How to Finance a Car: A Step-By-Step Guide

It’s a whole lot more exciting to shop for a new car than for a car loan. That’s why it’s one of the last things many car shoppers think about – when it should be one of the first. Of course, getting the right vehicle for your needs and budget is critical, but figuring out how to pay for it and getting a car loan should be tackled early in your car-buying journey.

Few buyers can afford to pay cash for the full price of new- or used-car purchases. Instead, you’ll need to get an auto loan to cover either the entire cost of the vehicle or a substantial part of it. Like most parts of the car-purchase process, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of hassle-free online auto loan tools. You can now easily compare lenders and apply for loans while you’re on the couch binging Netflix.

When you know how much you can borrow, what interest rate you qualify to receive and how long of a loan lenders are willing to extend, you’ll have a better idea of how much car you can afford. Getting the right auto loan can save you money, while getting the wrong one can cost you in several ways, including damage to your credit.

An auto loan payment is just one piece of the cost of owning a new or used vehicle – there’s also fuel, maintenance, insurance and parking. Your monthly payment needs to fit into your budget, while at the same time paying down the balance as quickly as possible.

“Do your homework and make sure it’s not just about ‘hey, I want to pay $300 a month,’” says Erin Klepaski, executive director of strategic alliances at Ally Financial. “Really make sure that vehicle meets your needs – that you can insure it, that the fuel economy makes sense for you, you can drive the number of miles you need, that it has the functionality that you need, so that you get that whole package and that total cost of ownership experience, as opposed to shopping the vehicle payment.”

Our new car rankings and used car rankingswill help you find the right vehicle, while the following steps will guide you through getting a great deal on your car loan.

It’s common for car buyers to put off the thought of financing until they are in a car dealership’s financing office. That’s unfortunately a path to paying too much for your car loan and potentially putting yourself on a path to financial calamity. Smart car buyers know precisely how much vehicle they can afford and have a plan in place to finance their new ride before they even think about heading to a dealership. You might end up with dealer-arranged financing, but if they don’t have an offer to beat they’ll have no incentive to give you a more affordable deal.

There are some essential terms that you’ll want to understand before you begin your auto financing adventure. Here are a few of the most important:

Car Loan (also auto loan, car financing): A car loan is a contract between you and a lender where they agree to provide you with the cash to buy a new or used car, and you agree to pay the money back over time. Unless you get a 0% financing deal, you’ll have to pay interest each month on the loan balance. Some lenders will also charge you a loan fee.

Interest (also Finance Charge): Interest is the cost of borrowing the money from the lender. It is expressed as an interest rate (often called the annual percentage rate or APR). The interest covers the lender’s costs and risks while providing them with a profit margin. A loan’s interest rate will be specified in the loan papers.

Interest rates fluctuate over time. For several years, auto loan rates were near historic lows. They are now slowly climbing toward a more historically normal range. The annual percentage rate you’ll pay is affected by a multitude of factors, including some you can control and many you can’t. Your personal credit history, the length of the loan that you’re seeking and even the type of vehicle that you’re buying can significantly affect the rate you’ll be asked to pay. Different lenders can offer significantly different interest rates for the same vehicle purchase.

Car Loan Term: The loan term is the length of the auto loan, and it’s typically expressed as a number of months. Loan terms of 36 to 48 months were once the most common lengths. As cars have gotten more expensive, however, loans with terms of 60 to 72 months or even longer are widely available. It’s a good idea to divide the loan term by 12 to see the number of years that it will take to pay off the vehicle.

Longer loans mean more risk for lenders, so they typically come with higher interest rates. You generally want to get the shortest loan you can afford. Having a shorter loan helps you to avoid the possibility that you’ll still be trying to pay off your car at the same time as the car’s age leads to ever-more costly repairs. You don’t want to be faced with the choice of paying for repairs or having the money to make your monthly car payment.

Principal: The loan principal is the balance of the loan. When you first take out the financing, it will be the total loan amount. As you make monthly payments, the principal will decline. With each payment, a portion will go toward interest and the rest will pay down the principal.

