Auto Loan Tips - All you need to know to be a smart auto loan shopper.

When Does Car Leasing Make Sense?

This Kiplinger's Personal Finance article will probably change some people's mind about whether to lease or buy a car. To me, the time-tested rule is still to buy a 2-to-3-year-old used car. You will get the best of both worlds: easier maintenance and better value.

"Many leasers believe that instead of having nothing to show at the end of the lease, they've gotten the best years from a quickly depreciating asset. A lease usually ends about the same time as the warranty, so you probably won't pay for any repairs. And you won't have to worry about whether you'll get a fair deal on a trade-in. In most states, you pay sales tax only on the monthly payments rather than on the full value of the car. Plus, many of today's leases include gap insurance to cover the difference between the lease payoff and an insurance settlement if the car is totaled or stolen. Yes, there are early-termination fees if you change your mind. But if you finance a car ..." Full Story

How To Get An Auto Loan After Bankruptcy?

If you have ever filed for bankruptcy and are in need of a car loan, a bankruptcy car loan may be the choice for you. While filing bankruptcy often puts a big dent in our credit report, we often find that we have a need for a car during the seven years after filing. I say seven years, because this is the amount of time a bankruptcy generally remains on your credit report, which could lead to the denial of credit. Bankruptcy car loans can help you in purchasing a new vehicle, even if you have a bankruptcy in your past. Bankruptcy Car Loans:- Bankruptcy car loans further help you in rebuilding your credit and re-establish your rating, after filing for bankruptcy. Typically, two years ... Full Story

How To Get A Car Loan With Bad Credit?

You can get an auto loan even you are stuck with bad credit. Here are some useful tips from Edmunds.com.

"Check your credit report. Make sure that everything on your report is accurate; it could be that information has been entered in error, and that your credit history is a lot less blemished than you've been led to believe. If you do find information on your report that is inaccurate, you need to address it right away. Contact the credit bureaus in writing, listing your name and address and clearly detailing the nature of the error. Access your credit score. For a long time, credit scores were available only to prospective lenders, who used them to evaluate those seeking loans. That has changed; it's now possible for consumers to access this all-important number. Your score is available online from each of the three credit bureaus ..." Full Story

Bad Credit Auto Loan Tips

This is a surprisingly nicely-written review of auto loan tips for bad-credit borrowers.

"The greatest abuses in bad credit auto lending come from dealers who artificially inflate the prices of their cars and or the interest rates charged for the financing. A common tactic is for a dishonest dealer "specializing in bad credit purchasers" to take a car normally sold for $3,000 and inflate the price to $6,000, take $1,500 down and finance the balance at 24 to 26%. The reality would be that the borrower not only obligates themselves to a contract at a very, very high interest rate but that the under lying debt and price for the car bear no realistic relationship to the value of the vehicle. This leaves the borrower in a position that ultimately they will default on the loan further ruining ..." Full Story

How To Avoid Auto Financing Traps?

Eloan offers some great tips to avoid paying more than you need for auto financing.

"Dealer rate markups When shopping for a car, most people decide to obtain a loan through the car dealership itself. It's certainly the most convenient option, and dealerships promise you the best available rate. However, don't assume they are providing all the information you need to make an informed decision. Dealers simply offer to "arrange" financing for you -- they are not actually putting up the money themselves. Once they obtain a loan commitment from the automaker's financing company, many dealerships mark up the loan by adding two to three percentage points to your rate. For instance, let's say you qualify for a loan at a five-percent interest rate. The dealer may tell you that you actually qualified for an eight-percent rate. You pay the ..." Full Story

Capital One Auto Loan's Blank Check Program

Nance Kelly from About discussed her family's pleasant experience with auto loan from Capital One.

"You are under no obligation to use the check, so if your credit is good, you may be able to use your pre-approval through Capital One to negotiate better financing terms through your auto dealership. When you get a pre-approved loan, that commitment usually is good for a month or more, so you have plenty of time to shop around for the best deal. Capital One guarantees that its customers will be happy with the ease of their blank check program. If you are at all unhappy with your experience, simply call Capital One within 30 days of using the check; they will send you a questionnaire, and in exchange for the completed questionnaire, they will send you $100. " Full Story

How Much Car Loan Can You Afford?

Good advice that you should only spend no more than 10 percent of your income on car expenses. I bought three cars in the past, and every single time I paid by cash.

