Thanks a lot. I was expecting an experience similar to yours. Will contact Forza again and try to talk to Katie. I think the person I spoke to was relatively new so I am not sure he provided the right information.Edd
Interesting, and this wasn't my experience. FWIW I dealt with Katie at Forza, and she was absolutely fantastic.
My PCP through them was bankrolled by Santander, and the approval lasted 90 days, not 30 days. My Model Y collection date was (irritatingly!) on day 93, so I had to have the agreement "refreshed", which required me to sign a differently dated Santander proposal. This didn't hit my credit report as an additional hard search, and had no effect on my Experian or Equifax credit score at that time (I carefully manage my credit profile so know exactly what happens and when). The APR on the refresh didn't change, and all was well. The expected larger hit to my credit rating happened when the loan was drawn down on vehicle delivery; the first hard search made a very minor negative change of <10 score points but the draw down knocked me down 163 Experian points.
I'm wondering whether for vehicle purchases increasing numbers of lenders are now beginning to enforce 30 day approvals due to nervousness about inflation, interest rates and monetary policy responses....it's historically been reasonably usual for vehicle finance to be locked in at the point of ordering but when vehicles can take 12 months to be actually delivered there's obviously a credit and APR risk that the lenders are carrying ... which they're just going to pass onto the end customer eventually.
Given Black Horse and Tesla FS both seem to be going this way, maybe this is the 'new normal' and ordering a vehicle these days means you won't know whether you'll be able to afford it until you get allocated a VIN ... at which point it's probably fine to apply for finance at the rate then in force. But this is conjecture and definitely not what happened to me.
I've heard conflicting reports on whether this is true or not. And regardless, I think balancing possible APR increases against the massively better GFV might well mean it's cheaper through Forza 3rd party finance anyway. Judgement call that, I think.