Down Payment: A down payment is an amount of money that you pay toward the purchase of the car when you initially buy it. It can come in the form of a cash payment, your trade-in or both. The amount you’ll have to finance is the difference between the price of the car and the amount of the down payment. For example, if you buy a $40,000 minivan and pay a $10,000 down payment, you’ll have to finance $30,000.

Monthly Payment (or Car Payment): Each month, you’ll be required to make a payment toward the loan’s principal and interest. Monthly payments will be equal and have a specific due date.

Figuring out the monthly payments on a specific loan requires relatively sophisticated math, as you’ll be paying a bit less interest each month as the loan balance declines. Fortunately, you can quickly find an answer by plugging a few numbers into our car payment calculator.

It’s crucial that you look at the cost of the car plus the total cost of interest when comparing auto loans. Focusing on the monthly payment, the number of months you’ll be paying or the interest rate alone won’t give you a complete picture of the total cost of the vehicle.

Credit Score: A credit score is a three-digit number that represents a credit reporting agency’s analysis of your credit history. The higher the score the better. It’s based on several factors, including your history of making on-time payments, the amount and types of credit you have, and the amount and types of credit you’re using.

Vehicle Title: A state-issued slip of paper that proves ownership of a car. It first goes to the company that makes your auto loan. Until you completely pay off the loan, the lender will hold the title to the vehicle.

Loan to Value Ratio: The ratio of the loan balance to the cash value of the car. You want this number to be less than 100%. If it’s 100% or more, you’re considered underwater on your car loan.

Your credit score is a snapshot of your creditworthiness and your ability to repay an auto loan (or any other type of loan or credit card). It is essentially the information from your credit report boiled down to a three-digit score. Higher numbers indicate there’s a good chance of a borrower paying back a loan. Lower numbers show a greater probability that a borrower will default on their loan.

You actually have several credit scores, as different credit reporting companies use different methods to determine scores. The three main credit bureaus are Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. Sometimes your credit score will be referred to as your credit rating or FICO score, though a FICO score is just one type of credit score available to lenders. Most credit-scoring models range from 300 to 850 points, though some use other scales. Scores from one scoring model are not directly comparable to those from other models.

If you have a high credit score, getting a car loan with a low interest rate is more likely than if you have a lower score. Consumers with lower scores will generally have a harder time getting a loan and can expect to pay a higher interest rate on their loan. If you have steady employment and a score of 720 or above on most scales, you should not have any problem getting financing.

What Goes Into a Credit Report?

The two most important factors are your history of making on-time payments and whether or not you have been delinquent or defaulted on any financial obligations. The more often you have been late, the more points will be deducted from your score. If a lender has had to write off a balance that you left unpaid, you’ll have a derogatory mark on your credit for several years.

Next is the amount you owe compared to the amount of credit that you have available. If you are utilizing 90% of the credit that you have available, for example, it will hurt your credit score more than if you’re just using just 30% of your available credit. If you are considering closing credit cards, wait until you get your auto loan. Closing cards reduces your availability of credit and raises the percentage of your credit that you are utilizing, hurting your score.

Less critical, but still significant, is the age of the accounts you have open and when the last activity on your accounts occurred. Lenders want to see stability, and if there are many recent account openings, your credit score will take a significant dip. The reports also reflect the mix of credit types, with revolving accounts such as credit cards weighing differently on the score than installment accounts like car payments.

Finally, the score will reflect recent attempts to secure credit. Each time a potential lender asks for a score at your request, it drops your score a bit. However, all inquiries during a short period for the same type of activity, such as a new auto loan, are treated as one request and won’t have a huge effect on your score.

In most cases, your credit score won’t include your payment history with utility or cell phone companies. Recently, credit bureau Experian began offering a service that adds your payment history on those types of bills into your credit score. Opting in to the program raises participants’ credit scores by an average of more than 10 points, according to the company.

How to Find and Fix Dings in Your Credit Report

The worst time to find out that you have bad credit or other credit issues is when you have fallen in love with a vehicle, and you’re trying to make the purchase. Many buyers have no clue about their credit until they are sitting in the dealership’s finance office, and that opens them up to accepting a lousy financing deal if they want (or need) to buy the car.

American consumers are entitled by law to one free copy of their credit report from Experian, TransUnion and Equifax each year. The law does not mandate that they provide your credit score, though your score is available for free from many credit card issuers and on lenders’ websites.

