[everybodyknows]

Further to that, was the price agreed to before the salesman knew how you would paying, cash or credit?

[Godel_unicode]

You get the best deal (lowest total cost) by finding out which bank pays the highest financing incentives to the dealership (by asking the dealer), financing the car through them, then paying the whole loan off immediately. It’s all part of the negotiation.

[everybodyknows]

Fascinating. Highest financing incentive suggests a commensurately high interest rate. Can we assume there's no pre-payment penalty hidden in the contract?

[Godel_unicode]

You should check, but generally pre-payment penalties on loans have become pretty rare.