Consumer Car Buying Advice Blog

Once your credit application has been approved and you have picked out a car as well as settled on a price you need to take special care before you sign the purchase contract.

Speaking from experience

Auto Credit Express has been working with credit challenged consumers for the last 20 years. During that time, we’ve helped thousands of these consumers raise their FICO scores and reestablish their car credit by financing a vehicle with a bad credit car loan. We have also tried our best to educate our applicants on the bad credit car loan process.

But once your bad credit auto loan application has been approved and it’s time to sign the paperwork, you need to pay particularly close attention to the next step.

The purchase contract

We occasionally get calls from consumers who “made a mistake”, went to the wrong kind of dealer and are trying to get out of their finance contracts.

Unfortunately for these customers, a purchase contract is just what the name implies. Once you sign the contract, you are committed to the terms it contains. There is no “cooling off” period in most states for a new car purchase, which means that you can’t change your mind later and return the car.

So in order to avoid the problems of the “made a mistake” customers, you need to follow some simple rules. This means that you need to double check the contract to make sure the terms are the same ones that you agreed on with the salesperson including:

• Sales Price – make sure the sales price of the vehicle is correct. This figure should include the selling price of the car plus tax, title and license fees. The dealer may also charge a documentation fee to process the paperwork. This should all be outlined in this document and broken out as to the type of fee and amount.
• Amount Financed – this is the amount that you will be financing. It should be the sales price of the car less any down payment amount from cash or trade equity.
• Contract Term – this is the term in months of the sales contract and should reflect the terms you agreed to with the dealership and the salesperson/finance manager.
• Interest Rate – this is the interest rate that you will be changed. Again, it should be the same rate that you agreed to.
• Monthly Payment – this is the payment that you will be required to pay the bank each month for the term of the loan. It should match the amount that you agreed to.

If there is anything in the contract that you don’t think you agreed to, you have the right to walk away from it. If everything is correct and you sign the documents, the dealer will give you copies of the purchase agreement, finance contract, odometer statement, window labels and any other document that you signed.

As we see it

You should be paying as much attention to going over the sale and finance documents as you spent researching your car purchase. If you blindly sign anything put in front of you and miss something, it’s your fault as much as the dealer’s. Taking a few extra minutes might save you years of misery.

For nearly 20 years, Auto Credit Express has been helping people with credit problems get approved for new and used car loans. Our affiliate dealers work with the leading subprime lenders to get you approved. Your credit report will get checked by the dealer, but once you’re approved, each month you make your car payment you are rebuilding your credit score and reestablishing your financial future.

Visit www.autocreditexpress.com to see what we can do for you.

Tags: better business bureau, car loan quote, chrysler financial, credit monitoring, credit score, free car loan quote, gm, honda

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