Well before you start your auto-buying odyssey, you’ll want to get copies of your credit reports and go over them in detail to identify any errors and negative information. Pulling your own copies of the reports each year does not affect your score like an inquiry from a lender does.

Errors can take time to get corrected, and you might need several months of making on-time payments on all of your accounts to raise your score appreciably. If you’re thinking of making multiple major purchases that require good credit, such as cars or a house, you’ll want to stagger them so that they don’t slam your credit score too badly by hitting your score at the same time. Though it might seem like a good idea, you shouldn’t start closing credit cards in an attempt to raise your credit score. Doing so can potentially increase your credit utilization percentage and lower your score instead of building it.

If you do have to accept an auto loan deal without the best terms, know that you can usually refinance your car loan at any time during its term. You’ll want to watch out for prepayment penalties, but beyond that, you may be able to save a tremendous amount of money if your credit score has improved before you refinance.

What Else Are Lenders Looking At?

There are several things on your credit report that are not reflected in your credit rating. Your age, income, marital status, address or employment don’t figure into your score, though your lender may ask for that information on your loan application and use it to the extent that it is legally allowed.

“You’re looking at that whole picture of the customer,” says Klepaski.

Beyond the information from your credit report, the lender will be evaluating your capacity to repay your loan: Do you have the cash flow to make your monthly payments? What is your monthly rent? They’ll want to know about your income, its sources and how stable your employment is.

“If you’ve had the same job for 10 years and you recently started another, that probably works,” says Klepaski. “If you’ve had 14 jobs this year that might be a red flag for somebody.”

From the information on your credit report and your auto loan application, the lender will compute your debt-to-income ratio. If you owe too much compared to your income, you’ll likely be asked to pay a higher interest rate, take a shorter loan, be required to make a more substantial down payment or accept a smaller loan. If the numbers are way out of whack, the lender can turn you down altogether.

The lender will also be considering the quality of your collateral. In the case of an auto loan, the secured collateral is the car that you need the money to buy. They will hold the title to the collateral until you pay off the loan.

Buyers asking for more than the cash value of a vehicle that they are buying may be asked to pay a higher interest rate or accept a shorter term than those making a substantial down payment. Why would the amount of financing be higher than the purchase price at the beginning of the loan? The most common reason is when buyers still owe money on their current car when they decide they need a new one. By rolling the balance of the old loan into the new loan, you create a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio that’s higher than 100%. Though it’s done all the time, it’s a foolish way to buy a car. It’s a better idea to wait until the balance of your current car loan is paid off to look for a new ride. If you find always having a new car to be important, you may want to consider leasing to get the latest technology and the ability to swap your vehicle every few years.

Different lenders charge auto loan interest rates depending on market demand, your creditworthiness, how much you’re borrowing compared to the vehicle’s value (the loan-to-value ratio) and their appetite for risk. The rates in the marketplace can vary substantially, depending on the lender. With a bit of research, it’s easy to find competitive rates and promotional offers with generous terms.

Where Can You Get a Car Loan

Just like you should shop at several dealerships for a vehicle, you should shop with several lenders to find the best deal when you are financing a car. Never before have car buyers had the multitude of lending options and easy-to-access information about rates that they have today. Beyond getting loans from the financing arms of many carmakers, you can get auto financing from large national banks, small community banks, credit unions, finance companies and online-only banks.

Most Car dealers generally don’t lend money themselves; instead, they act as agents for third-party lenders, such as banks, credit unions and finance companies. They’re compensated by the lenders for placing the loans. The financing that a dealer proposes may offer them the highest return, rather than giving you the best deal.

Large National Banks

Large national banks are the financial institutions that we all know by name. Examples include Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Capital One and Chase. They have thousands of physical branches in every corner of the country, smartphone apps and online portals. Their lending operations are sophisticated and they offer comprehensive online lending resources, but they may not be the best choice if you need personalized service or extra hand-holding through the loan process.

Community Banks

Community banks tend to have anywhere from one physical branch to a few dozen, spread across smaller geographic areas. They may not have all of the branches and services of national banks, but you may find it easier to talk with a local representative if you need a bit of help in getting a loan.

