Consumer Car Buying Advice Blog

The latest round of dealer incentives could help bad credit car loan buyers save thousands of dollars on a nearly new GM car

Almost new

At Auto Credit Express, we are in the business of helping bad credit consumers reestablish their auto credit and raise their credit scores with bad credit auto loans. Primarily due to financial considerations, a majority of vehicles purchased with one of these loans are used cars.

But it turns out that a new program from General Motors, designed to remove most of the remaining Saturn and Pontiac vehicles on dealer lots by the end of the year, is about to offer  buyers most of the advantages of a new car while selling these vehicle at prices normally associated with pre-owned vehicles. And although these cars will probably lose more of their value because they’re being discontinued, they will carry nearly a full new car warranty while the remaining GM franchises will carry parts as well as service them.

Normally, the higher depreciation might turn us off. But according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal as reported by Reuters news service, General Motors plans on reimbursing dealers thousands of dollars for every car they place in rental-vehicle or service-vehicle fleets by January 4th of 2010, which could be a boon to bad credit auto loan consumers.

Latest incentives

According to The Wall Street Journal, GM plans on reimbursing dealers to the tune of $7,000 for each Pontiac or Saturn vehicle they move to rental-vehicle or service-vehicle status by January 4th of next year.

In order to do this, dealers will have to report the vehicles as sold and have them titled in the dealership’s name. In doing this, the vehicle will effectively become a used car. When the title is issued, the warranty clock starts ticking and the car is no longer eligible for any type of new car incentives issued by GM. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that the dealer now owns the car at $7,000 below invoice, so the sooner you can get to your local Pontiac or Saturn dealer, the better – not only from a warranty standpoint, but also in terms of vehicle selection.

And while Reuters was unable to contact anyone at General Motors for a comment on the Journal article, the fact that a local Pontiac dealer here in Michigan is already on the radio offering customers a $6,500 discount on any Pontiac in stock is a sure sign that the gist of the article is correct.

As we see it

Despite the fact that both Saturn and Pontiac are going out of business, GM has promised that their remaining divisions will honor their warranties and either stock or be able to order replacement parts for both brands. And even though Saturns and Pontiacs will likely suffer higher levels of depreciation, the fact that customers can buy a pre-owned, low-mileage Saturn or Pontiac from a participating dealer at anywhere from $6,000 to $7,000 below invoice makes these vehicles particularly attractive – especially to buyers that plan on financing them with a bad credit car loan.

Here at Auto Credit Express, we think that buying one of the more affordable Saturn or Pontiac models as a pre-owned vehicle with extremely low mileage is probably one of the better deals that we’ve seen this year. And with qualifying inventory getting lower by the day, bad credit car loan buyers should move quickly if they wish to take advantage of the program.

For more information on bad credit car loans and the bad credit auto loan process, please visit our web site at www.autocreditexpress.com.

Tags: auto loan, Auto Loans, bad credit, car loan, car loans, credit, credit score, general motors, gm, incentives, new car incentives, pontiac, saturn

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