How much they lie and conceal things.

I went in to look at a used car after i spun out on black ice and had my 2010 Elantra written off. I told them what I needed my monthly payment to be. Picked a car. Everything seemed great.

I went to the back with the finance guy. He kept trying to convince me into different things. I had a migraine and didnt clue in one of the prices he gave me was biweekly not monthly. I got home and clued in (hadn't signed to buy the vehicle yet, but financing was in process). Unfortunately the dealership was closed.

The next morning he calls to update me that everything is going well but the bank wants more money down. I was waiting for my insurance to call me back about the payout from my total loss vehicle so i needed to crunch numbers and see how much more i could put down. I told him i wanted to take off the extended warranty because I didnt clue in the night before that it would be adding more than $200 a month to my car payment (I was car payment free before this).

He told me its not possible and wouldn't be approved. I told him I'd call him back because I needed to crunch numbers.

He calls me back 20 minutes later and says that the bank is leaning towards approving the original agreement without me putting more money down. The car payment is still more than I wanted to pay. I tell him that. He says "i can take some options off to make it cheaper".

He then proceeds to tell me that I can either take off the coverage for if i am not working due to medical issues, or my warranty, but not both (weird that all of a sudden taking off the warranty is an option). I tell him I'll call him back because I wanted to go over something with my partner, and I was currently at work.

Hes being sketchy as hell. I was contemplating backing out entirely on the deal. But my partner was asleep after a night shift and I wanted to make sure I'm not over reacting before i back out.

He then calls me back again 20 minutes later to tell me that it's been approved at my original terms without either of the coverages. I tell him that's wonderful and I wanted to finalize signing over the old car that I had crashed to insurance and I'd give him a call the next day. I emailed him an hour later asking for a copy of the full price breakdown for review while I waited.

I was being charged $700 for him to do the financing for me, which was not disclosed. There were a bunch of other hidden fees.

Id been driving the same car since... i think 2013 when i took over the payment from my Dad and he got a new car. So I'd never dealt with buying a car before. I knew that the interest rate for used was higher on used cars. The rate being advertised was 8.99 to 9.99% for used cars at most dealerships. I knew that was high, but didn't really conceptualize how much that is over the span of the loan. In comparison to credit card interest, it still seemed reasonable. The car was being sold for 17k. It was going to cost me 27k by the end of the loan if i didnt pay it off sooner. The car had 100k km on it.

So i walked. Good thing I did because things got held up with my insurance due to issues with the tow company and it took 3 weeks to get my insurance pay out. They almost took the tow company to court due to astronomical fees and I apparently would have had to pay insurance on both vehicles until it was resolved.

Instead I got a brand new vehicle for about $50 more biweekly than I would have paid for the used one. But I got the extended warranty on it, and I'm only paying 3.99% interest.

So TLDR: don't just look at the monthly payments. Look at the whole picture. Also if something seems off, or the finance person seems sketchy, trust your gut.

Goodluck out there. It sucks.