Online-Only Banks

Online-only banks don’t have physical branches, though many offer all of the services of large national banks. Ally Bank is an example of an online bank that works closely with auto dealers to make your car shopping and financing a one-stop experience.

Captive Finance Companies

Most automakers have financing arms, known as captive finance companies. While they provide traditional car loans, they’re also responsible for funding the carmaker’s special financing deals. You typically won’t find any other lender who will offer 0% interest or other rates that are well below the market average.

When cars aren’t selling as quickly as automakers would like them to, the manufacturers offer incentives to pick up the sales pace. Some of the most common are low- or no-interest financing deals, which can’t be matched by banks and other lenders. Getting a 0% auto loan means that you won’t pay a penny in interest over the life of the loan. You can see the best car financing offers on our new car deals and used car deals pages.

Credit Unions

Credit unions differ from other lenders. They are cooperatives owned by their members. Instead of providing profits to shareholders, nonprofit credit unions return their excess revenue to members in the form of lower interest rates on loans and higher rates on savings accounts. They range in size from tiny, one-person operations to massive institutions that rival the size of some national banks. The largest credit unions in the country are Navy Federal Credit Union, State Employees Credit Union, BECU (formerly Boeing Employees Credit Union) and PenFed Credit Union.

Not every credit union is open to every consumer. For example, only people with certain jobs can join Navy Federal or State Employees Credit Union. Almost anyone can join others, including BECU and PenFed. You can find credit unions that you are eligible to join at MyCreditUnion.gov. Before you get a credit union auto loan, you need to deposit a few dollars to become a member. Non-members are not eligible to get a loan from a credit union.

Financing Companies

Financing companies provide financing for various consumer purchases, including automobiles. While they loan money like other financial institutions, most don’t accept deposits. In many cases, finance companies offer specialized services to specific types of customers, such as those with subprime credit or those buying vehicles from their affiliated franchised new car dealerships.

Buy Here, Pay Here Dealerships

There is one class of auto dealers that does lend money directly to buyers. They’re called Buy Here, Pay Here dealerships. Often the lender of last resort to desperate car buyers with bad credit, Buy Here, Pay Here dealers should be avoided at all costs due to their frequently exorbitant interest rates and draconian repossession tactics.

How to Compare Different Loan Offers

Choosing an auto loan is more complicated than just looking for an offer with a low monthly payment or great interest rate. Instead, you want to figure out the total cost of the vehicle, including the amount of interest you’ll pay over the life of the loan.

First, you’ll want to plug the number of months in the loan term, your interest rate and the amount that you are financing into our car loan calculator. It will compute the interest that you have to pay and show you the monthly payment. Then take the monthly payment, multiply it by the number of months in the loan and add your down payment to find the total cost of the vehicle (not including fees or taxes).

We’ll use the most popular vehicle sold in America as an example. Say you’re buying a mid-trim-level 2022 Ford F-150 full-size pickup truck with a price tag of $44,000. We’ll say paying $4,000 down, so you will be financing the remaining $40,000. A lender offers you a 72-month loan with an interest rate of 4.75%.

Plug those numbers into the U.S. News auto loan calculator, and it shows a monthly payment of $640. Next, multiply the $640 monthly payment by the 72 months you’ll be paying, then add the amount you paid upfront, and you’ll see that the total cost of your full-size pickup truck is $50,049. About $6,049 of the total cost is interest, in this example.

Here’s where knowing the math comes in handy. Say the dealership also offers you a 60-month loan with an interest rate of 4.25%. Running the numbers through the car payment calculator shows a significant jump in your monthly payment to $741. However, the total cost of the loan is $48,460. By getting a loan that is one year shorter, you’ll save about $1,620.

Note that many car loan calculators have some rounding error, so the numbers they show may not be exactly what you’ll see on your loan documents – though they should be close.

Choose the Shortest Term You Can Afford

In general, you want to get the shortest auto loan on your next car as you can afford. While a longer-term loan may come with a lower payment, it will also likely come with higher loan rates and a higher overall cost. Choosing a shorter loan will likely come with a rate discount, compared to longer terms.

The longer you borrow money, the more likely that the vehicle will depreciate more rapidly than the loan balance will decline, making you susceptible to being underwater on the loan. When the loan amount is higher than the value of the vehicle, you have negative equity. This is also called being upside-down or underwater on the loan. If you’re a victim of auto theft or your vehicle is totaled while you’re upside-down, you will still be liable for paying the full balance of the loan. Any payments you receive from your car insurance frequently won’t cover the total amount.

Another danger of long-term financing is that, as your vehicle ages, it is likely to require more frequent and costly repairs. They’re more likely to occur after the expiration of the manufacturer’s warranty. You don’t want to be caught in a situation where you have to pay an expensive repair bill while you’re still making monthly loan payments. A shorter-term loan allows you to be done with your payments closer to the time that many vehicles’ powertrain warranties end.

The Importance of a Down Payment

You can likely get a better deal on your car loan if you make a significant down payment. Those benefits of putting money down will continue throughout the loan. First, by putting some money down or trading in a car toward the new one, you can get a smaller loan than if you financed the whole amount. That means you can shorten the loan term, reduce your monthly payment or both. Since you’ll have a lower loan-to-value ratio, the lender may give you a better interest rate or waive a loan fee.

Another benefit of making a substantial down payment is you’ll be less likely to have negative equity (or be underwater) on the loan. That means that if your vehicle is stolen or declared a total loss by your auto insurance company, your car insurance payment will probably cover the whole loan balance, and it may give you enough money for a down payment on a replacement ride.

When buying a car, you need to budget for more than just the down payment. You should also plan for fees, such as licensing and, in most states, you’ll also have to pay taxes when you buy a car. It’s a good idea to pay them up front, as including them in the financed amount increases the likelihood that you’ll be underwater on your loan.

The same goes for any costly add-ons the dealer might try to sell you. In most cases, the salesperson will tell you that buying each add-on will only cost you a few dollars per month. By asking to pay them up front, you’ll see the real cost of the items, and you can compare them to similar products available outside of the dealership. Like taxes and fees, costly add-ons rarely add any value to the car but increase your loan-to-value ratio and the total cost of the vehicle.

You should apply for a car loan from several lenders and pursue whichever offer gets you the best deal. It might take a bit of time and you’ll have to provide your personal information to a number of lending institutions.

There’s nothing wrong with submitting multiple applications so long as you do so in a short period of time to avoid damaging your credit score. If you space your applications out over months, each application will knock your credit score down a few points. Do them over a short period, and the credit reporting agencies will see multiple applications as just one inquiry.

It’s critical that you have an offer in place before you visit the dealer, though you may not need to use it. You’ll want to do this a week or so ahead of visiting the dealership so that you can have a preapproved deal in your pocket before you actively start car shopping. If you time it right, any inquiries they make with credit bureaus won’t affect your credit score. If you don’t have a preapproved financing package, the dealer won’t have anything to try to beat, and you’ll be forced to settle for whatever car financing deal they offer. With a preapproval in place, you can avoid the pressure to accept a deal that’s bad for your wallet.

When you fill out your loan applications, you will be asked for lots of information about your finances and employment history. You’ll be asked for your Social Security number, as it is needed to pull a credit report. It is imperative that your answers and information are accurate and complete to avoid problems down the road. Not only can providing incomplete or untruthful information cause your loan application to be declined, but it can also be grounds for the lender to immediately place your loan into default status and demand full payment.

Can I Get a Car Loan if I’m Self-Employed?

Self-employed car buyers can get a car loan, though they’ll need to have more financial information to prove their creditworthiness than an employee with a typical salary or wage. Auto lenders will likely ask for detailed information about cash flow, the stability of their business and their assets. Since self-employed workers can’t show proof of employment and a steady paycheck, a lender may require them to make a larger down payment or agree to more costly loan terms.

What Do I Do if I’m Declined for a Car Loan?

Loan rejections happen all the time, though it can be surprising and frustrating when it happens to you. A denial means that a lending professional does not think that you are able to pay back the loan. In the long run, getting turned down can prevent you from getting in over your head on a bad loan. Be wary of a lender that promises that they will approve anyone, regardless of your credit. It’s likely a lender who is willing to bury you in debt you can’t afford.

