Toyota Finical Service (TFS) Inconsistency

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A disturbing industry trend is financial institutions firewall rates and require an application to see rates. Bank of America (BoA) comes to mind.

I notice Toyota Finical Service doesn't publish rates on its main site. So I began researching this omission by using Toyota.com "Search Inventory" feature, Buyatoyota.com, and directly at various dealer sites using their 'financial calculator' or "payment calculator". It should be noted these calculators don't allow manual entry of rates.

Using the same parameters, my search revealed an inconsistent APR rate as low as 6.59% and as high as 9.71%. Majority of the 'financial calculator' showed TFS as the lender. Only a few used Capital One.

This leads me to believe that rates are set by the dealer and are negotiable. What do you think? What has been your experience?

 

[El Chorizo]

A disturbing industry trend is financial institutions firewall rates and require an application to see rates. Bank of America (BoA) comes to mind.

I notice Toyota Finical Service doesn't publish rates on its main site. So I began researching this omission by using Toyota.com "Search Inventory" feature, Buyatoyota.com, and directly at various dealer sites using their 'financial calculator' or "payment calculator". It should be noted these calculators don't allow manual entry of rates.

Using the same parameters, my search revealed an inconsistent APR rate as low as 6.59% and as high as 9.71%. Majority of the 'financial calculator' showed TFS as the lender. Only a few used Capital One.

This leads me to believe that rates are set by the dealer and are negotiable. What do you think? What has been your experience?

The dealers almost always have their own lender and will even give you a discount if you use it. That's because they are getting kick backs on the loans. You can of course choose your own lender, whether that be your bank or Toyota, etc... but I've seen dealers heavily try to talk you out of this. They are after their own interests first.

This is why I tell people never to go into a dealership and negotiate based on monthly payment alone. This is always a bad move and you end up paying dearly for it.

 

[Evan Cabe]

A disturbing industry trend is financial institutions firewall rates and require an application to see rates. Bank of America (BoA) comes to mind.

I notice Toyota Finical Service doesn't publish rates on its main site. So I began researching this omission by using Toyota.com "Search Inventory" feature, Buyatoyota.com, and directly at various dealer sites using their 'financial calculator' or "payment calculator". It should be noted these calculators don't allow manual entry of rates.

Using the same parameters, my search revealed an inconsistent APR rate as low as 6.59% and as high as 9.71%. Majority of the 'financial calculator' showed TFS as the lender. Only a few used Capital One.

This leads me to believe that rates are set by the dealer and are negotiable. What do you think? What has been your experience?

Depends. smart path dealers can adjust the rate shown for the quote. However, if there are no incentivized rates then it is based off an approval with tfs. Tfs looks at past tfs loans, history and score to come back with a rate.

In comparison, if there was an incentivized rate, the dealer would know, if your score is a 690+ they have a good idea what your rate would be as it follows the monthly incentives.

I wouldn’t be concerned what rate the dealer gives you, if you don’t like it. Refi it right away or ask for an option contract. Option contract would give you a few days to secure your own financing. If you don’t find a better rate you fall back on the dealer found financing