If you want to buy a brand-new car, it’s going to cost you about $40,000 on average. If you want to buy a used one, it’s going to cost you about $23,000 on average.
With these things in mind, there is a good chance that you’re not going to be able to pay for a car outright with cash. You’re more than likely going to have to track down a car loan provider who can help you get your hands on the money you’ll need to purchase a car, truck, or SUV.
The good news is that there are plenty of loan provider options out there. But that doesn’t mean you should simply choose the first one you can find and take out a loan through them. Instead, you should do your homework on the different car loan providers and see which one seems best.
Here is everything you should consider when trying to pick out a car loan provider.
Experience
When you’re considering working with a car loan provider, one of the first things you should check to see is how much experience they have. Ideally, you want to work closely with a car loan provider that has been handing out loans to people for many, many years now.
In a perfect world, you’re going to recognize the name of a car loan provider right off the bat. If you don’t, it likely means that they haven’t earned enough experience over time to build up name recognition for their brand.
The most experienced car loan providers in the industry are usually going to be able to extend the best deals to those looking to take out a car loan. It’s why you should try to work with one of these providers if at all possible.
Reputation
In addition to taking a look at a car loan provider’s experience level, you should also carefully consider their reputation within your community before you agree to work with them. You don’t ever want to get stuck working with a loan provider that doesn’t have the best rep among those who live in your city or town.
You should see where a car loan provider stands reputation-wise by reading through lots of references and reviews for them. You should spend an hour or so sifting through them to see what other people have had to say about a loan provider over the years.
If you notice that a loan provider has nothing but negative reviews from their past customers, you’ll know that you should probably shy away from working with them. You’re going to want to have a loan provider with a wealth of positive reviews like Plenti in your corner.
Loan Options
People don’t always realize this, but there are lots of different types of loans that they can take out when buying a car. It’s going to be up to you to learn about some of the types of loans, which will include:
- Secured loans
- Unsecured loans
- Dealer financed loans
It’s also going to be up to you to see which car loan providers can set you up with each of these options. You should try to find one that’s going to be able to extend a bunch of different options to you so that you can choose the one that will fit into your financial plans.
If a car loan provider tries to force one particular loan option on you, they’re probably not going to be the best choice for you. You need a loan provider on your side that’s going to be able to offer up more than enough options for you to pick from.
Interest Rates
One of the most important things that you’re going to need to do when considering different loan provider options is see how much it’s going to cost you to work with each one. You can do this by comparing loan costs through each loan provider.
You can also do it by seeing what kinds of interest rates you’re going to be able to get from loan providers. Loan providers will gather a bunch of information from you, like your credit score, and tell you what kinds of interest rates they can offer to you. Those interest rates are going to have a big impact on the total price that you’re going to pay for a car.
You’re obviously going to want to try to get access to the lowest interest rates that you can. To do this, you’re really going to need to shop around for the best interest rate possible through a bunch of car loan providers.
Down Payments
You might be able to get away with buying a new or used car without putting any kind of down payment down on it. But you might also be asked by different car loan providers to provide a down payment before you’re able to take out a loan for a vehicle.
You should see what kinds of down payments different car loan providers are looking for prior to agreeing to work with one over all the rest. Depending on where your credit score stands, you could very well be forced to put down a down payment by certain loan providers.
Putting down a down payment on a vehicle isn’t the worst idea in the world. It’s going to cut your monthly payments down to size, and it’ll often allow you to get a better interest rate on a loan.
But if you can’t afford to throw down a large down payment, you might not be able to work with some loan providers. You’ll want to keep this in the back of your mind as you search for a loan provider.
Repayment Terms
For years, most people took out 3-, 4-, or maybe 5-year loans when buying vehicles. This allowed them to purchase a car and pay it off in a relatively short period of time.
But these days, it’s not uncommon at all for people to take out 6-, 7-, or even 8-year loans for cars. The average car loan length has gone up quite a bit over time.
If you’re interested in taking out a loan like this, you’re going to have to find a car loan provider willing to give it to you. Not all car loan providers extend the same repayment terms to their customers.
You’ll find out more about the repayment terms that a car loan provider offers when you apply for a loan through them. You might get the option to choose from several options after reading through their loan terms and conditions.
Payment Methods
Once you take on a new car loan, it’s going to be your responsibility to make payments on it every single month. And it’s also going to be your responsibility to figure out how to go about making payments to your car loan provider to fulfill your financial obligations.
Fortunately, most car loan providers set their customers up with lots of different payment methods these days. People can pay by:
- Stopping by an office to make a payment in person
- Sending a check to an office by mail
- Making a payment online and having funds deducted from a checking account
You’re going to be spending at least a few years repaying a car loan. So it’s important for you to find a car loan provider that’s going to extend a whole bunch of payment methods to you. It’ll make it super simple for you to get your payments to them.
Penalties
As long as you make all your car loan payments on time, you shouldn’t have to spend time worrying about penalties. But there is, of course, a chance that you might face penalties from your car loan provider at some point in time.
If, for example, you miss a car payment, you might get hit with a late fee. You might also get hit with service fees throughout the life of a car loan in some cases.
You should do some digging into the loan terms and conditions that are being offered to you by different car loan providers to see what kinds of penalties they have put into place. If these penalties seem as though they could really hurt you, you might want to think twice about working with a particular loan provider.
Track Down the Right Car Loan Provider Today
There is going to be no shortage of loan provider options when you’re looking to borrow money to buy a car. You’re going to have loan providers beating down your front door in the hopes of giving a loan to you.
You should steer clear of choosing the first one that you can find and try to track down the best possible car loan provider in your area. It could help you save a ton of money over time and put you in a position to pay off your car loan as quickly as you can.
Read the other articles posted on our blog to get more tips on taking out loans for different things.
