GM: Credit crunch hasn’t killed loans
If you’re planning to buy a car in the near future and finance the purchase, the talk about frozen credit markets and the $700 billion Wall Street bailout can’t help but make you worried about whether they can get a car loan.
Troy Clarke, General Motors’ president of operations, said this week in an interview with Bankrate that while lending standards have tightened, many car buyers can still get car loans.
“You’re certainly seeing less leasing, and offers of zero down and zero percent are rare,” he says. “But people are getting car loans. The market is responding; there are more lenders in play — banks, credit unions — and the market is working. And GMAC is still lending.”
Clarke says GM’s employee pricing campaign, which ended Tuesday, was very effective in luring buyers into showrooms to help clear out 2008 models. He does not anticipate the program returning soon.
Sales in August and September rebounded in the truck and SUV market, but buyers can still expect to see the greatest discounts on those models, Clarke says.
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