Can a dealer force you to finance thruLand Rover financial as a condition of selling a limited edition vehicle to you? A dealer in my area has an OCTA but will only sell it if I agree to finance it thru Land Rover financial at a non-competitive rate. They are requiring a minimum of $150,000 to be financed and it can’t be paid off for minimum of 12 months.

 

If they're really being an a** and you really want that specific car, you can just buy it with the dealer and refinance as soon as you have LR Financial account# that you can provide to your own lender for payoff/refinancing. I've done this before for another brand.

 

I mean, they can. Its just a dick move. I would be skeptical about the not being able to pay off for 12 months though. Generally, a vehicle finance is just a simple interest contract with no early payoff penalty. Get the fine print on the contract before you sign and if there is no early payment penalty just get your car and refi it after a month.

 

JLR uses Chase and I do not believe Chase has early payoff penalty but good to double check. You can actually call Land Rover Financial and ask about their current terms.

 

Not sure why - when it comes to brand new cars that are under warranty, you have to work with a local dealer - when a simple email to one the next city over will likely result in an accommodation that will likely work out better for you.

 

There is no such thing as early payoff penalty. If paid off early, the dealer will lose their finance kick back from the finance company. Most dealers get participation from different finance companies, and there is nothing wrong or illegal with that. Forcing you to finance a car is just a bad move by the dealer short of being borderline illegal. I personally would not do business with such a dealer.

 

Sounds like Elon Musk is running their financial department. Shady deals such as restrictions on selling your Cyberjunk. For one year owners can only sell back to Tesla or else they will sue the seller and demand $50k back; or not taking Teslas back on trade-ins. I would avoid such heavy-handed tactics. Who is the finance guy at this dealer. Do they call him ‘Knuckles’ or ‘Big Tony’?

 

Like wcc18999 stated, "the dealer will lose their finance kick back from the finance company". My wife and I just purchased a pre-owned 2023 110-X...from a Ford dealership about 2-3 months ago.

During the pricing negotiations, the sales person asked me about financing. This was in direct response to me asking them to reduce the selling price by $2,000. When I told him we were NOT planning on financing, I could see the look of pain on his face, lol. I asked if they could do better on the selling price if I financed and he said, "yes". I then asked what's the minimum I need to keep the financing in place. The sales person asked that I don't pay it off for a minimum of 90-days to avoid a "charge back" to him/the dealership. Based on the reduced selling price, I agreed.

As others have mentioned, it is quite "shady" for them to force someone to finance just so they can receive extra profit. If I were in your shoes? I'd purchase it and utilize their financing, then move it to another company and/or pay it off. Be advised that moving it might be a little difficult, but certainly not impossible. I'm sure they want the full 12 months of financing to ensure that there will be no charge backs, etc.

 

Yes, that is pretty standard for loans paid off within 90 days. If paid off after 90 days, dealers will get to keep their participation. I heard from reliable dealer sources that the current rebate from Land Rover for financing is $1500.00. Make sure you negotiate that reduction for the deal if you opt for financing.

 

I’d walk. It’s 2025, not 2022.

Tell them to go off themselves.

There are unsold Octas in the US right now. Google around. I know of 3 and didn’t even try looking (nor am I actually in the market). The below is inaccurate but -- if you want an Octa and are willing to go above sticker, you can have an Octa.