Consumer Car Buying Advice Blog

If you reside in the Metroplex and you’re contemplating buying a used or new vehicle, there are a couple of things you really should do before you go out and look for your next car.

Choosing the right dealer

Here at Auto Credit Express we are often asked, by Panther City residents, why they shouldn’t just jump in their current vehicle and drive out to North East Loop 820 to shop for a car instead of visiting autocreditexpress.com. The answer is, it depends on your credit history and your FICO score.

Good Credit Customers

If you have a credit score over 640 and a fairly extensive credit history, you should be able to buy a car with a traditional prime or near-prime auto loan. But even if this is the case, you should still research both the kind of vehicle you are looking for and the reputation of your local dealers 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.

Credit Challenged Customers

If you have less than perfect credit, however, you may want to hold off driving around Fort Worth (or North Richland Hills, Euless, Grapevine or Benbrook). Here’s the reason why: the entire bad credit buying process is much different than what you might be used to. 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 dealers choose not to deal with subprime lenders. Subprime loans require more work than regular loans in the sense that dealers are responsible for more paperwork and for making sure that the documentation is correct as well as verifiable. If anything goes wrong in the 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 most dealers do not want to do this.

As a bad credit car buyer, it’s important to realize that just because a dealer happens to sell cars near North East Loop 820, or even Main Street, does not mean that dealer has the right type of cars. A dealer’s new and used car inventory also has to be adjusted for subprime lending. Cars in inventory have to meet lender guidelines in terms of mileage and year. The used cars also need to be purchased at or below 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 credit challenged customers.

In addition to paperwork and inventory issues, there are the large numbers of subprime lenders to deal with, as well as the complexity involved with understanding the varying programs that they offer. Most bad credit car loan lenders have at least five “tiered” programs and each program can have its own set of requirements. Without a knowledgeable special finance department, keeping track of the lenders and programs is impossible.

How Auto Credit Express can help buyers from “Where the West Begins”

At Auto Credit Express, our business is 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 “Pantherville” 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 and, unlike other 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 Lone Star State!

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