Three Ways to Finance Your New Car

May 6th, 2009 admin Posted in Auto Loans | 1 Comment » 619 views

When you decide to buy a new or a used car, the main issue that needs to be dealt with is to get it financed. There are three ways to finance your vehicle:

1) Using the Disposable Income on Hand

Needless to say, the best way of paying for a vehicle is to use cold hard cash. This option is apt for you if you have an abundance of disposable income on hand. Having ready cash to offer when purchasing a vehicle is advantageous owing to the following reasons:

- You need not apply for an auto loan and bear the burden of monthly repayments for several years. In short, you can lead a debt-free life. Also, as you need not pay any interest, you can save thousands of dollars in your future.

- You can negotiate a better deal with the auto dealership as having cash offers flexibility. That is, you can choose whether you want to use hard cash, or whether you want to take advantage of the strong relations that your dealership has with financial companies to obtain auto finance at low interest rates.

Try to determine whether the dealer wants you to use car financing or cash, and play your cards accordingly while negotiating.

2) Auto Financing through Lending Institutions

If you do not have enough cash to make the purchase, you need not worry. You can acquire an auto loan through local lending institutions or financial services, such as banks and credit unions. To get in touch with these institutions, first find their contact details using online directories on loan-related websites. Next, short list a few local financial services nearest to you and find out from them about the interest rates and term periods for which the loan can be taken out. Also find out whether or not you can pre-qualify in advance for a loan.

3) Auto Financing through Dealerships

While obtaining finance through an auto dealership is often more advantageous than obtaining it through lending institutions, there are two major dealership traps you should beware of:

Attractive Rebates: If you get lured by the attractive rebates offered by a dealer, you would definitely lose thousands of dollars. This is because accepting any such rebate would automatically increase the interest rates. Therefore, before accepting any tempting offer, make sure you read the fine print.

Zero percent financing: This is an ideal option for those who have a very good credit score. However, if your credit rating is not the best, you would be required to pay a very high interest rate on your financed automobile.

Thus, depending on your needs and budget, you can finance your vehicle using any one of the above three options.