What is the best interest rate (apr) that anybody has obtained through Skoda themselves when purchasing a Fabia VRS???

I know that privately organising finance is usually cheaper, but I want to know what the reality of the dealer figures is (not the off-the-cuff premature remarks they make) prior to haggling etc.

many thanks

I got 2.9% on my Octy last September

Just ordered my VRS last week and the dealer was giving me 5% APR with finance. This worked out at

You've got to be very careful with interest rates.

The Skoda dealer quoted me a rate of about 5% but that is AER not APR - this is probably why your Tesco loan, even though it looked as though it was at a higher rate is less per month.

APR is around about double what AER is. Be careful!

I think there's a few people getting stung because they don't know.

You've got to be very careful with interest rates.

The Skoda dealer quoted me a rate of about 5% but that is AER not APR - this is probably why your Tesco loan' date=' even though it looked as though it was at a higher rate is less per month.

APR is around about double what AER is. Be careful!

I think there's a few people getting stung because they don't know.[/quote']

Do you not mean that AER is around double that of APR?? AER is Annual Equivalent Rate and illustrates what the interest rate would be if interest was paid and compounded once each year (In my case 4years). However when I spoke to the dealer he never once mentioned AER but that would explain why I couldnt undertand why TESCO was far cheaper than Skoda. I'm happy with my deal so I cant complain

Not sure what AER mean but all the dealers I have spoken to quote interest rates as 'flat rate' (I suspect this is the same, or very similiar to AER). And 'flat rate' is nearly half APR.

As far as I can tell, the reason they do this is two fold;

1- To make the customer think they're getting a better deal than they actually are

2- So that they can easily work out a 'cost per month' on their desktop calculator. APR calculations are very complex.

Back to the original question- we got 7.9% APR on a new Fabia vRS last September. Before haggling the quoted rate was about 10.5% IIRC.

Not sure what AER mean but all the dealers I have spoken to quote interest rates as 'flat rate' (I suspect this is the same' date=' or very similiar to AER). And 'flat rate' is nearly half APR.

As far as I can tell, the reason they do this is two fold;

1- To make the customer think they're getting a better deal than they actually are

2- So that they can easily work out a 'cost per month' on their desktop calculator. APR calculations are very complex.

Back to the original question- we got 7.9% APR on a new Fabia vRS last September. Before haggling the quoted rate was about 10.5% IIRC.[/quote']

Yes that sounds about right. All the dealer said was their interest rate was 5% and he could'nt change that (i assumed this was via APR but obviously he meant AER). The deal sounded good but the total amount re-payable was not so thats why I looked at TESCO and they seem to be very competitive.

Whatever way you look at it the dealer needs to make his money some way. I got

What is the best interest rate (apr) that anybody has obtained through Skoda themselves when purchasing a Fabia VRS???

I had 3 years 0% via Skoda (ie Volkswagen) finance on the 2001 Y plate TDI Fabia' date=' then 2 years 0% via the dealer and Black Horse finance on the vRS back in March 04.

Just remains to persuade them to do the same should I choose a vRS again....

Try Moneybackbank http://www.moneybackbank.co.uk/ (Alliance & Leicester) for the lowest typical loan rate, but beware you might not get the typical 5.5% rate.

There's a guide to finance in an AutoExpress on newsagents shelves this week.

I asked for APR I even over emphasied the P when talking to the dealer. He responded with we can do 4%. I though to myself thats pretty good. agreed a deal. When I got the papers to sign there was a nice big 8.4% on the paper.

Even when asking for the apr from a dealer expect them to quote flat rate or aer as its half the amount.

Ended up getting a personal loan shortly after picking up the car and settling with skoda finance.

A lesson learnt on my part.

You've got to be very careful with interest rates.

The Skoda dealer quoted me a rate of about 5% but that is AER not APR - this is probably why your Tesco loan' date=' even though it looked as though it was at a higher rate is less per month.

APR is around about double what AER is. Be careful!

I think there's a few people getting stung because they don't know.[/quote']

You're certainly confused there - refer:

Q. I see loads of rates knocking about with different abbreviations after them. There's APR, AER, and EAR. Please smile tell me what they all mean. (Emma Peterson)

A. Ian from smile's service centre says:

They can be a bit confusing. Here's an explanation, the smile way:

APRs

Of all these terms, the annual percentage rate, or APR, is the one you' re probably most familiar with. It applies, among other things, to credit cards, mortgages and personal loans.

The APR basically represents the total cost of credit, combining both interest and charges (such as administration and valuation fees). Basically the lower the APR, the lower the amount you'll be paying back.

AERs

The annual equivalent rate, or AER represents the interest on savings, and is therefore the exact opposite of an APR.

Basically, it's the rate we pay you - the higher the AER the more cash you can get back.

EAR

For overdrafts, we quote an Equivalent Annual Rate (EAR) so that you can compare rates with other companies. This rate shows the how much interest you'd pay on any cash in your overdraft if you didn't pay a penny back over a full year.

Again...all very interesting.

I think that the Skoda dealers are being a little cheeky on this one.

When I recently enquired about the competitiveness of skoda finance I don't think I received an entirely honest answer. I actually started the conversation by saying that I already had guaranteed finance at 6.9% APR and that I would probably use that over skoda as there published rates didn't seem too competitive. I was basically giving him the opportunity to offer me a decent rate and he cam back with "we can go as low as 4.5% on hire purchase packages although the pcp rates are generally higher".

Now given that I was clearly talking in APR, you would have thought that the dealer would do the same, or at least emphasise the fact that his 4.5% fig was based on AER.

IMO this sort of tactic is treading a very fine line between cunning sales ploy and sheer deception!!!!

Best advice I can give is to certainly shop around and get as much down in writing as possible. A dealer punching any old figures in the calculator and giving you the figure you are happy with might well cover up hidden charges as other have mentioned earlier and might not be even taking into account any extras you might want fitted. Take your own pad and pen and ask him/her to write the calculations down for you. At the end of the day, you're after the best possible deal at the least possible interest rate. Any dealer worth their salt and wants you to have a car from them should duly oblige. Otherwise - shop around and play them all off with one another!