Buying a new or used car can be an intimidating experience. It's important that you go into a car dealership with information about the cars you are interested in, the budget you can afford, and the value of your trade-in if you have one. WestCorp Capital can assist you in this process as well as the process of getting your loan.
Prior to visiting a Postans dealership, have a sense of what kind of deposit you can afford to put down, or talk to an expert and decide what loan is best suited to you and your needs.
Understand how loans work, and you’re better equipped to make smart decisions about your loan. When Postans car buyers lose perspective, they commonly fall into two dangerous traps:
It’s tempting to focus on the monthly payment when deciding how much you can afford. In fact, some auto dealers encourage this. Unfortunately, the monthly payment is easy to change: just make the loan last longer. Stretching out a loan for more years (for example, going with a seven-year auto loan instead of a four-year loan) makes for lower payments – but it also results in dramatically higher interest costs. What’s more, you’ve got a better chance of getting upside-down on your loan (when you owe more on the vehicle than it is worth). Get car financing that is suited to you and you Postans lifestyle.
Making a small down payment feels good today, but that means you’re borrowing more (which, again, makes it easy to get upside-down).
Make sure you’re buying a car that you can truly afford and avoid taking on a loan that will come back to haunt you.
Just because you see a low-interest rate advertised for a car loan with one particular lender, don't automatically think that's how much you'll end up paying. Always talk to a professional before going through with any Car fiance in Postans.
Those ultra-cheap interest rates may only be available to you if you have good credit or if you are buying a certain type of car. In some cases, those rates may only apply to loans amounts over $30,000.
This means if you're buying a car that is two years old and you only want to borrow $21,000, you may be paying a slightly higher interest rate than the one you saw advertised. It's important to find out whether your car loan has a balloon payment also.