Hi. My friend is getting a Myvi H.

The loan is approved by Affin bank

42K 3.48%

Is this considered normal or high?

New car booking and still need to wait for 4-6 months until the arrival of the car. The agent says Myvi rate loan tends to be higher than other cars.

i asked my banker before on this same question and apparently, the reason is that the risk for the bank of hire-purchasing a national car is deemed higher.
yes, you can walk in to any banks to apply for a loan. most buyers don't do it because it's a tedious process and time consuming. note though, your SA may be a bit "unhappy" if you source your own loan because then he/she would have less commission payment from the loan application side.

i don't think the risk factor refers to the individuals but rather the product (car) itself. this is what i think is true.

a Myvi costs RM60,000.00 and a Yaris costs RM83,000.00, assuming each car suffers a depreciate value of 10% p.a. then at the end of the first year, the Mvyi will be at RM54,000.00 and the Yaris is at RM74,700.00 but given Toyota's track record and market reputation, the Yaris could suffer less depreciation.

Assuming again that the loan interest rate for both cars is at 3% p.a. and is on a 5 year loan tenure, this generates the total loan amount payable of RM62,100.00 for the Myvi and RM85,905.00 for the Yaris 10% down payment. At the end of the first year, the outstanding loan for the Myvi should be at RM49,680.00 and the Yaris at RM57,519.00.

with this simple minded calculation, the difference between the marketable value and the outstanding loan amount payable for the Myvi is too close for comfort to the financier and because of this, the financier has to rake up the interest to "recover the risks" first.

i remember many years back when i bought my F10 and opted for BMW Credit as the financier because the interest rate is much lower compared to all other financiers, asked the SA why and she said it's because BMW Malaysia actually "subsidized" some of the difference in the interest rate to make purchasing their cars more attractive since everyone knows continental cars depreciates like crazy and maintenance costs are high, second hand value for these are almost non-existence.

i don't think so you can still get VW / Ford at 2.4% now, visited the showroom last month and was offered a rate between 2.8% - 3.0% (depending on the tenure), tcken's friend was offered 3.48% for a Myvi.

furthermore, the entry price for a new VW/Ford is relatively high compared to local brands and this makes buying a used/second-hand much more viable and for vast majority, unless desperate, will get a brand new one.