I am seriously considering trading my 07 Eglide in on something newer. Leaning toward a 2015 to 2017 Road Glide. I've never financed a bike before. I am curious what would be the typical finance (# years) on a used bike ? Also, do you recommend HD financing?

 

I'm a young guy here, but if I were to take on a loan again: I'd do it through my credit union first before ever going through a dealership. (fairly certain my rate would be better). Just agree on a price, then meet with your banker. My 2 pennies.

 

Your two pennies are right on target. OP, find the best financing you can, then make your dealer beat it or fvck off.
DO NOT let the dealer just tell you the payment, make them tell you the APR and duration of the loan so you can compare it to what you already have lined up elsewhere.

 

If you are a veteran, SOME credit unions offer better rates. I got a FAR better rate through a CU when I bought my FLHT last month. Even the dealer told me I would get a better deal through them than through HD.
Definitely worth shopping around.
Oh, as an aside, make sure your credit score is decent. Like, 750 or higher, if possible. That opens up all kinds of doors for you.

 

Credit union is the way to go, I believe harley is more lenient on bad credit cause they will charge you out the *** in interest. They wanted I think 14% interest vs my credit union did it for 5%. That's almost $5000 in difference over the length of my loan

 

Find out if there is a penalty for early payoff of the loan. If there isn't and you know you are going to pay it off before the loan reaches maturity then finance for a longer term, say 5 or 6 years instead of 4. It's an easy way to keep your payment low(er) by extending your financing. I would only recommend this if say for example you financed for 6 but you know you will pay it in 4....otherwise, if you aren't going to pay it off early, you are only paying more interest over the life of the loan. If i am going to finance something...house, car, motorcycle, etc, i take a longer length knowing that i am going to pay extra on it. Pay as much extra as you can each month to the principle and save yourself interest money by reducing the life of the loan. And as the previous poster commented, never fall for the "What do you want your monthly payment to be?" They will finance you for 15 years to get your payment where you want it....LOL.

Something else to consider is that sometimes credit unions offer incentives to refinance auto/motorcycle loans with them. So if you find your credit union offering something like this, then by all means, finance at HD the day you buy it and then go the very next day to your credit union and refinance for a lower rate and get their incentive. I did this when my credit union was offering $100 for every 10K you refinance on an auto loan....I did a refi on my dodge viper that i had just financed at the dealership where I bought it and turned around and got the free money for doing the refi at my credit union and the rate was substantially lower. The dealerships hate this because they take a hit on basically writing a "bad loan" that makes no money for the lender due to no interest accruing or getting paid....but that's their problem and no one can tell you to not be smart with your money.

As far as the motorcycle goes, if you aren't planning on paying off early, I wouldn't recommend financing for more than 4 years max....if you have to finance for longer than that to make it "affordable" each month then maybe it may not be a fiscally responsible purchase. As far as interest rate goes, if you have excellent credit 760-850 don't be surprised if the best they offer you at harley is 8%. If you can get in on one of their 0% financing deals they have sometimes, that would obviously be best case scenario. I suspect that most credit unions are somewhere in the 5%-8% interest rate with perfect credit. If you credit is less than excellent, you will get utterly destroyed with HD financing and should avoid it at all costs.

 

Depends on your credit. If you're serious, visit your bank or credit union and get pre-approved for a loan like you would when you're shopping for a new car. Your banker will tell you how much you qualify for what you realistically can afford. When you go to the dealership, negotiate the price out the door. If they can beat your rate, great! If not, you're all lined up with your own financing.

Number of years: as few as possible. Motorcycles are a luxury toy, don't put yourself up to your eyes in debt over a toy.

 

You may get a better deal on the bike if you finance thru the dealer as they get incentives for selling HD loans. There's typically a 6-month period after purchase where you cannot move the loan without penalty. During that time, you should shop the loan to your credit union and/or others so after the 6 months you transfer loan to the bank with a lower rate than HD. You'll have to look at the big picture and do the math to see if the HD loan is so front loaded that above strategy wouldn't make sense or be worth it. I did this with my truck - leveraged the loan for a better OTD on the vehicle and after 6 most transferred the loan to my credit union with a MUCH lower rate but the loan from the car dealer was a simple loan, so not front loaded. Suggest you take a look at that approach.

 

When I financed my last bike I went through HDFS for 2.99%. Now I believe they are up to 4.99% so yeah, check around but this was on a new bike. Thing is you may/should get a better rate on new vs used.

 

Lots of good info here already. In general, financing is very competitive so definitely check around--banks, credit unions, etc. And if you don't already belong to a credit union if you find one with the right finance rates they will be happy to sign you up. Most credit unions require you maintain an account with at least $5 in it so joining isn't a big deal.

Find the best rate you can then go see your HD dealer and ask what there rate is.