Obtain a Car Loan No Longer Than Necessary
Some time in your life you will need a
new car. You may not want to have the
burden of a new car debt, but you may
find there are very few alternatives.
There are some simple things you can
look for that will help reduce the amount
of money every month. Depending on
your credit situation, a car loan can be
very easy or rather difficult. Even
though there are dealerships that
specialize in selling people cars with bad
credit, the purchaser must realize what
they are getting themselves into.
Get the loan first.One of the greatest advantages you can
have over the dealership is to get the
loan before you buy the car. You can shop dealerships on weekends and at night and look
at the prices and figure roughly that the car will be about 15-25% less than what the
sticker says. Go to a bank or lending institution and fill out the appropriate paperwork. Once
they give you the loan, you can figure out approximately how much the car will cost you in
advance and apply for a blanket price. You can also sign a contract to purchase depending
on financing. This means you can haggle your best price and then tell your bank or financial
institution how much the car loan should be for exactly.
Dealerships do not want you to bring your own financing. This takes the deal out of their
hands. Most dealerships provide finance departments who are more than willing to lend
you the money should you meet their credit requirements. An average car loan can cost
the consumer between 7 - 15% depending on their credit rating, financial history and
ability to repay the loan. Some dealerships offer teaser rates at 0% financing. A chosen few
people in the world can actually get these rates. If you are not careful, you can find yourself
paying double for the car loan.
Using dealership financing.You may be pressed for time and have credit issues that make it difficult
to get qualified ata bank. Your best option should you be able to get a car loan is read the fine
print. You should know the exact dollar amount you are paying before you sign a sheet of paper.
Dealerships can be sneaky and try to extend the life of a loan at a certain payment to get
you interested. Should you only want to pay $200 per month, the car loan for five years
would be $12,000. A dealership will try to finance the deal to go to six, seven and even
eight years in length! That would mean a car that would cost $ 12,000 could run up to
$19,200. The downside to longer payments is that the cars value could be worthless by the
time it comes to buying another vehicle.
By Jakob Jelling
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