"Kicking a few tires is only half the battle. Before you begin looking for a new car, you should know your limits and what you should be spending. Experts say you shouldn't spend more than 10 percent of your gross income on car expenses, which includes the cost of the car along with insurance, gas and maintenance. Once you decide on a price range, you'll want to decide how much you can put down as a down payment and then negotiate the price of your car. Too many buyers accept long financing arrangements in order to minimize their down payment. If they decide to trade the car in the first year or so, they often find that they actually owe more on their car than ..." Full Story

4 Steps Toward A Successful Auto Loan

Yes, you research will be paid off handsomely when it comes to car loans.

"1. Determine your financial situation This is the first and most important step in the car buying process. You must know how much you can spend before you can determine what you can afford. You don't want to get stuck making a bloated car payment that will leave you eating bologna sandwiches for three years. 2. Decide which car you want Now that you have settled on a monthly allotment, now you can look at which vehicles fit into your price range. 3. Do your homework There are plenty of places for you to do your car research. Check out the Internet and newspapers, contact car dealerships, credit unions and local banks to see what kind of deal you can get. Knowing what a car ..." Full Story

Avoid (or Correct) Upside-Down Bad Car Loans

Don't get upside-down in your auto loan in the first place. But if you are already in such a situation, you can still do a few things to pull yourself out. Read Bankrate's 9-tips on avoiding and fixing such bad car loans.

"1. Make a down payment of at least 20 percent of the vehicle's cost. 2. Do not finance the taxes and fees. 3. Take out the shortest-term loan you can afford. 4. Don't take out a loan that's longer than you intend to keep the car. 5. Consider gap insurance. 6. Buy a used car instead. 7. Keep the car until its value matches or exceeds the balance on the loan. 8. Buy cheap. 9. Sell your car yourself. " Full Story

8-Year Car Loan?

7-year or 84-month auto loan is already a rarity, but smart people in car dealerships and banks are now inventing 8-year or 96-month auto loans. Surely, it is not a good idea to commit your payment for the next 8 years while your new set of wheels will not accompany you this long.

"Now the auto industry is rolling out a tempting new bait to boost molasses-paced new car and truck sales — an eight-year auto loan. "That's a good way to do that," says Debbie Guthrie of Fort Worth, Texas, an SUV aficionada who recently bought her latest vehicle. She says she'd consider a 96-month note as a way to upgrade: "Now I [could] buy a Lexus or something and then you're not going to get upside-down in it." Being "upside-down" is industry parlance meaning to exceed a lease plan's mileage allotment before the end of the term or owing a considerable amount of money on a purchased car at trade-in time. While extra-long loan programs and their promise of lower monthly payments are meant to generate ..." Full Story

Car Loans Getting Longer and Longer

It is just astonishing that over a half of new cars are financed with a loan over five years. Probably we should face the reality: if you cannot afford a car, extending the length of your loan will not help (and it will only drag you to a rathole in the long run).

"Think that car payment would be a little more affordable if you could just spread those payments over another year or two? If you do, you're not alone. Eighty-nine percent of new car buyers are financing their vehicles for more than four years, and 55 percent select loans that extend more than five years, according to a 2006 study commissioned by the Consumer Bankers Association and conducted by BenchMark Consulting International. ... With used cars, 82 percent of buyers finance for more than four years, and 40 percent opt for payments to run more than five years, according to the study." Full Story

Cut Your Car's Financing Costs

Some good advice from SmartMoney on first-time car owners. Actually, unless you have very poor credit that you cannot get a loan elsewhere, it is almost never a good idea to get financing from the dealership.

"The auto-financing department is the dealership's cash cow. Dealers make money by keeping as much of the spread between the interest rate they get from the manufacturers and the rate they offer to their customers. As you might imagine, giving you the most competitive deal is not in a salesperson's best interest. So do yourself a favor and shop around for financing before you walk onto the car lot. Credit unions and even traditional banks often offer consumers competitive deals. Indeed, you might even want to secure a blank check from the bank to take with you to the dealership. That way, you can put the heat on the dealer to beat the rate you've been given. If you can't find a competitive auto loan ..." Full Story

Different Types of Car Financing

Do you know there are more than one way to finance your new set of wheels? Check out the options so you don't have to stick to expensive auto loans.

"Car financing offers one the opportunity of owning a vehicle. There are several ways one can obtain car financing. A personal loan, however, is one of the more popular methods of car financing. Purchasing a car with a personal loan allows one to borrow money from his or her chosen financial institution. It also makes it possible for the buyer to ultimately pay for the car entirely. As a result, the buyer owns the car completely. Since the debt owed on the car is paid off through personal loan car financing, the car owner also has the freedom to sell the car or to trade it for another. Hire purchase is another type of car financing. This method involves forming an agreement between the used ..." Full Story