Whether you’re buying a car, a boat or an ATV, it’s a major purchase! You’re putting a lot of your hard earned money at risk and you want to make sure that you get it for the most reasonable sum you can manage.
Checking for Rebates
A lot of companies will offer rebates on their vehicles throughout the year. Thankfully you can check for these online. Once you have settled on the vehicle that you want, you can set yourself an alert for anytime a rebate shows up. If the rebate is for enough money, you can decide to go ahead and make your purchase. If it still doesn’t bring the price down to where you want it to be, then just wait until the next time you see an alert!
Researching Dealers
Research really is one of the keys to finding yourself a great deal on a new vehicle. Not all dealers are created equal. There’s differences between dealers when it comes to brands, but there’s differences even when they are selling the exact same thing!
Vehicle sales is still largely a commission based setup. There’s a minimum cost associated with new vehicles that goes back to the production company. Then the dealership takes their cut. After that the salesman gets whatever else they can get on top of that. What does it mean? It means that their goal is to get you into the car for as much as possible! It’s a business plan that just doesn’t work in this day and age. Haggling was all well and good before the internet allowed us to see what other people have been able to get for deals. That sets the baseline for us now. You can research exactly which dealer is providing the best deal for you.
Checking Your Credit History
Your credit might play a big role in getting the vehicle of your choice. Car companies will perform credit checks on you from some of the large credit checking companies. They will examine your credit history and then determine the rate of financing you can get on your car.
Depending on your credit history you may be viable for prime or even sub prime lending. The reason subprime lending is available in vehicles is there is inherently a profit built into the vehicle. Because of this, they don’t need to make a profit on the financing so long as they are making a nice profit on the vehicle.
Since your credit history is so important, you should check your credit history first before you go to purchase your car. There are websites online like “credit karma” that will allow you to check your credit history and get some idea of what things are like before you go to make your purchases.
Getting Your Own Financing
If you don’t want to get financing through a car dealership, then you still have many options. It used to be that banks were the only other way to get a car loan. They still are a solid option and still offer reasonable rates. There’s also other ways however.
There are plenty of companies that are willing to lend people money for vehicle loans. They will often specialize in these loans only. Like any other lending company, they are going to base their decision on your credit rating. These companies aren’t prohibitive to only great credit scores though. These companies will allow those with bad scores to get a loan, but at much higher rates. If you’re one of those people, make sure you are going to make all of your payments, because the penalties can be prohibitive.