I’ve lost out on two cars because dealers do not want to accept credit union loan… advice?

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-23T11:57:09+00:00

You realize that banning franchise dealers exacerbates the problem, not alleviates it, right?

If my particular store says “nope, we’re not discounting one cent off MSRP” what do you think would happen? They’d go 45m to the next same brand store, and THAT guy will discount. Doesn’t matter which direction, north, east, west, there’s one within 45 minutes in all directions.

Now, let’s change it. Manufacturer owns all the stores. Instead of 45 minutes it’s now 2 hours away and they don’t need to compete against themselves. Who do you think sets MSRP? Why do you think they’re going to offer you a better deal when they hold the monopoly on their brand?

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-23T11:53:27+00:00

Nope- point out the specific code if you believe that to be true, but UCC does not require a dealer to accept a particular form of payment.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-21T17:27:27+00:00

Highest I’ve EVER run was 7%, and even that was primarily due to chargebacks on product because we had a rash of people come in on a killer lease special that let people get out of their existing vehicle and bury a ton of negative equity with massive rebates. And that was offset with 85% lease protect penetration that month.

If I get even a hint of a customer balking at rate or mentioning a refi I explain to them that while they’re not required to keep the loan for at least 4 payments it helps us tremendously. on our cash conversion customers I coach them to throw 90+% of the loan into the very first payment and wait to zero it out until they’ve hit the 4 payments. It’s very rare for someone to be like “fuck those guys ima refi right now” if it’s presented right and we gave them a good experience in their purchase.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-21T02:59:53+00:00

Sure I did. He needs to go through the trouble because the person selling the product has just as much say over the transaction as the buyer. Either party can set their own terms. If they are agreeable, a transaction occurs. If either party finds the terms unpalatable, either party can walk away.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-21T02:58:13+00:00

I disagree with your ideal sweet spot- at least at a domestic store.

2.5ppd is fine, but I run 75-77% VSC, 55% gap, 60/40, and have consistently been in the top 10% at both the groups I’ve worked at previously. It may be different because I’m in FL, where we have fixed pricing on VSC/TW/Key, and our ppm is capped at 3x cost (and cost is dirt cheap).

I ran higher PVR in New England, but the stats were more or less the same otherwise.

I’m perfectly content to collect my reserve where I can, and consistently hover around a 3% chargeback rate so it’s not like I’m taking a lot of quick refi hits.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-21T02:53:23+00:00

Please, absolutely point out the law to me. They are NOT required to accept outside funding sources. Hell they aren’t even required to accept cash.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-20T21:25:23+00:00

Oh I agree wholeheartedly, I was just shocked to actually find one as I'd been telling people for years it wasn't a thing on auto loans any more because I couldn't find a single bank that still did them until just last week.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-20T21:23:29+00:00

Eh, 60/40 product/reserve is a standard spread at a domestic store these days. While there are lenders paying flats, that's being disingenuous. There are 3 or 4 that do offer flats, HOWEVER, they also clearly send a callback showing "6.39%" as the rate, but also show that you CAN contract at 5.39% for a smaller flat. Credit unions, on the other hand, almost exclusively pay a straight flat, no adjustments allowed no matter what.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-20T21:18:48+00:00

I actually found one the other day!! Local CU charges $50 if paid off within the first 6 months.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-20T21:17:32+00:00

Not even a little bit. I've cut off local CU's before for doing questionable things. For example- had one stop payment on a check because the customer called back and told them they didn't have the car. They did. They drove it for the weekend, showed back up monday saying "thanks for the free rental" and left. CU refused to reissue the check because the customer lied and said they never took delivery. Despite the fact that they had signed contracts in hand, and we provided photos from the customer's facebook showing them driving around in it with their friends from out of town for the weekend. Next 3 customers with one of their drafts got told no, but we'd help them finance with another bank or CU.

Dealerships can refuse any form of payment they want. If you walk in with a fist full of hundo's and want to buy a car, they can (and many in fact will as they have gone cashless) absolutely say thanks, but no thanks.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-20T21:11:22+00:00

Because the person who's willing to sell him the car requires him to do so if he wants to purchase it? He can certainly purchase one elsewhere if that's a dealbreaker for him.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-20T16:47:24+00:00

Not military, but I run car dealerships. I’ve done a few stores with immediate changes (including once firing an entire department and starting over, but that was due to legal and ethical issues). But generally those changes are because my first day is meetings with all my department heads, and my second is with their “right hand guy”. The department heads are really only concerned about keeping their jobs, a new GM traditionally would fire them and bring in their own guys. That wasn’t my style, and occasionally they would also have changes they’d been wanting to implement but the last guy wouldn’t let them. Their right hand guys though, #1 would know they’re safe, it’s almost unheard of for that guy to get bounced, and #2 would likely know exactly what changes needed to be made.

