A car lot salesman told me once that the dealerships don't make money selling cars - they make the money selling financing, i.e. the interest. Consider that when saying "better than nothing".
Pro tip. If you're buying a car with cash, decline to state how you're paying for it until you have already negotiated the price and gotten it in writing. They will ask. Tell them you'll work out finances with their finance person.
If you tell them you're paying in cash before you have the price in writing, your price negotiations will go poorly.
That's quite a stretch.
People won't see a realized benefit for years, even decades. And with this being a temporary measure, 3-6 months of no interest doesn't amount to very much - maybe a few thousand for people with somewhat larger loan amounts that are also all federal.
This is how people get seduced into being eaten alive by interest payments, and how lenders make a fortune.
Understanding compound interest and the time value of money is a big part of how people move up financially, and how not understanding it leaves people at the bottom tiers.
For example, that mere "few thousand" can be applied to buy down the principle, which will have a sustained benefit to you for the life of the loan, and you'll pay it off much earlier.
I believe it. I prefer to pay cash for cars, and it is extremely difficult to purchase new cars for cash at many dealerships. They don't like it and will do things like refuse to honor advertised prices.
Went in to th credit union on Monday and refinanced the loan, paying off the loan from the dealer.
The dealer wanted over twice what the credit union wanted for GAP insurance.
Of course, there's nothing they can do at that point...