When it comes to finding the best auto loans the best advice I can give is to take your time and look around. It doesn’t matter if your credit is good or bad, the rates you are quoted can vary a lot from one lender to another. To get the biggest bang for your buck make sure you take some time to play one lender off of another. That’s the best way to assure you get the best rate.
Many people don’t do that. they assume that their local bank will treat them the best since they have been a loyal customer, and in many cases that’s exactly true. But not always. I always tell people to try and take emotion out of any financial decision they make. Don’t assume that your local bank is the best option, find out for sure by comparing rates.
If possible take some time to work on your credit score. The first thing you can do, and it won’t take too long, will be to make sure that there are no mistakes in your report. Many times people have taken a hit on their credit score just due to mistakes on their report. It’s easy to get them fixed if you do find mistakes. This should be step one.
It’s important you understand that the longer the term of the loan, the less you’ll pay in interest monthly. That doesn’t mean that your actual interest rate will be less but the longer you have the loan for; the more interest you’ll be paying…no matter what your interest rate is.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the more money you can put towards a down payment the less you’ll have to finance. that means that you’ll save on interest since the principal that the interest is calculated off of will be less, it will also increase your chances of getting the loan as well as getting a better rate.
For the most part, it’s best not to rely solely on the auto dealer for your loan. Many car dealers will help facilitate financing for their customers but this isn’t usually your best deal.
If you have good credit, especially in this economic climate, you can often negotiate a better interest rate. The car dealerships are really hurting and they really want the business. The better your credit is the more leverage you’ll have when negotiating not only the price on the car but the loan specifics too.
You will generally get a much better rate on a new car loan than a used car loan simply because a new car will be worth more, for a longer period of time. All cars fall in value fairly quickly but a new car has more value to begin with in most cases so the fall won’t have as much affect on the overall value.
Take your time, do your homework and be realistic. These are three very basic tips to finding the best auto loans. It doesn’t matter if you search online, offline, or both, just keep these things in mind and you’ll spend less on your new car loan.