Buying a Used Car
It’s that time where you are in need of a new or newer vehicle. You current mode of transportation has been good to you in the past, but it’s just costing too much in repairs or just isn’t as reliable as it used to be. This situation happens thousands of times across the country every day. The problem is that you don’t have the money to buy a newer car. Let’s take a look at obtaining a personal loan or going to a buy here pay here car dealership.
Buy here pay here dealerships can be a good choice for many people that need to get into something fairly quickly. It can be a good alternative to taking out a loan in some cases. Usually people that do not have good credit can benefit from this situation. Most buy here pay here car dealers will not even run a credit score on their customers and require a small amount of money down on the purchased vehicle. One problem is that their inventory tends to be a bit on the older side. You usually do not have access to later models and you could end up swapping out your older paid off car for a car that you now owe money on and still has some problems.
Another instance with these types of dealerships is the amount of money you are actually paying for the vehicle. They will charge you quite a bit more money than the car or truck is actually worth. They know that you may be in a desperate situation and they have the upper hand. You could be paying 20%-25% more than the vehicle is valued at just to able to use their easy, no credit check method of getting you into a car.
Another problem is that they take “low” weekly payments. This sounds enticing at first. When you are trying to figure out your payments and they present a low weekly payment of $75.00 this sounds like you should have no problem making that payment. Who can’t afford $75.00 a week? Well, a lot of people can’t afford that payment. That’s a $300.00 per month payment. You can buy a brand new Mercedes for that amount of money. Add on your car insurance and you end up with a hefty car bill each month.
Taking out a personal loan gives you many advantages when it comes to buying a used car. The dealership will haggle the price down quite a bit because you are essentially paying them cash at the deals end. You will also gain a positive credit score when the loan is paid off. At the buy here pay here places, you can only achieve a negative score if default on your payments, they usually don’t report to the credit agencies.
Just be weary of a deal that sounds too good to be true. If you can obtain a personal loan for your newer car, then take it. It’s easier to afford and will actually save you money in the whole scheme of things.