zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Buying
/
Zero Percent Car Financing Isn’t A Thing Anymore
Zero Percent Car Financing Isn’t A Thing Anymore-October 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:09:14

GMC pickup trucks are displayed for sale on a lot at a General Motors dealership on January 05, 2023 in Austin, Texas.

If you wanted on your , you are shit out of luck. After a never-before-seen increase in free-money deals during the pandemic, from the market, according to .

The share of all hit a new low in the third quarter of this year at just 1.1 percent. That’s down considerably from their peak in the second quarter of 2020 — the height of — at 24.2 percent. That number is sort of an outlier, but the average quarterly rate of for the three years before was 7.1 percent. So, to have zero percent financing rates at just 1.1 percent now is equally unprecedented.

There’s a reason we’re seeing such a wide variance in these sorts of deals, says:

“As the Federal Reserve has increased the bank policy rate, we’ve seen 0 percent financing taper off,” Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ director of insights, told Automotive News.

The pandemic and fears of a recession led automakers to push to clear out inventory, but now “there is so much demand in the market for cars at the same time that borrowing money has gotten so expensive” for automakers and finance companies, he said. “It’s just not worthwhile.”

Earlier in 2023, the Federal Reserve raised the rate to the highest it has been in 16 years, a move that drove up the cost of borrowing money. At the same time, captive finance providers again dominate the market share of total financing, according to data from Experian.

The rate of 0 percent financing “this quarter is appalling compared to every time period we are looking at in the past,” Drury said. And the decline in offerings comes as “consumers now more than ever would appreciate this kind of offer,” he said.

has even declined in vehicle segments that usually have a large share of those sorts of deals, like Back in September of 2022, 15 percent of all sales of those types of vehicles had zero percent rates. Now, it’s just one percent for large SUVs and five percent for large pickups.

Even for the tiny sliver of zero percent financing deals left, there are extremely strict and short terms that have kept most customers away. Now, the average term length for zero percent financing across the first three quarters of 2023 was 42.8 months, according to AutoNews.

All of these miserable factors combined mean monthly payments that come from average financing today can end up being hundreds of dollars more than the payments of someone who took advantage of awhen they were everywhere, even if it’s a very similar vehicle.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Buying
For $12,500, it’s the survival of the Fordest
For $12,500, it’s the survival of the Fordest
Ford's F-series Pickup has been the best selling vehicle in America for more than two decades. Today's F-100 Super Cab is evidence to that longevity, but could its price be described as the best? Yesterday's simply red definitely didn't ring up on the registers of the 75% of you voting...
Oct 24, 2024
For $23,500, Caveat Elise-tor
For $23,500, Caveat Elise-tor
In the Six-Million Dollar Man, Lee Majors' character Steve Austin was rebuilt with amazing capabilities following the crash of his experimental aircraft. Today's Lotus Elise isn't that expensive, but seeing its also been rebuilt, would buying it at any price be a mistake of bionic proportions? The cheesy ‘70s sci-fi...
Oct 24, 2024
For $7,500, it’s Willys time
For $7,500, it’s Willys time
You have surely heard someone say they don't build ‘em like they used to? Today's Jeep Pickup is a perfect example of how they used to build ‘em, but will its modern-day price give you the willies? Hey, check out the new blog format, pretty sweet, huh? Not so sweet...
Oct 24, 2024
For $5,999, Porsche Nine Sixty What?
For $5,999, Porsche Nine Sixty What?
Following the effeminate 924 and the etherial 944, the epoch-ending 968 seems to have become the forgotten Porsche. Today's Cabriolet might just jog some memories, but will its price make you say fuggedaboutit? Rumor has it that when questioned as to the absence of a true entry-level Porsche, a company...
Oct 24, 2024
For $10,500, it’s the full monte
For $10,500, it’s the full monte
It is said that, in conflict, to the victor goes the spoils. Italy may have lost the war, but today's Lancia can not only be considered the spoils thereof, but is also be-spoliered, its price however, might just spoil it for you. Some might claim that Porsche spoiled the iconic...
Oct 24, 2024
For $27,885, is an old retro car a retro-retro car?
For $27,885, is an old retro car a retro-retro car?
They say those who don't learn from the past are condemned to repeat it. Alain Clenet learned a lot in history calls, as proven by today's Series III Asha, but will its price prove condemnable? What we all learned from the past - the very recent past - is that...
Oct 24, 2024
Copyright 2023-2024 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved