Archive for May, 2008

When making the decision between buying or leasing a car, some consumers find themselves in a state of confusion. There are factors to take into consideration and pros and cons that come with each option.

If find yourself without a large down payment, then leasing might be the better choice. Most lease options do not require a large amount down, so this allows the consumer to get an even better vehicle, than if they had decided to buy. Also, the monthly payment on a leased vehicle is generally smaller than the payment for a car that was purchased.

If you think there is a chance you might want to sell or trade your vehicle at the end of the term, then purchasing is a good decision. You can sell your leased vehicle, but it comes with large payouts (and at a price for more than the car is worth).

If you decide to purchase the car, then you become the owner at the end of your loan term. You can sell it at Kelly Blue Book value or use it as a trade towards your next vehicle.

Maybe you are looking at what option is the most convenient for you, and buying or leasing falls into that category. When your lease is up, you no longer have to worry about maintaining the car or selling it. You hand it back over to the dealer and move on to the next car. You can lease right there with very little hassle.

By purchasing a car, you do not have to worry about going over the set mileage. In leasing you are given an annual or month-to-month amount, and fees are calculated in the even you go past your amount.

Also, with purchasing do not have to worry about handing the car back to the dealer, it is your option to keep it or trade for something different.

If you decide to buy the vehicle, then the sales tax is paid in full at purchasing time. With a leased car, you will only pay the tax on the part of the car value that you use. That is spread out over the term of your lease, on a monthly basis.

If you decide to not purchase the car when your lease is up, then you will not have paid the full sales tax either.

One factor that consumers take into consideration is their car payments. If you purchase the vehicle, then you are only paying during the term of your loan. After you have paid it off, the car is yours.

With a lease, you will always have a car payment. When the lease is up, then you start from the beginning with a new car, but also a new lease. Warranty is another consideration to think about, most car leases take place while the car is under warranty. When the lease is up, you can lease a new one.

If you purchase the vehicle and the warranty runs out, that is your decision to make if you want to purchase also an extended warranty. If you want a newer, more reliable car then you will have to sell or trade it in, plus come up with a down payment for the next one.

There are pros and cons to take into consideration before making the final decision between leasing or purchasing a car. It comes down to the individual, to decide what factors will be the most important.

If you make a choice in your best interest then you will end up with a plan that you will be happy with for as long as you keep the vehicle.

Christina Costa, a freelance automotive writer, recommends Equotegrabber where you can get an automotive quote online in seconds! http://equotegrabber.com/splash/home/automotive

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The first thing to keep in mind if you plan on financing your new automobile is that the dealer’s offer is not necessarily the best loan available. If you establish direct contact with lenders, especially via the Internet that is where you will find the lowest rates.

Buying a car is one of the most expensive purchases you will make, second to a home. To get the best deal possible, it requires research and a willingness to negotiate with the dealer. Being prepared will help you choose the right auto loan and save a lot of money.

Know Your Options

It is never a good idea to walk in and expect to buy a car without having any reasonable quotes that can compete with the dealer’s financing option. Take into account the annual percentage rate and the length of the loan; don t focus only on the monthly payment.

After you have negotiated the price of your auto purchase, that plus the APR and the length of the loan will be your total amount paid.

Some dealers might present very low financing rates for certain makes or models of cars, but ultimately won’t negotiate on their price. Any changes made with these variables can yield savings of hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

You might be required to make a large down payment to qualify for any special rates. Occasionally it is more affordable to pay a higher finance charge on a car that might be lower in price, but will ultimately require a smaller down payment.

Trading in Your Old Car

When it comes time to talk about trading in your old car, keep the negotiations separate from your new purchase. Hold off any discussion about your trade-in until the end, after you feel you have reached the best possible price for your new car.

Do the research beforehand and know the value of the car you are using as your trade. Research can be attained from many reputable sources (books, magazines, newspapers and the Internet) and can provide you with the worth of your vehicle.

Come prepared with your information and use that in your transaction with the dealer. Ultimately, any prior research done will help get you the best possible price for your trade in. Although to get the most money for your old car, you would probably have to sell the car yourself.

Credit Insurance

You might come across certain lenders and dealers that will ask you to purchase credit insurance. This would serve as payment towards your loan in the event of death or disablement. Take into consideration the cost of credit insurance and whether or not it is beneficial to you.
Review your current policy to prevent the duplication of any benefits. This type of insurance is not a requirement by federal law. If the dealer requires you to purchase this, it must show in the APR and not be included as an extra charge to you.

If you have any questions regarding credit insurance check with the State Consumer Protection Agency or your state’s Insurance Commissioner.

Service Contracts

In the event of any problems with your new car, service contracts can be purchased to provide repairs as necessary. Manufacturers, dealers or independent companies make these contacts available, but may not offer any additional coverage past the manufacturer’s warranty.

A warranty is included in the total purchasing cost of a new car, while the service contract is not. This contract works in the dealer’s favor, so be cautious when you are presented with one.

