Has anyone actually purchased the F56 yet? Curious on what the APR rates are. Do new launch cars usually have better rates historically?

 

New car rates are better than used car rates, of course. The rate will differ depending on the length of the loan where shorter term loans (ie. 24-36 months) get a better rate. I'm probably going with USAA.

I wouldn't think a new launch like the F56 would get a better rate, but I honestly don't know either way. Maybe someone else knows the correct answer.

 

I meant new car in the sense the F56 is a refresh.

 

I had feeling that is what you meant, which is why I added the second line.

 

your credit score is going to have a large effect on it, other than that I'd have no clue. USAA is offering 1.39% for 36 months and 1.99 for longer (48-72 months). I don't think the kind of car had any affect on the rate.

 

I know that the new F56 will not have any special finance rate through Mini Financial so my guess would be what the current market rate would be depending on your credit score. Doing a quick google search, I'm seeing between 3-5% based on good credit. That would be my guess

 

I'm just trying to decide if I should finance through dealer or not, it's looking like I can get about 2% at the bank. I just figured they may have better rates for F56 because they would want sales to be strong for new launch.

 

We were surprised to see our Mazda dealer offering a 1.9 APR for 72 months which is even cheaper than the credit union. Seems to me they were .9 for 60. The CU offers 2.25 and 2.5 for 60 and 72 months. Almost like free money.

 

There is an additional discount on the rate if you buy your MINI from a dealer in the USAA network. My MINI dealer is not in the USAA network although they gave me the $500.00 USAA discount. The nearest dealer in their network is down in New Jersey (Prestige MINI).

 

Somebody on this forum posted that he inquired about the identical build of F56. On dealer quoted him a price $1700 lower and APR of something like 0.5% that would save him another $1700. He wanted to buy from his original dealer so was still wangling with them.

 

I am a Finance manager at a Franchise Dealership (non MINI) and can say new car rates are very competitive with our banks. Manufactures do offer promotional rates but they usually exclude the newest and most desirable models. New car rates are most effected by term and credit score followed by Loan to Value (LTV). My banks offer additional discounts to the rate for such things as LTV of less that 90% (equity discount) and big ticket discounts if you are financing greater than 25k. The F&I person does make his living brokering loans on behalf of the dealership and has acces to more financial sources than you do as an individual. He or she also has preferred lenders who can make exceptions for term and rate. My suggestion is to work with your dealership finance person as soon as you have committed to numbers and give them a chance to earn your finance business, the banks pay them for the deal and they will appreciate it more than you bringing in a check from your own source. I can tell you that I can beat USAA and almost every credit union quote that I get from customers. I also have dealer agreements with most of the area credit unions which means I can keep a customer with their favorite credit union and streamline the lending process which eliminates the need for them to take additional time off work and make trips back and forth. If I can't match or beat a rate I will tell the customer upfront.

 

Thanks for that bit of info. That actually happened to me when I bought my other car. The dealership matched the same APR I was getting with my credit union. Made the financing part easier.

 

I would contact your dealer, as there are official financing rates available for the f56 from mini financial services (so you can see what kind of rate you would get from them) I will be paying 6% through the standard credit tier (credit score between 675-700)

 

Try harder, pull multiple credit bureaus, I could get you 3.75.

 

My credit union is offering 1.99% for up to 72 months. I'm thinking I'm going with them

 

Thats a good deal. Best I have seen lately was 1.65 for up to 75 with a southeastern bank.

 

I'm using mini financial services because they have mini select. Tried doing a similar program through a credit union but wasn't approved. So I'm sticking with what I've got.

 

I can get 1.99% with USAA (would have been even lower if my dealer was in their MINI network), but on Swimbaxter's advice I will talk to my dealer as well before committing.

Swimbaxter, do you recommend or not recommend leasing? Except for the lower monthly payment, I have no other need to do a lease. Just looking for any advice you might have.

 

I was quoted yesterday 3.19% for 60-72 months as official April MINI rate for the F56,top tier credit.
Sounds high.

 

The cost of borrowing money is near historic lows. Leasing would only make sense to me if you owned a small business. A dealership F&I person has 20 banks competing for your business whereas they really only have 1 or two that lease so not as much competition for the customer and the money factors are higher as a result.

 

A temporarily lower cash flow makes leasing attractive to me for the next 2.5 years.

 

^ this is correct. any term up to 72 months.

 

I just did a pre-approval with navy federal for up to 36k for 72 months at 1.99.... cant beat that deal anywhere IMO. I was going to put like 10K down, but with the money that cheap, I might not.

 

I wonder if they'll have the finance stuff by April 15th. I see they've added the 2014 Lease.

 

They do, but I believe only the dealers have that information, it's not posted online yet probably because the rates aren't that spectacular.