Loan rejections happen for many reasons, and the lender is legally required to tell you why you were declined. It may be your credit history, your job history or you might be asking for more money than your loan application indicates that you can pay back. If you were rejected due to an error in your report, you can probably fix it in a reasonably short time.

If you’re asking for more than a lender thinks you can afford, rather than just seeking out another lender with looser standards, it’s a good idea to reassess what you’re asking for. Despite the promises they make in their advertising, it is critical you avoid the temptation to purchase from a “buy here pay here” car dealership. They can put you into a debt trap that you may never be able to escape.

Buyers with bad credit can qualify for loans, though you may be required to pay higher interest rates, pay more money as a down payment or accept a shorter loan. In some cases, you’ll learn that you’re simply looking at cars that are too expensive for your current budget.

If you’re rejected by an online lender or a large national bank, consider talking to a smaller credit union or community bank. There, you’re more likely to be able to tell your financial story to a real person. While they may not be able to give you the loan you were seeking, they can help you devise a plan to move forward and provide counseling along the way. Some lenders offer second-chance programs to help buyers with issues in their past find financing options and improve their credit picture.

Often, potential borrowers are declined because their credit history isn’t long enough for the lender to evaluate their creditworthiness. Getting a credit card and paying it off each month can help you build your credit history. You can also search for lenders who offer programs for first-time borrowers.

The Danger of Co-Signing an Auto Loan

For buyers with lousy credit, one solution is to find someone with great credit to co-sign the loan. A person with a great credit history essentially lends their reputation to someone with less-than-perfect credit to help them qualify for a loan. That’s rarely a good idea for the co-signer, however, as they can become responsible for the entire loan balance. Co-signers are doing more than just letting someone use their rep to get a loan. They’re promising to pay the entire balance of the loan if the primary borrower defaults. They’re in effect a co-borrower.

Co-signing will affect the co-applicant’s credit score. If the primary borrower makes a late payment, it goes down as a black mark on both signers’ credit reports. Getting the loan requires a credit inquiry, which lowers the score of each co-signer by a few points. The additional debt load will lower their scores even more. About the only time co-signing is acceptable is to help a young driver get a low-cost used vehicle. There isn’t much financial risk to the co-signer, and the loan will help the new borrower build a credit history for future endeavors.

If you do co-sign on a car loan, you should talk to an attorney to find out whether or not it is a good idea in your state to have your name on the title. In most states, being a co-signer and co-owner are not the same. Having your name on the title as a co-owner makes you responsible for paying any parking tickets or other fines. However, it also might allow you to more easily take the car from the co-signer if they fail to make timely car payments. The only easy ways out of a co-signed car loan are to pay off the balance or refinance the balance to a new car loan in only one of your names.

Study the Fine Print

You should never sign the documents for a new or used car loan without studying them to ensure they are accurate and complete. In the excitement that leads up to a new or used auto purchase, it’s easy to skip this step, but you do so at your financial peril. Car loan documents are complex legal agreements, loaded with disclosures. They take some time to go through.

First, you want to make sure the documents accurately reflect the agreement that you discussed with the lender (or the seller, if you’re financing through a car dealership). Pay particular attention to the interest rate, the length of the loan and the amount that you are financing. Check to make sure that no add-ons slipped into the amount financed.

It is important to make sure there are no terms that would prevent you from using your car how you want to. Some lenders and finance companies, for example, restrict buyers from using their cars for ride-hailing companies such as Uber or Lyft. The same goes if you plan to rent your car to others through a service such as Turo. Some lenders require loans to borrowers who intend to use their cars for ride-hailing or ride-sharing to be written as a business loan, with far tighter underwriting standards. If you are caught using your vehicle for a restricted purpose, the lender can potentially demand immediate and full payment of the loan.

Avoid deals that come with prepayment penalties written into the loan documents. Such loans charge you a fee if you want to pay them off early. Such a restriction makes it more expensive to upgrade to a new car before your current vehicle is paid off or refinance your loan with a less expensive deal.

After you’ve researched what used or new car financing is available, and you have a preapproved deal in hand, it’s time to get to the fun part: car shopping. Knowing that you already have a financing plan that you can afford can help to take a lot of stress out of the process and allow you to focus on negotiating a great price for your new ride and a fair deal on your trade-in.

