Ok buying a NEW truck questions.

Do a little research and negotiate up from the invoice price instead of down from the sticker.

 

OK. Don't want to keep going on, but a couple of questions have occurred to me in re-reading your original post, as well as this latest. 100%financing? On a truck? Wow! I have dealt with GE before, and like you have excellent credit, but the best they ever did for me was 10% down-90% financed. Are they maybe killing you on the interest rate? Truck finance companies will typically never go 100% for the basic reason I posted above, the almost instant depreciation factor after it's off the lot. Say something unforseen happens to you, whether it be accident, illness, employment issue such as the relationship with your company goes bad for some reason (this can be anything, I don't need to go into the list here). For whatever reason, you can't continue trucking, or can't make the payments. Now they are stuck with a unit worth 100,000 , but they are owed 122,000 on it. Bad deal for them.
Or...perhaps unknown to you yet, are they going to slide across the table to you at signing time a document giving them an interest in your home should any of the above occur? It has been my experience that finance companies such as GE have been burned once too many times, and they are pretty careful anymore especially on truck loans. When you say you have sunk as much or more into repairs as a new truck payment, are you talking a pyt x 12 months, i.e. 12x 2500=$30,000? Or just one month? If you have put in the area of 30K into it, you should have everything except the engine looked after, almost. As far as financing component rebuilds, certainly not up GE's alley. However as a fellow with excellent credit, do you have any access to low interest non-secured financing through credit card companies? I typically get an offer from them every few months at anywhere from 2-6% financing which I have used to buy tires, or do major repair. Please note these are "low interest" and not the typical 18-25% rates these companies usually gouge their customers. I am not trying to be a harda$$ here with these hard questions. They are questions I hope you are asking yourself, but if you haven't yet, maybe they will help you a bit. I have been in the trenches with trucks and financing many years, and have learned a few things, many of them the hard way, lol. Again, best of luck to you. If you would like to discuss anything I'd be happy to try to help, pm's are fine if it's confidential.

 

Good for you to be able to buy new. This is a topic rarely touched on and it's something I'm more than interested in. It seems that there's a cloak of secrecy surrounding buying a new truck, compared to buying a regular car.
i mean you can't find out what invoice is and work around that. Yes, there's many computations with different specs etc, but surely, we should be able to have some idea where we should be to obtain a good deal.
IMHO I think that shopping between a few dealers would be a good pointer to get decent numbers. Let dealers compete for your business because that's the only way you can smoke out a favorable price. Just dealing with one dealer isn't going to achieve that. Furthermore you can't be too eager to do a deal. Being " under the ether" is always dangerous and the dealer can certainly smell a deal. It's always good not to fall in love with the truck.
Having a ruthless streak and be willing to walk if the numbers don't compute should always be at the forefront of your mind.
Good luck.

 

Man, you are spot-on there. They want to move new trucks. They need to move new trucks. Dealers are allocated rigs according to the numbers they sell. How much money they make doesn't count with manufacturers one whit. If a dealer makes nothing, they still get credit for that number, and want it even if they have to take a short deal. A smart businessman will take what he can get over nothing, almost every time.

The rule is; If the salesman lets you walk, they couldn't go any lower, at least not without thinking about it, so make them think about it. It costs nothing, and not doing so may cost thousands if not tens of. They may call and lure you back and then revert to working you for more money, but you cannot expect them to give you a realistic number over the phone. Then you'd just call and work the next dealer with it, so they'll probably low ball you if you insist.

It's a game, you obviously know how to play.

 

When you are figuring which way to go financially, don't base your decision on monthly payments but rather on which way will cost you less interest long term.

 

Only worry about the total loan payment if cash flow is an issue to you. Without knowing the details you are looking too much at payments with differing terms than at interest charges. Unless you have two 1 ton trucks fully kitted out your principle should be less on the vehicles and all you are doing is paying the loan on a very short term off faster. Which won't net you tons of interest savings as there is very little compounding happening on the interest over a short time period. It is either that or you are paying interest rates that are through the roof which is doubtful considering your credit score.

If the interest rate on the truck loan is higher than use it as a trade in as it will save you more interest charges and more by the end of the term compared to the car loans.

Its the idea behind you always pay a credit card off first because the higher interest rate rather than your mortage even though the balance and payment is likely higher.

 

It's certainly an excellent avenue to explore the GE credit. I went thru my credit union and I got what I thought was a good rate at 6.6% but with 20% down. you could use GE as leverage to get even better terms as long as you have a high fico score over 700. It's good that there are dealers who want to deal and you have to stick to your guns. Always go in wanting to buy with low price in mind. Don't become a payment buyer unless you know where you are with the numbers.
good luck.

 

I would not buy a new truck if they gave it to me. ( ? ) Glider kit ? Probably.

They are too many problems with the newer anti-pollution systems, and the elecronic systems have too many bugs in them. Shops are full of newer trucks that are being repaired.

Rebuild what you have, it will be more reliable.