Nissan 0% interest loan

[boba]

In September of 2014 I went to a Nissan dealer with the intention of purchasing a Leaf. After the normal dance it came time to pay the agreed upon price. I was ready to write a check for the total amount but was told it must be done with a 3 year no interest loan. The penalty for not doing so was a loss of my $2500 discount so I signed up. It is saving me some money and is probably costing Nissan a few bucks. I told this story to a few people including a former bank employee, and no one has any idea why it was done. Does anyone know why? Just curious.

 

[bbrowncods]

Yep. You have good credit and Nissan uses 0% as incentive for people to buy versus lease, which I think Nissan loses money on. Conjecture only on my part. The $3500 is paid to the dealer and the dealer passes it on, and they get a sale. It's worth it to Nissan.

Pay it off whenever you want!

 

[boba]

No incentive needed in this case. The deal was completed and check and pen were in hand. I think they also said the loan could not be paid off early, which I would not do anyway. Perhaps the dealer got a cash payment for each loan deal and no one at headquarters ever thought of the possibility of cash deals.

 

[forummm]

You should be able to pay off early. I can on both of my Leafs @ 0% interest. However, I'm taking the free loan and just set it on autopay.

 

[Valdemar]

Hmm, does this mean if I have a good credit score I can assume there is an additional $2500-$3500 discount available when negotiating? Almost sounds too good to be true.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I'm guessing that they count on people making payments late and getting socked with additional fees, maybe even an interest rate. Read your fine print.

 

[Nhinman]

I thought it seemed rather odd also. I bought my Leaf in November, and was just going to pay for it. To get the $3500 cash back, I had to take a 0% loan. I didn't really want the loan, but $3500 is significant. I just took the shortest 24 month term on $10K. I have thought about paying it off, but when I have started to, I thought what the heck - 0% what's the incentive. It's their money at no interest. I probably will just let it pay off monthly on auto draft.