All good questions!

What is the cost of the financing? Are there origination fees and other fees to acquire the financing?

Surely they will charge us doc fees, typically around $199 locally.

How much will you be paying in interest?

Depends what the rate ends up being, we presume .9 is the lowest they're offering. IF it's 0%, Id do the 60mo term just because, and then it would be 16.67 per $1000 financed, and we'd figure out the actual dollar amount of interest at that time when I know the final price. And we'd be paying it off within a month anyway.

Are there any early payoff penalties?

No.

Is your credit border line where a small reduction will be a problem?

No, we're both well over 800.

What is more important to you a good credit score or money in your pocket?

I'd like to maintain our over 800 scores, but money in my pocket would be most ideal.

Have dealer write the offer both ways so you can compare side by side. FYI dealer will push financing as that is another revenue stream for them.

I worked in the business for 15 years, and I know that financing is a bigger moneymaker than ANYTHING else. That's also part of why I want to pay cash. I also know what they paid for this thing, within about 120 dollars (part of what I did in that job), and I am not budging on what we will pay, because I know their markup, I know their profit margin and I know his commission percentage. And I won't allow them to make much of anything on it, since I know how well this chain does. He tried to play a game with "10% discounts" on options, and I tipped my hand a little on that telling my husband to reply with exactly how much the options were to the cent. And my husband said that guys eyes got wide. This particular dealership has no idea I know what they paid, but when my husband gave them his intro price during negotiations, I could tell this guy knew he wasn't dealing with an uninformed idiot. Because his reaction was something I had to bite my tongue to not make a visible reaction to.