Vehicle equity is your car’s value. If you have a car loan, it’s the difference between your car’s value and what you owe on the loan. When the value of your vehicle is more than what you owe, you have equity. At the same time, although depreciation (a decrease in your vehicle’s value) happens every day, maintaining equity in your vehicle will benefit you, especially if you have credit challenges.

When you’re concerned about having your credit checked, it’s usually a sign that you’re concerned about poor credit standing in your way of auto financing. Even if your credit is bad, there are options to help you finance a car.

When it comes to budgeting for a bad credit car loan, there are a lot of factors to consider. Many times, people will throw some jargon around that may be hard to pick up on. There are some common abbreviations you’ll need to know about when you’re planning for an auto loan, and we'll explain what all the alphabet soup stands for.

When you buy a car, there’s the sticker price, and the total price. The price you find on the window sticker of a car doesn’t include certain fees because they vary widely from state to state. So, keep in mind that you'll have to be prepared for the total price when purchasing a car.

When you’re getting an auto loan – subprime or otherwise – there are a lot of terms thrown around that you might not be familiar with. It’s good to know the basics of lending if you’re going to be getting a loan, so we’re going to help arm you with some words and phrases you’ll need when it comes to financing a vehicle.

A recent study by LendingTree posed a question: Just what used car brand would people stretch their budgets to afford? The answer may surprise you.

A loan pre-approval is typically obtained from a direct lender, but it sometimes takes more than a trip down to your local financial institution for a chat with a loan officer. Your credit plays a big part in if pre-approval is possible. If you’re struggling with credit issues, pre-approval will be harder to come by, but there are still options available for auto financing.

Branded titles are issued in most states to used or untitled new vehicles which have sustained damage from an accident or event and are considered a total loss. When a vehicle with a branded title is taken to a state with lower requirements and is issued a new un-branded title, this is called “title washing.” It’s illegal, but nevertheless, it happens all too often.

The car buying process can often seem tedious, but you can help reduce some of that stress by being completely prepared when visiting the dealership. This is especially important for people with lower credit, as subprime lenders require more paperwork.

Despite the first slip in overall car sales since 2009, December made a strong showing to close the year on a high note. Kelley Blue Book reported that the estimated average transaction price for light vehicle sales in the set a record high in December. Average down payment amounts were also reported to have hit an all time high.