Real Estate

When it is time to buy your next vehicle, you have many auto financing options available to you. You can either finance your auto through a local bank or credit union, the dealership itself or with a pre-approval from an online auto financing company. There are several advantages to each one of these and several things you should also look out for.

The best auto financing that you can get is through your local bank or credit union. Their rates will be lower than financing your auto directly through the dealership or manufacturer. As a general rule of thumb, most banks will finance a new car at a lower interest rate and over a longer duration. Used cars, those models that are two years and older, usually get financing for only 36 to 48 months and with interest rates that are a few percentage points higher.

There are a few things you will want to think about before financing your vehicle through a dealership. First, make sure the financing the dealership is offering you is the best available financing you can get. In other words, make sure you have checked all other options. Next, be careful about all of the extras that come bundled with your vehicle purchase. The dealership or manufacturer is already getting the interest for financing the vehicle for you, so turn some of those extras into freebies since you have decided to finance through them. Whatever you do, don’t let the dealership convince you that you are getting a great discount from any factory rebates. These rebates go directly to the dealership so they will already get that money. Make them give you an additional discount towards your purchase as they will make it up later in the financing.