment is a fair advance, because they do have to earn a living or they wouldn't be selling cars.





By "hard-ball" I do not mean emotional. Never get emotional about a negotiation or you risk making errors in judgement.





The best bet is to walk into the dealership with a pre-approval letter from a bank or credit union and do not disclose this position until after you receive their 1st terms and have countered at least 1 more time (on your rate/payment concerns cited above). This gives you more leverage when you disclose your position later on in the negotiation (and they will certainly not be pleased but too bad for them). Leverage is anything that is going to make the other party uncomfortable upon disclosure.





Hope this helps.|||Don't know, but it should be low, because of your excellent credit.|||Probably between 5% and 10%.





When I bought my new car 3 years ago, I had a limited credit history but my score was 740. I received a 7.5% interest rate.





My mom bought a new car in December and she told me that her interest rate was 5.0% and her score is in the 800s.|||you have gotten great advice so far.....





But also as important as credit in this situation is your ability to pay back the loan.





Futher





not sure what year of car you are interested in but be sure to look at a few new cars too. Some cars are offering ZERO percent financing and that might put a new and used car about the same with regards to monthly payments. So dont rule this out as an option


Since a 17k car at 0%





might have the same payments (or very close to the same) as a 12K car at 10%


and you wont need all the repair deals that they will try to get you to purchase if you buy new instead of used.