Have you ever felt like you bought an auto and financed it and don't really know if you got right price or financing arrangements after it was all over? Well, don't feel alone. This is a common experience for many people who make auto purchases.Guidelines for negotiating car price can be found elsewhere, but we want to share some helpful tips on getting that vehicle financed at best rates and terms for you.
The first step is to make sure that you negotiate car's price separate from vehicle financing arrangements. Most dealers want to lump it all together because they can hide quite a bit of actual price of vehicle in loan contract, and they will usually just try to meet a monthly payment figure that you can live with rather than disclose all details about loan.
So your work actually should begin before you ever visit dealer lot. Try to determine beforehand what vehicle(s) you are interested in buying and become familiar with average cost for that vehicle, either online or locally. Then make sure that it will fit your budget. Most financial experts recommend that you shouldn't spend more than 10% of your monthly income on vehicle costs, including loan, gas, repairs, insurance, etc.
Since you now know price that you want to pay, you need to find out what loan will cost, so visit some auto loan websites and/or local banks, and apply for an auto loan. See what rates and terms they offer you. Much of that will be determined by your credit history. If you can get pre-approved for a loan, all better.
Experts also recommend that you try to put at least 20% of car price on loan as a down payment toward purchase of vehicle, either in cash or in trade equity of your current vehicle. Why? Well, so many people are being put into loans these days with longer and longer payback periods and little down payment and net result is that if they want to trade that car in within first year or so they find that they actually may owe more on car than it is even worth. So using sound financial decisions beforehand can prevent this from happening.