Now, using all of this information, price you are willing to pay for vehicle you want, average loan you can get, and best terms that you can get that will fit within your budget, you are now ready to visit dealer, find vehicle you have been thinking about and get deal that will fit your needs. Remember to negotiate price of vehicle without financing first. After you settle on sales price you can then reveal what finance terms you already have found and see if they can beat it.

Get particulars in writing too. What is price for new vehicle? What is trade amount for your old vehicle if you have one? If you finance through dealer, what is APR, total amount financed, total amount paid at end of loan, total number of payments and monthly payment figure itself? If dealer will not give this clear, concise information, leave and go somewhere else to buy. If they can compete with your prearranged loan terms, then great. If not, get your auto loan elsewhere.

A word of caution. Keep it to business. It's exciting to buy a new car and it's also easy to get carried away and buy more vehicle than you need or previously wanted just because it looks so good or has so many features that dealer will try to convince you that you can't live without. Having predetermined what car you want and price you are willing to pay will keep you safe in these negotiations but only if you stick to your guns and don't give in to being upsold.

Using these strategies keeps you in control of negotiation process and keeps you informed all along way so that you can be confident that vehicle and auto loan you purchase is indeed deal that you wanted.

The United States' Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is also not in good shape. It has trickled down to an annual GDP growth that is expected to reach only 3.1% and both France and Germany have recently downgraded their annual GDP growth forecasts to 2.4% and 2.0% respectively. Moreover, "uncertainty factor" as I like to call it, most likely will keep businesses and consumers cutting back on expenditures for remainder of 2003.

Fortunately, there are some signs that economy is beginning to recover. A report that was recently released by U.S. Department of Commerce showed a rise of over 2% in retail sales for month of March and a slight rebound in consumer confidence. Also, national unemployment rate, which was released by Bureau of Labor Statistics, remained unchanged at 5.8% for March 2003. While majority consensus is that economy will eventually recover, it is apparent that this will definitely take more time and effort than what most people had originally predicted.