Out of Bankruptcy, Chrysler is Offering Huge Discounts, but Not on Car Loans

By Ross Edwards
Thursday, Jul 02 2009 12:53

Chrysler is out of bankruptcy and the new company is desperate for sales. When you add up all the available incentives, Chrysler is offering discounts of up to $6,000 off some cars and trucks. But one thing is missing from Chrysler's current offers: a low interest car loan.

While GM is offering 0% financing and virtually every manufacturer has some sort of low interest car loan incentive, Chrysler isn't offering any car loan deals right now.

Chrysler is offering varying discounts on each individual car and truck, up to $4,000. Any returning Chrysler owner will receive an additional $1,000 off the price of their new car. Additionally, any consumer who gets their car loan through a participating credit union will receive $1,000 off the price of their car.

Chrysler's lack of a car loan incentive is probably because of the company's deal with credit unions to try and drive sales by offering additional cash back to their customers.

Chrysler's massive discounts will save you over the length of your car loan. A Chrysler 300C without any discounts has a retail price of $37,885. With a 6% interest rate and a 60-month car loan, a 300C would cost you $732 a month, for a total of $43,920.

With all of Chrysler's current offers applied, the cost of a 300C is cut to $31,885. The monthly payments on that car loan would be $616, with a total cost of $36,960.

Chrysler's rebates would save you $6,960 over the length of your car loan in that case, which is almost a thousand more than the advertised amount.

To put things in perspective, a 0% interest rate with no other incentives would save you $6,060 over the length of your loan, which is less than what you'll be saving with all of Chrysler's rebates.

The moral of this story is that there's more to buying a car than just getting a great interest rate. While a low interest rate on your car loan can save you thousands, it's not the only thing you need to pay attention to.

Confused or unsure about some of the car loan terms used in the article? Click here for our Auto Loan Glossary.