First of all congratulations! Purchasing any vehicle is a big and exciting life event for most, but especially a brand new one!
Can totally relate to the anxiety of dealing with the dealership, especially the dreaded finance office. First of all, just remember you are there to make a purchase of your lifetime and you are free to step out at any moment. You are the one holding all the cards, and even in this crazy market, they need you more than you need them - if not today, there will be thousands more opportunities to buy a Tahoe in the future. Just remember that you are in the driver seat and do not let anyone at the dealership convince you otherwise. Be calm, confident and, although very unlikely, even ready to walk out in the event things really don’t go your way. Unfortunately, dealers are known to try and pull a “quick one” on you and just be ready to expect it and you will be better off being prepared for it. At the end of day, your Tahoe is not a one off collectible but a mass produced, disposable and depreciating chunk of metal that there are literally thousands made of every day.
Now, what to buy and not buy in the finance off.. I will say this (and I’m sure some will disagree), there’s nothing, I repeat, NOTHING that you will likely be aggressively offered to purchase in the finance department that’s worth it in the long term. All you should know is that everything they will try to sell you has a 50-95% profit margin for the dealer. It’s instant cash going from your pocket (or loan) into theirs. It’s literally designed to extract as much pure profit from you, regardless of the BS they will try to sell you on. They may give you a million reasons why this is the only chance to get XYZ protection/warranty/maintenance plan but that is simply not true. Most, if not all these products can be purchased later may you decide to really want them anyway. But again, based on my experience buying many vehicles from different brands including “premium”/known to be unreliable BMWs/Audis. In the long run, these things are almost never worth it. I say almost because sure, there are some stories where someone purchased an extended warranty and the entire engine blew up 10 miles after the manufacturers warranty expired than then paid for itself. But for every one of those stories there are dozens/hundreds that didn’t. Again, the math just almost never works out in the long term.. especially when considered across multiple vehicle purchases over ones lifetime.
Theres something to be said for the piece of mind of a warranty or maintenance plan to avoid the surprises of large expenses unexpectedly. However IMO a much better approach is to set aside the money you would spend on a warranty for the day you may need it. Again, if you do that over your lifetime and owning multiple vehicles you will almost certainly be ahead. Especially if you put that money to work in a money market or brokerage account, it will make you more as opposed to giving someone else an interest free loan you loose at the end of the term. In addition, most warranties/maintenance plans usually come with a million strings attached to the point you’re even less likely to get full value out of them. And keep in mind, all these products and warranties and the companies offering them wouldn’t be in business if that wasn’t the case.
Since you mentioned bringing your own financing, this is possibly the ONLY item worth discussing in the finance office to see if they can get a better rate than you have currently. You can be completely upfront with them by saying I have my own financing at xx% rate, if you are able to get at least 0.5% below I will be happy to use your financing. That’s it. Anything else you just politely say “No”. No matter how many times they will ask and guilt you into buying whatever it is they are trying to sell. Just remember to be polite, hear them out and simply respond with a polite “thank you for the offer but I’m not interested in XYZ product/warranty/maintenance plan”.
Also, not all finance managers will be the same. For each experience where the person was pushy and trying to sell me on every single item on their list, I’ve experienced plenty of times where after a few polite “no’s” they simply “got the message” and just moved to complete paperwork and get me out of there quickly.
Just remember to enjoy the process, purchasing a brand new vehicle doesn’t happen every day and is a super exciting event you should fully embrace and enjoy. Definitely don’t let a potentially pushy finance manager ruin it for you by coming prepared, staying calm and being polite. Because in the end, although it doesn’t always seem like it, they are human too
