Saving Money on Your Car Purchase

Of course there is more to the benefits of using Idaho Car Loans than just being prepared with your preapproved car loan. This site is informational as well, including the following tips that can help you save money on the car you intend to buy.

Cash is King

Going into a dealership with the intention of buying your car with cash (or a preapproved loan offer), not only saves you time and potential embarrassment at the dealer, it spares you from being at the dealership's mercy for the ability to purchase the car, which brings extra negotiating power to you. Instead of them needing you to buy a car and you likewise needing them to get you a loan, the ball is entirely in your court, and you don't need them for anything.

Since being preapproved for a car loan actually saves the dealership time as well, they are going to be more willing to negotiate that savings into the base price of your vehicle as well, which is another benefit to having that check from the lender in your pocket when you arrive.

Shop at the Right Time

Taking advantage of the right time to purchase a vehicle can land you greater incentives from the dealership as well as significantly more bargaining power. Dealerships have sales quotas to meet just like practically every other business out there, and around the end of every month or quarter, they start getting a little more desperate to meet those quotas. Plan to take advantage of that desperation by shopping for your vehicle between the 25th and the end of any month if possible. Better still, if you go at the end of a month that also ends a fiscal quarter or the year.

Don't Trade-in if You Can Avoid it

Selling your car privately to an interested buyer may take more of your own time and be less convenient than just giving it to the dealer for a trade-in, but you will earn substantially more money from a private sale than you would by giving it to the dealer. This is because when a dealer offers you money for a trade-in, they are subtracting the costs they will have to pay to refurbish your car and make it presentable for sale to someone else, or, if your car is junk, they still have to pay to have it hauled away.

Thus if the private sale value of your car is say $5,000, the dealer may offer you only $3,500, planning on needing to spend $500 in order to clean and make your car 'presentable' for sale to someone else and then hopefully sell the car at its $5,000 value and making a little profit. If you just sell the car yourself for $5,000 or even let a buyer haggle you down to $4,500, you will be better off and can put that money toward your new car's down payment, which will save you even more money on interest fees throughout your loan.

Buy Used - Let Someone Else Take the Hit

It's common knowledge that new cars depreciate in value quickly. In fact, they depreciate so fast it begins to happen the second you drive the car off the lot. If you buy a car for $21,456, sign the paperwork, shake some hands and then drive away and come back five minutes later, you could not sell that vehicle for $21,456. It just isn't worth that anymore. Used vehicles, on the other hand, do not depreciate nearly as quickly as new ones do.

For questions you may have that have not been answered yet, look in the frequently asked questions to learn more about Idaho car loans.