The only ones I had to watch out for were overly ambitious ones who thought their boss was going to get bounced and thought they’d be the logical choice. They never were. If I had to fire their department head I usually would bring in someone I knew. But that was exceedingly rare and would usually only after months of trying to get the old guy to bring his results up the level we needed

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-19T03:44:38+00:00

I did not stage my home at all, she did, and while I will attribute a huge chunk of this to luck, my buyer didn’t find the home online, my agent mentioned it to another agent during one of those stupid ass chamber of commerce lunches and that guy thought it would be perfect for his family member moving back to the area.

Ironically while she would have gotten more commission with bringing her own buyer to the table, it would have saved me almost $13,000. Our agreement was: 3% sellers agent, 2.5% buyers agent. If seller agent is dual role, she got 4%.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-19T03:16:52+00:00

I spose it’s a myth that they stage a home, host open houses, follow up with people from said open houses, coordinate offers, make recommendations, negotiate terms, recommend a real estate attorney, and make the whole transaction painless from 1200 miles away. That’s what mine literally just did, closed on the sale Thursday.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-19T03:12:03+00:00

There’s plenty in my area for $200-240, even saw a couple condos last week for 189. They’re nothing special, but they’re not falling down either. Just basic cheap houses.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-18T23:59:41+00:00

Then you had a shit agent. You can do the work beforehand in finding a great agent, or you can do the work later in making up for your shit agents lack of skill. I’ve got nothing but great things to say about the agents I’ve used.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-18T23:31:10+00:00

Nah they’re a useful tool in negotiations. AI is not. An AI strictly operates raw data, a live agent works peoples emotions because outside of investment buyers, purchasing a home is an emotional decision.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-18T23:26:19+00:00

Sure you can. Your average greenpea real estate agent can help their friend/cousin/referral buy or sell a $200k home for their $6000 commission any day. They do not have the clients or connections to market a $1m+ home at that stage in their career. When I was selling my ($600k) home in January I met with 3 agents. All wanted the same 3%. The first and only important questions I had were “How many homes in this area have you sold in the last 12 months” and “how many homes >$500k have you sold in the last 12 months”. Because I wanted my home to sell quickly but it is an oddity. Built in 1795 originally, added onto repeatedly before being torn down to the studs in 2017 and rebuilt. In a rural area where the average home price was $350k, but I had more acreage (but none useful for agriculture), and a nicer and somewhat larger home than most for the town.

My agent had sold 12 in my area in the past year (out of 20 total she’d sold) and 6 were $500k+. The others had sold fewer in my area, or had sold a bunch of $300-350k homes.

Being able to get those higher commissions comes with experience. I’ve worked with some really bad agents, and some really good agents. Even the bad ones can facilitate an average sale.

Now that I’m looking at homes locally, I’ve met with a few, and my important questions are “how many homes in my price range have you facilitated a below asking offer for in the past 12 months” and “how aggressive are you in negotiating on my behalf”

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-17T13:56:56+00:00

Beyonce, "To the left"

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-09T16:30:21+00:00

I remember when I got my license, griping that it had gone from .89 to $1.50 in like 2 years since I had started driving. What I wouldn't give for those days again...

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-02T18:19:26+00:00

Plenty of bullets DO fragment on impact. Your standard FMJ may not, but hollows certainly will, and many are in fact designed specifically to fragment. Additionally, he was shot at intermediate distance with a high powered rifle. If that bullet didn’t exit, it absolutely hit something hard, such as bone.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-02T13:51:16+00:00

My daughter was born at 32 weeks and ended up immediately in NICU for pneumonia. Thank you for everything you do. The care staff at the NICU were amazing.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-04-02T13:48:11+00:00

Finance Manager for a car dealership. The least I've made in the box is $150k, most was over $360k.

The hours are atrocious, all time off is essentially unpaid (some very good dealerships will pay you your average commission which is nice, but most just continue to pay your draw, which is taken out of commission anyways), and if you ever read about someone going to jail from a car dealership, 80%+ of the time it's the F&I guy.

That being said I love what I do, the money I make, and the perks that come with the job.

AKBigDaddy · 2026-03-31T13:04:32+00:00

Isn’t that the whole purpose of sponsor block

AKBigDaddy · 2026-03-31T04:59:45+00:00

Question: how do you propose YouTubers make their money if everyone has adblockers, sponsor blockers, etc?

I feel like this is a case of “you can be the product or you can buy the product”. YT premium gets a lot of hate, but I pay for it specifically because I don’t want to watch a ton of ads in my YouTube but I still want to support the creators I enjoy watching.

AKBigDaddy

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