Ford Motor Co. and GM's six-year, 0 percent loan offerings at the end of September had a small impact on sales for the month.

Last week's clearances brought customers into showrooms, but only one to two percent of Ford buyers took the loan deal.

"Obviously, the availability of 72 months was limited to very high-quality paper, and that was one thing that limited its take rate," George Pipas, Ford Motor Co. sales analysis and reporting manager, said to Automotive News.

GM offered their loans the last three days of September; Ford offered theirs for five days.

GM's 0 percent program didn't make a large impact either, according to Paul Ballew, director of market and industry analysis. GM's 72-month retail loans were about 22 percent of all GM's retail loans, up from a norm of 20 percent. GM has not tabulated how many of those were 0 percent loans.

Irma Elder, CEO of Elder Automotive Group in Troy, Mich., told Automotive News customers chose other options over the six-year, 0 percent loan because many did not want to be financed for that length of time.