In general, car salespeople want to bundle the three components of auto buying – the price of the car, the value of your trade-in and the financing – into one nice, neat package that’s presented as a monthly payment. You, on the other hand, want each of those components treated as individual transactions. You can do so in a couple of different ways.

While you don’t want to ever be dishonest with a car dealer, you don’t have to volunteer every piece of information they ask for. You can just say that you’re unsure of how you are going to pay for the car and haven’t decided if you are going to trade in your old model or not. The longer you can keep them focused on the price that you will pay for the car, the better. Just be polite – salespeople are less likely to fight for someone who is being a jerk.

Buying a car is simply a business transaction – nothing more, nothing less. You want the best price while they want the most profit. A fair deal is somewhere in the middle.

You can lock in the value of your trade-in by selling it yourself to a private party or another dealership. At the very least, you want to research its wholesale value online and have those values in writing when you visit the dealer. Ensure any price they give you on the trade-in is close to the market value. If they are giving you a lot more money for the car than your research tells you it is worth, they are probably making up the difference in some other part of the deal.

By getting preapproval for your financing, you’re giving the dealership something that they have to beat if they want to get the financing part of your business. Have our car payment calculator handy on your smartphone so you can compute the total cost of any other deal they try to negotiate with you. Dealers make a substantial part of their income from financing, and they will want to get that part of your business. They’ll submit your application to many different lenders, hoping to find one that will give you a better deal than the one that you already have, while still providing them with some profit. Dealerships have access to automaker incentive programs that outside lenders don’t. Some of those programs are advertised, and you can find them on our new car deals and used car deals pages, while others are only known to dealers and automakers.

Once you have negotiated a deal that is acceptable to both you and the seller, it’s time to sign the paperwork. It’s imperative that you read all of the documents to ensure they match the terms that you agreed to and that they don’t include any costly add-ons or any spaces that were left blank. If there are errors or blank spaces, insist that they are corrected or completed before you sign the papers. If the finance officer says to go ahead and sign then they’ll fix them later, you should politely decline and state that you will only sign them when they are correct.

Avoid the Yo-Yo Financing Scam

A common practice at some auto dealers is called spot delivery or yo-yo financing. You think that you have done everything to buy your new ride, but several days after you drive the car home you get a call saying that there’s a problem with the financing. They say you need to return to the showroom to sign more papers. Most times, the financing deal on the new paperwork will be substantially more expensive than the contract that you initially agreed to.

What really happens in these deals is that the dealership delivered the car to you before they actually completed the loan paperwork with the lender. In some cases, the financing deal really does fall through. In others, the yo-yo delivery is a ploy to get you to fall in love with the vehicle before finding out that it will cost more. Some states have laws that explicitly regulate spot financing, though some are more heavily weighted toward the dealership’s interests than they are to consumers.

You can avoid spot financing issues in a couple of ways. First, never leave the dealer until all of the paperwork, including the approval of your loan, is complete. Second, have an acceptable preapproved offer in place from an outside lender before you head to the dealer. That way, if the dealer financing falls through you can go back to the original lender’s offer.

If you are called back to the dealership, you have a few options. Your best option is to get a new loan from an outside lender. If you can find a loan offer that is close to or better than the one originally offered by the dealer, take that prequalification to the dealer. It’s imperative you don’t wait, as you want your new credit application to be seen by the credit bureaus as the same transaction as the previous credit pulls.

Though few buyers are able to resist the pressure to sign onto a more expensive car loan, because they’ve fallen in love with their new car, you have the right to do so. You just return the car to the dealer and unwind the deal. It’s more complicated if there was a trade-in, but it can be done. Of course, few dealers will want to do that, so they may suddenly be able to find a better financing deal for you.

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Now you have a new vehicle – or a new-to-you used car – and a fresh auto loan. There are a couple of more steps that you’ll want to accomplish to stay in the good graces of your lender. First, you’ll need to buy car insurance to cover your new car in a way that satisfies your financial institution. They will expect to see that the insurance policy meets specific limits so that they are covered if something happens to the vehicle. If you fail to provide proof of sufficient auto insurance to your lender, they will buy costly insurance that covers their collateral (your car) – and charge you for it.

