Toyota Financial Services...Experiences?

haven't dealt with their customer service if that's what you mean but thus far no complaints. their website is fairly simple to use for payments, which i've used to set up automatic montly payments from my checking account.

 

financed through tfs to get the college grad disount and deferment.

waited the 6 months for the deferment, got all our financial stuff together, made a couple payments, said screw this (high interest rate) and refinanced through a credit union. had a hard time getting through to them since i was finishing up the refi when katrina wiped out the gulf coast and they're based in AL. i can't fault them for that. i did make an extra small payment ot be sure everything zeroed out with the refi check, and they actually refunded part of that last payment.

unless you're trying to take advantage of a deal they offer, don't bother. they're a decent company to work with, with the exception of the crappy rates. that was a dealbreaker for me because i don't like to pay anyone for the privilege of having thousands of dollars hanging over my head.

 

I have mine financed through them. No complaints, seems to be like any other car financing company I've used. I was a little surprised that they didnt' care that I'd only been employed for two months and had a long bit of unemployment right before that, but I own a home so maybe it doesn't matter.

The rate wasn't great, but probably fairly close to what I'd get anywhere else with my history.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Sep 12 2006, 06:19 PM) [snapback]318692[/snapback]</div>

What she said. I did look into TFS online when researching auto loans prior to purchasing my Prius. Even with really good credit, the lowest rate they could give me was in the mid-7%'s which was several % points higher than I'd found elsewhere (Capital 1 and a few CU's).

I ended up financing thru Capital 1 via Costco's auto finance program, and when I purchased the Prius the financial guy at the dealer wanted to check and see if he could give me a better loan deal thru TFS. He came up with the same mid-7%'s rate that I'd gotten on the website. I said no thanks and held onto my Capital 1 blank check with a rate in the mid-5%'s and went that route instead.

They also have automatic payments on the website and I love checking in every month to see how much is remaining on the loan (I like watching that # go down).

 

The interest rate I got through them was negotiated by the dealer (who has won lots of awards from TFS, apparently, for jacking up interest rates) and was higher than I would have gotten through Capital One, etc.

That said, the TFS site is a piece of cake to manage, the payments can be automatically withdrawn every month, I made several exrta payments after I sold my other car, and they were very quick to send me my title once the car was paid off.

 

Hi all,

I bought our Toyota Land Cruiser with a TFS loan. Since I had some stock options coming due about six months after the purchase, I just treated it like a bridge loan. Long story short, they did everything you'd expect in a professional, well-run finance company: ease of application, informative statements, able to reach a live person on the 800#, and let me pay it off early without a prepayment penalty.

If you can get a reasonable rate with them, I'd say go for it.

 

we financed a part of it through them, just so i could get the "recent college grad" promotion for an additional discouont on the car. I think it was $1000 minimum, which we then paid off imediately. added a small bit of a hassle in that we had to write the check and lick the stamp, but definately worth it for the money saved. I'd say shop around when looking for financing, and find the best deal you can. it might be them, but i doubt it.

 

Hi Hopeful,

Don't have a loan with TFS personally (yet, at least), but I'm also considering it when I get my Prius in October. When I placed my Prius order a few weeks ago, I asked some questions about TFS. At the time, the lowest rate they could offer was 6.9% (assuming excellent credit) for a 60 month loan. This was marginally higher than the 6.35% offered from CapitalOne. If you haven't already, may I suggest lendingtree.com to get rates from various lenders (including CapitalOne) to save yourself some time typing out multiple apps. I've read that generally credit unions can give you the best rates. I'm personally leaning towards TFS for the college grad incentives (I'd save $12.87 over the life of the loan! ) As far as customer service goes, my parents have had no complaints whatsoever dealing with them a few years back, hence my inclination to do the same.

-Andy

 

I did NOT have a good experience with Capital One. Being a credit card customer of theirs for more than 10 years, naturally I thought I'd use them to finance my Prius. I was quoted an interest rate of 7% and had to jump through hoops with them for the approval process. With an Experian FICO of 743, they should have been jumping through hoops for me!

Having just purchased a home, Capital One wanted me to furnish everything except my first born child, to prove residency. After submitting utility bills, payroll stubs with my new address on them and even closing statements from the purchase of my house, I was still getting the run around. Everytime I called I would talk to someone different. Even the manager of the verification department didn't know what the heck she was doing. I finally had enough and told them to cancel the loan app and to transfer me to the credit card department, where I also canceled my cards.

I went through Toyota where I had a completely painfree process. I filled out the app on line, the dealer called me and said come on down and I did. I ended up with Citi-Financial for my financing with an interest rate of 5.99%. Two hours later, I drove out with Trixie.

 

TFS seems to be high. Capital One can offer me 6.35%. I went ahead and applied to Citi and got approved, we'll see what their rate is. Based on their email though, it seems like they require a lot of documentation from you before you can even use the check.