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We love our cars in the United States. When we buy them, we usually do it on credit. When taking out a car loan we usually have to put down between 10 and 20% of the car’s value per the lender’s requirements. If you are looking to buy a car and will need auto financing here are some tips to help you get the financing you need:
- Get your credit report. Before you head to the dealership. When you go in for a car loan, you will do yourself a big favor by knowing ahead of time what is in that report. Car dealerships are much more lenient with credit but there is a catch, if you have bad credit, they will charge you a lot. Those good interest rates that they advertise are for people with excellent credit. Shop around if your credit is not great. You may even want to go to the bank and see what they will offer you. It is worth a try at the very least.
- If you know your credit needs work, see what your auto financing options are before you get to the dealership.andnbsp;Go to your bank (they know you and might be more willing to help) or to a credit union. Credit unions are member owned financial institution whose main goal is to lend money to peope and businesses in the community. They are more likely to help people with less than perfect credit. There is no guarantee that they will help but there are no guarantees in life so it is worth a try. Look online if that does not work. There are a number of online lenders who might be easier to deal with.
- Take out the shortest loan that you can afford. You will get lower interest rates if you go with a short loan. The bonus with this option is that you will save money in the long run as you pay less in interest. This does mean, though, that you will have to put more money down. If you can put more money down, however, it is always a good thing.
- Pay the auto dealer 20%. If you put more money sown. People with really good credit can often get away but if you are not in that category putting some extra money down is a good way to secure the rest of the auto financing that you need to get the Chevy you want. Also, if you need to sell the new truck you just got, if you have more of it paid for, you will be in a better situation.
- Use cash to pay for fees and taxes. When you buy a car, the actual price of the car is not the only cost. You have taxes, the registration fees, documentation fees and if you go for extended warrantees and other extra costs. If you pay for all of this with cash. Car dealers will add that to the auto financing you get but that just adds to your loan. It does not, make the car more valuable.
- Note: You can refinance your car loan. Just like you can refinance a mortgage, you can refinance a car loan. There are a lot of bad car loans out there. If you find that you fall into that category, you can refinance. Your car should not be too old and your credit should be decent for this. You should not have any problem getting quotes for this. Start by looking online. One thing you should look out for though, you need to beware of lenders who offer to lower your payments but need to extend the life of your loan to do it. The goal of any refinance is to lower the interest rate, not pay more in interest. You would just be trading in one bad loan to get another.
People often assume that buying a car will be a painful experience. They think it may be hard to get the auto financing they will need to get the car they want. The truth of the matter is, this does not have to be the case. Do your homework and you will get what you need.
