A friend of mine was looking to get a CPO VW GTI and the dealer is asking which method of buying (cash or finance) because apparently there are two different prices. I just told them to press on the selling price (out the door price) and this is how they responded to them.
Is it just me or this is flat-out ridiculous? There shouldn’t be a difference in selling price for Cash vs Financing option…
Dealer makes money from financing. If your friend is paying cash, they could charge a different price. Just take whatever financing and pay it off immediately if you’re okay pissing off the dealer.
Or find another car, or order one, or wait. It’s not the greatest time to buy a used car.
It’s not the greatest time to buy any car 
This is not unusual. Paying cash generally is not a good way to go to get the best deal.
This is normal. At the end of the day, work the numbers and you’ll see what’s the best deal. Even financed deals can be bought out quickly. 
Just make sure you get a check for the unused finance interest period if you pay off the loan. Interest is front loaded into the loan.
Say what? Interest isn’t added to the principal up front. There is no refund of interest on a loan. I think you may be getting confuse with a lease, which works very differently.
Get the loan, immediately pay it down to next to nothing (saving finance charges)-- pay it off after the agreed on time frame. Works out well for all parties (except the bank).
Bought a used car, financed with Ally Bank, made 3 payments, re-fied with a Credit Union, ended up getting a check in the mail from Ally Bank for the unpaid interest for the original loan.
I financed my last purchase so I could get an incentive for using the manufacturer’s finance arm (and then paid off the loan a few months later).
In other cases, sometimes you can choose between a rebate or a subsidized APR. Sometimes it makes sense to take the rebate and the higher interest rate, and then immediately refinance the loan.
And of course the dealer makes a commission from financing, so they may offer a lower purchase price because they’ll pick up the difference (and possibly more) on the back end.
Was this a very low principal loan? Couple thousand dollars sort of thing?
What you’re describing only occurs on a “pre-computed interest” loan, which is uncommon and tends to only happen with short term, low principal loans.
What you got was a refund of overpayment. The CU sent more than they needed to. Happens all the time.
Not necessarily. A return of unearned interest at early repayment on a pre-computed interest loan is definitely something that happens.
Pre-computed interest loans do get taken out on cars on occasion, but they’re definitely more the exception than the rule.
Interestingly, this kind of loan is illegal on terms of 61 months or longer.
Ahhh got it.
Take the finance price, and then refi at a lower rate after 3-4 months credit permitting.
The much bigger question is, what are you paying for this car?
Not me personally, but its like $32K on a 2019 GTI SE. Dealer surprisingly is not marking up any more than the advertised price.
Think I managed to persuade my friend to hold off anyway, since this is insane for a 3 year old GTI and the used car market is just haywire…
No one needs a used GTI that badly.
He can order a new one and wait, just like most people on LH.
More like 4 years old*
You gave good advice though.If your friend can wait, 2023 MY will start production soon. Make the calls, find an MSRP dealer and get on a waitlist. S trim is about the same price and SE is a couple grand more.
That’s what I told them! Also looking on this crowdsourced website called Markups . org to keep an eye out on dealers that are not marking cars up and calling to verify this. The website also lists how much certain models are being marked up at specific dealers. I think I saw a $200K markup on that new Hummer EV.
If your score is above 820+ you think it’s fine to refinance the asap?