San Antonio consumers that are credit challenged should avoid making the mistake of adding unnecessary extras to a bad credit auto loan.
Repairing your auto credit
At Auto Net Financial our business is to match up consumers in the San Antonio with bad credit who have filled out our secure online bad credit auto loan application with a dealer in the Alamo City metropolitan area that can get them financed. These dealers use a wide spectrum of lenders and specialize in helping customers with bad credit find the right vehicle and the right lender so that they can begin the process of reestablishing their car credit and raising their FICO scores.
We also want to make sure that our applicants in San Antonio make the right choices during the auto loans for bad credit buying process since a mistake at this time could possibly result in repossession later on. Once this happens, the only remaining choice for most Alamo City buyers is a tote the note dealer. It also means that rebuilding your auto credit has to be put on hold for at least a year, since most lenders that offer car loans with bad credit will only consider approving applicants with a repossession that’s more than a year old.
How to research
Whether you have great credit or have less than perfect credit and need to finance your new car with a bad credit car loan, you need to know that the internet is probably the best resources to help you research all you need to know about new and used cars as well as credit repair.
Many of the web sites you’ll find there such as Consumer Reports (along with its accompanying publications) will give you unbiased vehicle ratings that include such things as retail pricing and dealer cost information as well as detailed vehicle repair history reports.
The good, bad, and ugly back end products
But in addition to studying a vehicle’s specifications, you also need to know that car dealers sell a number of other products and services on the “back end” (the car is considered to be the “front end”) of the new or used car sales transaction.
At Auto Net Financial, we’ve been around the retail automotive business long enough to know that most River City dealers are pretty straightforward when it comes to selling you a car. But even we have to admit that there are a few dealers out there that give the rest a bad name by trying to trick buyers into paying for additional products and services that they really don’t need.
In all fairness, many of these back end products could end up saving you money in the long run. Gap insurance can make sense if you have very little money down and are financing your car for more than 36 months. A service contract might also help you if you drive a lot of miles and are planning on financing your new car beyond the original warranty term or if you’re buying a pre-owned car with little or no warranty and your budget is tight (where a major repair would really strain your pocketbook).
Here is our take on a select few back end products:
The (sometimes) good
Gap insurance – depending on your situation, as we explained above, this type of protection is well worth the cost.
Service contract – Although this is also one of the good products, it doesn’t always make sense for everybody. If you don’t drive very many miles and you keep your vehicles for only two to three years, you should probably turn it down if you are buying a new car. Above all, don’t let anyone try to convince you that you have to purchase a service contract because the bank requires it.
The bad
Market adjustment – This one can be tricky. After all, if a customer can offer a dealer less than MSRP for a vehicle (which is done thousands of times every day), why can’t a dealer ask more than the MSRP if the vehicle is popular and in high demand? One way to check this out would be to call other dealers in San Antonio in order to determine whether or not you are able to buy it at, or less than, MSRP. If you can’t, it’s your judgment call as to whether or not it is worth the extra money to buy it now or whether waiting a few months might save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
The ugly
Window etching – Window etching involves etching the car’s vehicle identification (VIN) number onto the windows of the vehicle – for a price. The cost of this service can range from as low as $200 to as high as $350 or more. You might think that you did a good job by bargaining the price down to a hundred dollars or so, but that’s still much more than it would cost you if you did it yourself (and you can). If you really feel you have to have your windows etched, you can buy a window etching kit in most auto parts shops for around $20.
Preparation fees – Believe it or not, there are still a few dealers that think they can add preparation fees to the bill of sale for cleaning, test driving and replacing fuses on your new car. But a closer look at the Monroney Label (window sticker) will tell you these fees are included in the MSRP as set by the manufacturer. If this is added to the buyers order, ask that it be credited back to you. If it isn’t, just walk away from the deal.
The Bottom Line
Whether or not you decide that you need a particular back end product is a decision that you will have to make. Just make sure you’re not paying for any of the “ugly” ones before you sign on the dotted line.
At Auto Net Financial we have helped hundreds of consumers in San Antone with bad, blemished, bruised and tarnished credit buy cars and reestablish their credit at the same time. Our Texas network of affiliate dealers specializes in bad credit car loans. Our web site, www.autonetfinancial.com, will help you determine how much car you can afford and unlike many other sites, our toll free number is listed on every page in case you have any additional questions.
So why not begin the process right now by filling out our secure online bad credit car loan application to see what we can do for you.
