Consumer Car Buying Advice Blog

If you live in or near the Windy City and you’re thinking of buying a new or used car, there are a couple of things you should do before you go shopping for your next vehicle.

Choosing a Second City dealer for a car loan

Here at Auto Credit Express we are often asked, by Chicagoans, why they shouldn’t just jump in their current car and drive down to 95th Street on the South Side, the Edens Expressway to the north or Ogden Avenue in Westmont to shop for a car instead of visiting autocreditexpress.com. In reality, whether or not you can do this really depends upon your credit history and your credit score.

Good Credit

If you have a FICO score over 640 and a fairly extensive credit history, you should be able to purchase a vehicle with a traditional prime or near-prime auto loan. But even if this is the case, you should still do some research on the internet. As an example, Consumer Reports has an excellent web site that enables you to view the repair histories of most cars, so that you can see how the vehicle you’re interested in compares with the other cars or trucks in its class. If you search Google Maps for “Chicago car dealers”, you’ll not only get dealer locations, you can read dealer reviews as well.

Less than perfect credit

If you have less than perfect credit, however, you may want to hold off driving around Beverly (or Hinsdale, Skokie, Franklin Park or LaGrange). Here’s why: the bad credit car buying process is much different. And just as the bad credit buying process is different, so is the dealer that can help you with a bad credit car loan.

The fact is, many Second City dealers choose not to deal with subprime lenders. Subprime loans require more effort than regular loans in the sense that dealers are responsible for more documentation and for making sure that the documentation is correct as well as verifiable. If anything goes wrong in the documentation process, the contract is sent back to the dealer and the dealer holds the contract for the car. This means the dealer must collect the monthly payments from the customer and dealers do not want to do this.

Chicago Bad Credit Dealers

As a bad credit car buyer, it’s important to realize that just because a dealer happens to sell cars near I-55, or even the Dan Ryan Expressway, does not mean that dealer has the right kind of cars. A dealer’s new and used car inventory has to be adjusted for subprime lending. Cars in inventory have to meet lender guidelines in terms of mileage as well as year.

The used cars also need to be purchased at or below NADA or Kelley Blue Book wholesale, since subprime lenders base their “advance” (how much they will finance) on these figures. New cars also have to be within a certain price range, since bad credit lenders are very strict about keeping your car payment within a budget range. Without the correct inventory, the dealer can’t sell any of the cars on the lot to subprime customers.

How Auto Credit Express can help Chicagoland car buyers

At Auto Credit Express, we specialize in the subprime car market. We have helped literally thousands of people with bad, blemished, bruised and tarnished credit buy cars and reestablish their credit at the same time. Our Chicago network of affiliate dealers specializes in bad credit car loans.

Do you still have questions? Our web site will help you determine how much car you can afford. Our calculators and video guides will educate you on the buying process. Unlike most bad credit car loan sites, our toll free number is listed on every page in case you have any additional questions. When you decide to buy a car, our bad credit car loan application can be filled out in the comfort and security of your own home. For more information, visit www.autocreditexpress.com. We hope to see you “on the road” to better credit in The Windy City!

Tags: car loan

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