Before agreeing to this additional contract, consider if it is right for you. Find out the difference between the coverage that is included your warranty and what is covered in the service contract. Is routine maintenance covered and are the repairs? Who covers the cost of labor and parts?

In the event of an accident, where are the repairs made and is the consumer able to pick the location? Finally, how long does the service contract last and are there any refund policies or options to cancel at any time?

Consider the terms of the new car loan and figure out if it is affordable before signing any contracts and driving away in a new vehicle. Remember that experienced sellers will usually mark up their asking price a few hundred dollars more than they are willing to get for the vehicle.

Make sure to keep your finances in mind and negotiate the best possible financing for your new automobile loan.

Christina Costa, a freelance automotive writer, recommends Equotegrabber where you can get an automotive quote online in seconds! http://equotegrabber.com/splash/home/automotive

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There are two things car dealers would like for you not to know. The first is how they are evaluated and the second is how they are rewarded. The evaluation process is based upon their sales goals.

The dealership is given annual sales goals to meet and they are on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis. The number of sales set forth in these goals will make a difference on the price you are quoted for a new car.

At the end of each month there are some dealers still trying to meet their goals, while others have already reached or even gone past them. Research on reputable Internet sites like Edmunds and Automotive will give you a better perspective about which dealers are trying to meet their sales goals, and will most likely sell you at car at or below the invoice price.

The Customer Satisfaction Index is another factor involved in evaluations. The CSI ratings are taken from surveys sent out after a car has been purchased. One company that surveys customer’s opinions is J.D. Power and Associates. They typically send out a questionnaire or contact you over the phone, taking information that will help shape the direction of car dealer’s future business.

The opinions towards the car buying experience and dealership overall are very important. Be aware when dealing with salespeople, some might try and influence your answers on this survey. Keep this in the back of your mind when you are negotiating your new auto purchase.

Dealers will be rewarded based up their performance on these surveys, their CSI ratings and if they reached their sales goals. The results of the CSI ratings can have a big impact on the car dealership.

This will determine any incentives paid to the dealers, if the dealers are invited to car auctions and if the dealership is able to expand their business. If a dealership scores low in its evaluations it will be very costly in the long run.

A big source of income for dealerships is car auctions. By obtaining cars at cheap prices they are able to sell them for a profitable amount. It can work against them though, if they depend too much on auctions and shift their focus off selling new cars that will ultimately hurt their sales goals. Dealers will receive rewards from manufacturers when their sales goals are met.

Through manufacturer-to-dealer incentives dealers might receive as much as $100,000. These incentives are not usually made known to the public, but through internet research you might be able to find out what some dealers receive. Dealers would like to keep this information to themselves as best as possible.

Christina Costa, a freelance automotive writer, recommends Equotegrabber where you can get an automotive quote online in seconds! http://equotegrabber.com/splash/home/automotive

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Imagine this scene: you and your family are out enjoying your brand new travel trailer. Not only is your trailer new, but so is your shiny new towing vehicle. Let’s say that’s a heavy duty diesel pickup truck, and it’s an extended, four-door cab that has plenty of room for your wife and your kids.

This really a big part of the traditional American Dream isn’t it? Quality family time with a recreational vehicle, getting away from civilization, but doing it in the comfort of a brand new travel trailer. I don’t think it could get much better.

There’s only one problem. It’s a windy day. When you were picking up your new travel trailer at the dealership the other day it never occurred to you just how scary it could be to tow your nice long trailer down the highway in a serious cross wind.

Dealing with the wind is a fact of life if you’re going to be any kind of RV enthusiast, so make sure you understand how to tow safely in it.

It really all comes down to the length of your trailer relative to the length of the vehicle you’re using to tow it with. Think of it this way – it’s all about leverage. If your trailer is long relative to the wheelbase of the vehicle you’re using to tow the trailer, you could be in for an interesting vacation.

A travel trailer has a broad profile in the wind, so if mother nature is blowing hard, or if you’re getting passed by tractor trailers at high speeds, your trailer basically acts as a sail. It’s not unlike carrying a piece of four foot by eight foot plywood.

If you’ve ever had that experience you know what I’m talking about. The plywood acts like a sail and it can drag you all over the place if you don’t know how to handle it.

The same way it takes strength to handle that plywood in the wind, it takes a long wheelbase on your tow vehicle to handle the tug of a relatively long travel trailer. If you’ve got a twenty-three foot boxy trailer and you’re pulling it with a small SUV, chances are you’re going to get jerked around quite a bit.

But, that same small SUV would have no problem at all with a small folding tent trailer. It’s all relative.

As a general guideline I’d suggest that you could pull a trailer approximately twenty feet long as long as your vehicle has a wheelbase of at least 110 inches. So that’s about nine feet of wheelbase to handle twenty feet of trailer.

