does the bank determine how long they will finance a car loan for you?

when it comes to financing a vehicle, does the bank/institution determine how long the loan will be? 36, 48, 60, 72 months? im looking at an 05 and i dont want to be put in the 36 months bracket as my payments are expected to be too high. the car is 11995 but we want to get it down to 10500 or a lil lower. i want to have some say in the finance negotiations.

Public Comments

1. On a 2005 model you can chose however long you want to finance the vehicle for. Usually if the car is older, they won't allow you to finance it as long. I would strongly not recommend financing it longer than 3 years though. You may end up with negative equity. Your choice...
2. yes
3. There are certain parameters the Bank considers when determining the amortization/term of the loan. Year of the vehicle, equity (cash) into the purchase, borrower's credit history. It is quite common to receive a term of 60 months on a newer vehicle (vehicles less than 3 years old). You should be requesting the term you want... if one Bank says no...look around some more.
4. usually a "new" car will have the option of a 48 or 60 month loan depending the resale value of the car. If the car is 05 or 06 you shouldnt have a problem with either one of these, unless it has ungodly high milage or another problem with it.
5. You can sometimes talk them into giving you a longer or shorter financing time. We were offered a 60 month rate and were able to ask for the 72 month because we had good credit. It lowered our payment a bit but we still pay more so it helps our principle.
6. You choose what the financing terms are. Whatever you do, don't go in there and "fall in love" with the car. Just know you can go somewhere else and get it also. Don't be afraid to get up and leave. Believe me, they will stop you and lower the price. You can definitely get the price down to where you want it. The end of the month is the best time to buy a car, as they are trying very hard to get as many sales for the month as they can.
7. typically the bank helps you out, hopefully, I got to choose between a 4-5 year loan, I could've even been set up for a 5+ year loan, but if you need to take that much, that's way too much car.
8. First off, there should only be two numbers you discuss with the dealer: what they will give you for your car and what they will sell you the new one for. The oldest trick in the book is to talk in terms of monthly payment, purposely excluding length of financing, and this is where most people get screwed. Focus on those two numbers and THEN run the financing. Set a limit for yourself of how much and how long you can afford to pay and stay with it. Also, nobody should be paying more than 5-7% on interest now, even if your credit isn't great; make sure to ask what the rate is.
9. Typically it's a 60 month payment. When my wife and I went out last year to buy a new car the sales manager asked us what kind of monthly payment we were wanting. We told them we didn't care about the monthly payment but rather the price of the car. Stick to 60 months or less. If you tell them you want $XXX per month, they will find a term for a loan that gives them the money they want, along with the payments you want... up to 9 years in come cases. As it was, we talked them down from 18500 to 13250 out the door with a fixed 5.99% 60 month loan. Not too bad if you ask me.
10. u always have a say in finance negotiations. But only if using your own money. take your cash put it in a certificate of deposit at the bank and then borrow against the CD and pay cash for the car. easier to negotiate price with cash. Also you can take as long as you need to pay yourself off.
11. Don't forget to ask them if they penalize you for paying the loan off too early.