Note that the insurance that your lender requires will often be different from or exceed the limits required by state law. While the statutory insurance limits are designed to cover people you might injure or other people’s property you might damage, the insurance required by your lender is to protect your vehicle – the collateral on the loan. Lenders will generally require that you carry collision and comprehensive insurance with limits sufficient to cover the value of the car. They may or may not stipulate the deductible amount on these coverages. Before you buy insurance, it’s best to check with your lender to ensure that you are buying appropriate coverage.

It is also a great idea to set up an automatic payment plan that withdraws money from your bank account each month to make your car payment. Some lenders offer a discounted interest rate or waive the loan origination fee if you set up auto payments. Set the date of the transfer a couple of days ahead of your loan’s due date to ensure the transfer is made on time each month.

A lender that provides the cash for you to buy a new car is putting a lot of trust in you. If you make your payments on time each month, they’ll reward you with positive marks on your credit report and a potentially higher credit rating. Fail to make your payments, however, and they can make your life miserable with aggressive loan collection tactics, negative information on your credit reports and the possibility of repossessing your car. A car loan default will live on your credit report for years, affecting your chances of getting another loan and making any financing you get substantially more expensive.

Refinancing Your Car Loan

Like a home mortgage, you can refinance a vehicle loan, and there are a lot of great reasons to do so. One of the best reasons to at least consider refinancing is if you don’t think you got a great deal on your loan. You can compare your loan to other auto lenders to see if you can get a better offer. A recent TransUnion study shows that many consumers refinance their auto loans soon after getting the initial loan and save a considerable amount of money when they do so.

In many cases, consumers have to accept financing from the manufacturer to be able to take advantage of cash back deals. Refinance the deal as soon as the contract allows you to, and you can have the best of both worlds – an affordable interest rate and the rebate.

“We found that some consumers, especially those interested in taking advantage of loyalty programs and bundled options, will refinance their loans a day or two after the original purchase,” said Brian Landau, senior vice president and automotive business leader at TransUnion. “Consumers who might be paying a somewhat higher interest rate on the loans they obtained through the dealership may find that refinancing can lower those interest rates or extend the loan term – in other words, help those same consumers manage their monthly cash flows.”

TransUnion’s study indicated that the average auto loan refinance saves customers 2.4%, compared to their initial interest rate. That translates to an average of $52 per month in savings on an average new-car loan.

“Only 40% of consumers actually know that they can refinance,” says Landau.

Another reason to refinance is if your credit score has improved substantially since you initially took out the loan. After a year of making timely payments, your credit score will likely have increased, and you can show lenders a year’s worth of proof that you are paying as agreed.

What if I Can’t Make My Car Payment?

Sometimes life events happen that make it impossible to make your car payment. Whether it’s medical bills, losing a job or another calamity that tightens your finances, there are several ways to avoid having your car repossessed and your credit wrecked.

If your vehicle is valued at more than the loan balance, you should consider selling it and paying off the loan before you miss any payments. You can then lease a vehicle with low monthly payments or find a low-cost used car.

Contact your lender before you get too deep into trouble. They don’t want you to default on your loan any more than you do. If you have an excellent payment history up to that point, they may be able to refinance the car with a lower rate or longer term to lower your monthly payments. You’re more likely to find a personal connection at a smaller lender than the one-size-fits-all approach of large lenders. Some lenders even have forbearance programs to help customers facing financial struggles. Getting a plan in place that is preapproved before you miss payments can save you from being reported to credit bureaus for late payments.

Banks and other lenders really don’t want to have to take your car back. It’s expensive, it destroys the relationship they have with you as a customer and it takes a lot of time. Most financial institutions would rather work with you to find an amicable resolution.

Some lenders allow you to have someone else buy your loan (or lease). Before you consider this path, however, you’ll want to see paperwork that says it is allowed.

If you don’t have any options left and your car is going to be repossessed, it’s best to cooperate with the lender. Interest will continue to accrue on the loan until they get the car back and resell it, so the sooner they have it, the less interest that will accrue. By returning it to the lender, you can help them to avoid many of the auto repossession costs, which can be added to the loan balance that you are liable for. If the loan balance exceeds the value of the car, you’ll likely still be responsible for the outstanding balance, plus collection costs.