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How To Buy A Car
With No Credit Or Bad Credit
Finding The Right
Car
The obvious first step toward buying
your dream car is to figure out what
kind of car you need to be looking for.
You do, however, need to be realistic.
We all have that idea in our heads of
our dream car, but it just may not be
feasible to get that particular car.
You should keep in mind that you are not
only trying to establish and/or repair
your credit, but you want transportation
as well. Think within the parameters
that make sense for you. You need to be
sure that you can not only make the
payments, but also that you get a car
that works for you.
It’s important to know what you can
afford before you go shopping. It’s
alright to dream because you never know
what you will come across in your
search. You may find someone who’s
willing to part with a car that you’ve
always dreamed of at a bargain price.
Look everywhere for your car. You don’t
have to be confined only to car dealers.
Scan the want ads and see what people
are selling on their own. This could be
the best way to find a great car since
you don’t have to deal with a pushy
salesperson.
When you find a car you think you want
to see, make the call, but keep the
following checklist handy when asking
questions about that car.
TELEPHONE INFORMATION SHEET
(QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK WHEN
CALLING ABOUT A VEHICLE.)
Date:
Owner s Name:
Make of Car:
Year:
Color:
Mileage:
Condition – Including any Possible
Problems:
5 Speed Transmission:
Automatic Transmission:
Asking Price:
Monthly Payments, if any:
Number of Payments Remaining:
Full Pay-Off Amount:
Are Payments Current:
Address Where Car Is Located:
Owner's Phone Number:
Comments:
You may think that asking this many
questions may be an invasion of privacy
or a bit intrusive. Get rid of that
thought. Anyone who is serious about
selling their car will be happy to
answer twice that many questions. Plus,
they’re more likely to take you
seriously when you project a prepared
image.
If you think you might be interested in
a vehicle, ask to take a test drive.
However, before you do, research the car
you are going to be looking at. There
are many ways to do this.
Kelly Blue Book is known as the “bible”
of a car’s value. Simply log on to
www.kbb.com
and answer the questions they ask to
gauge the approximate value of the car.
One of the questions will be what
condition is it in: Excellent, Good,
Fair, or Poor.
Before you go drive the car, you will
only have the owner’s opinion of the
car. Many people over-exaggerate the
actual condition in hopes of making the
car sound better than what it is. We
suggest that you enter in “Fair” prior
to driving the car to get an approximate
value. If the car itself turns out to be
an excellent, you can always re-evaluate
the price that Kelly gives you and
decide whether or not the car is worth
the asking price.
There are plenty of car lots out there
who offer financing to people with
credit issues. They usually come with
names like “EZ Credit Auto” or “Car
Specialists”. A bit of a disclaimer
belongs here. Those names were
completely made up by the author. Anyone
who has that business name is purely a
coincidence and no offense is meant!
At any rate, many of these car lots can
be a great help to people with little,
no, or bad credit. You need to be aware,
however, of what you will be offered at
these lots. Most of the time, the cars
they have are high mileage and older
models (at least 10 years old). They
will probably be a bit over-priced for
their condition, although that’s not
always the case.
What these companies do is offer
on-the-spot financing through their
business at a high interest rate as well
as higher payments. The advantage to
using them is that you will be
re-establishing your credit or
establishing credit for the first time.
This can be a huge benefit.
Be aware, though, that you might be
getting yourself into a situation that
might be too much for you to handle.
Before you sign on the dotted line, be
sure that you will be able to make ALL
of the payments and make them on time.
If you don’t, you’ll just be in a bad
credit situation which will only cause
more problems.
Finally, you can try the traditional
route and go to a regular car dealer.
The salespeople can often offer you some
options when it comes to financing, and
they will often go out of their way to
do what they can to see you buy a car.
The reason is obvious, they want a sale.
The financing people at new car
dealerships know a lot of alternative
financing routes that you can take
advantage of. They will also, most
likely, have a much better selection of
cars for you to choose from thus
increasing your chances of finding a
great vehicle for your specific needs.
No matter where you go to find your car,
be sure to stand firm and stay within
your means. DO NOT let anyone talk you
into buying a car that you either cannot
afford or are not crazy about. There are
a bazillion other cars you could fall in
love with. Be willing to walk away from
the car if the deal doesn't meet the
criteria you laid out earlier. Your
ability to negotiate a great deal will
increase by leaps and bounds.
Perhaps most importantly, get the
vehicle identification number (VIN)
which is usually found on the driver’s
side dash through the windshield. When
you have the VIN, you can find out a lot
of information about your potential car.
Log on to
www.carfax.com and enter in the VIN.
Once you do, you will have a complete
history on the car including all
previous owners, whether or not it has
been wrecked, and much more information.
Knowing this can make a difference in
whether or not you buy that particular
car.
This author can’t stress this point
enough. I personally had an experience
where I went to purchase a car from a
dealership. The salesperson told me it
was a “program” car which can mean a
variety of different things – it could
be a dealer car, a rental car, or an
executive car among other things.
The salesperson assured me that this
particular car was a car used by
executives from the car company to use
and that once it hit a certain amount of
miles, it was offered up for sale. She
said that it was used in a large city
about 60 miles to the west of where I
lived.
I wasn’t completely convinced that I
wanted to buy the car because of the
payment. They were a little higher than
what I wanted, but the car had
relatively low mileage, was in great
shape and it seemed like a good deal. I
took the car home overnight and decided
to buy it before I went to bed. Had I
known about the Carfax report, I would
have never signed the papers.
As it turned out, the salesperson lied
to me. My car wasn’t driven by a car
company executive west of my town. It
was a rental car in a major city 300
miles south of my town – and it had been
wrecked.
I would never have questioned this until
I began having some major problems with
the car just three months after buying
it. The problems I was having were not
consistent with a car that was that new,
and the dealership wasn’t willing to
make good on all the problems I was
having.
The moral of the story is to do your
research. If you’re not sure about a car
purchase, DON’T DO IT. Trust your gut
instinct. Look very carefully at what
you’re going to buy and make sure that
what the seller is representing the car
as is the complete truth.
This will save you a lot of headaches
and insure you have a positive
experience when buying a car.
You may also want to ask a mechanic to
give the car a good “once over” to see
if there are any obvious problems you
should be concerned about. Have a
mechanic in mind and take the car to
them preferably on your test drive.
Many people – individual owners and
dealerships alike – will try to play the
“I have a lot of people interested in
this car” trick hoping that you will
rush into the buy. Don’t fall for this.
If someone else gets the car, then it
wasn’t meant for you. Another one will
come along.
We recently had an individual owner try
this with my son. When he test drove the
car, there was some major front end
concerns and the gentleman trying to
sell the car was attempting to pressure
my son with this type of ploy.
Luckily, my son was smart enough to back
out of the deal even though it seemed
like a good car. Someone else got the
car, but we take a relieving breath
knowing that we aren’t the ones who will
have to get the front end fixed!
There are so many things you have to
keep in mind when buying a car, but most
of all, we have three major points that
you should never forget:
• Don’t buy a car you can’t afford
• Make sure it’s worth the money
• Do your research and know what you’re
getting into
If you keep these things in mind, you’ll
be on your way to car ownership!
But what about the money?
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