If you want to get a longer trailer, I’d recommend that you have at least four inches of wheelbase for each additional foot of trailer length. That way you’re always making sure to keep the ratio of trailer length to wheelbase high enough.

One last thought is you should not only consider the total length of the trailer, but also the distance from the coupler (or tongue) to the axle of the trailer. There will be a big difference in stability for a trailer where that coupler to tongue distance is really short, compared to one where it’s really long.

Jeremy helps people to learn about hitch covers. You can read more of his work by visiting: http://www.trailerhitchuniverse.com.

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Nowadays, it is very common for people to own their own cars. With so many reasons to buy a car, there are more and more people that try to find ways to buy their own cars at cheaper prices.

Cars are so expensive nowadays. If you are cash-tight and cannot afford to fork out a new car now, you can opt to purchase repossessed cars at car auctions. Car auctions are great places to look for bargains, and I am sure that you will be able to find a car that is well worth the money.

Similar to other types of auctions, a car auction involves various car models, depending on their availability and bidders. During an auction, bidders will try to outbid each other in order to get their ideal car model. The buyer with the highest bid wins.

During a car auction, repossessed cars are priced lower than their counterparts. With this, you will be able to get a car even though you have a very tight budget to work with. However, not all repossessed cars are sold cheap. It all depends on the car’s overall condition and other minor details.

Let me share with you some tips when buying repossessed cars at car auctions so that you will not overspend your money:

1. Do your research. Before you visit any car auction, you need to do your homework. You need to determine which of the car models that you are interested in buying first. Then, find out what is the price of a similar brand new model. After this, you should also find out the rules in car auctions so that you will be familiar about the operations of it.

2. Inspect the car thoroughly. This is a very important note that you should always bear it in mind. Do not buy on impulse no matter how cheap the car is being priced. Inspect the car thoroughly and check for any defects. Make sure you can test-drive the car too so as to ensure that the engine and brakes are working fine as well.

3. Stay firm. At a car auction, sellers will say the nicest thing on earth just to influence your purchase decision. Therefore, never believe what they say without doing your homework and inspection. Trust yourself and take your time to choose the right car model.

The greatest benefit for going to a car auction is that you will be able to get your favorite car at a much cheaper rate. However, buying repossessed cars at car auctions may not be as easy as you think. Hope that these tips can aid your buying decision and save you tons of troubles.

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I think many of us with vehicles seriously overestimate or underestimate what we could tow with it. You might look at a boat, utility trailer, or travel trailer and ask yourself “I wonder if my car could handle that?”

Now where would you go for that kind of information? Most people would go straight to the owner’s manual of their car. The problem is, the information in that manual will be so watered down and generic that you can’t really trust it.

It’s going to say something like this: “towing capacities are calculated under the assumption of a standard equipped vehicle, normal driver, and trailers. Any other equipment or passengers will reduce the amount of weight your vehicle can handle.”

Huh? So how on earth can you evaluate your real towing capacity? The first thing you have to understand the vehicle manufacturer is using a completely stripped down version of the car or truck to beef up the towing rating. Makes sense right?

They’re trying to sell cars, and if you’re a family with a tent trailer, seeing a super high towing rating on that little station wagon could be the factor that gets you to buy. That’s why you need to bring a skeptical eye to that owner’s manual.

The last thing you want is to load up your trailer with a few quads or motorcycles, head up to the mountains, and then have your transmission go out because you trusted the manufacturer’s published towing capacity. That could be a very expensive getaway.

Here are some terms you want to be familiar with in evaluating your actual towing capacity:

Unloaded Vehicle Weight (UVW)
You know all those times you’re headed down the interstate near the border of the state you’re entering or leaving? One of the best ways to find out your unloaded vehicle weight is to stop at one of them, pay the $5 or $10 fee, and have them weigh your car or truck.

If you do stop at one of those weigh stations, try to have your gas tank as full as possible to make the measurement more accurate.

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)
This is the maximum weight your tow vehicle can be without wrecking your car, truck, or suv. There are a few places you might find this number – it might be under the hood in the engine compartment, or on a sticker in a door frame, or maybe even in the owner’s manual. It’s important to know this number because the foundation for safe towing is not attempting to pull something that is just too heavy for your car.

The bottom line when towing is not to overdo it. When you buy a vehicle, if you know it’s going to be used for towing, be realistic about the capacity of the car or truck you’re buying.

The lightweight family sedan you’re buying is probably not intended to pull a 20 foot boat, or a large travel trailer. If you know you’re going to be doing lots of traveling, camping, RVing, and other recreation, be honest about what type of tow vehicle you’re going to need.

I would recommend buying a solid 8 cylinder engine with a transmission calibrated for heavy duty jobs. I would rather overkill on the vehicle than risk doing thousands of dollars in damage to my car or my trailer. Not to mention the people I’m sharing the road with.

Jeremy helps people to learn to install a trailer hitch. You can read more of his work by visiting: http://www.trailerhitchuniverse.com.

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