December 30th, 2010 -
We’ve all been there. You want a new car, but you aren’t sure how much you can or should put down. There are all types of deals out there these days when it comes to buying a car and an automobile loan. Many companies are offering dirt-cheap rates, while others promote that they are loaning are even loaning money without any interest rates over a specific period of time. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out how much of a new car down payment you should make.
If the dealership doesn’t offer these cheap rates, you may be able to get the interest down a little bit by offering a larger original payment on the vehicle you want to purchase. You need to realize that a car deprecates in value as soon as you drive it off the lot, so you don’t want to owe more money than your new car is worth.
Many financial experts state that making a substantial down payment is the best thing to do to combat becoming”upside down” on your loan. They recommend that you put down at least 20% of the car’s purchase price. That’s right, 20%! This way, you should start to see positive equity about half way into a four-year loan, as long as you keep the vehicle in good shape.
If you can’t afford to pay 20 per cent, it’s a good idea to pay off as much as possible and keep the length of your loan as short as you possibly can. Getting a long-term loan can turn a $27K car into a $32K car when all is said and done. Oh, by the way, did I fail to mention that the car is now worth only $9K? It’s crazy math, but if you aren’t aware that the amount of your down payment and the length of your term will drastically affect the amount of money that comes out of your pocket…well, you can be taken on the proverbial ride.
If you have any questions about down payments or loans, feel free to contact us and we’ll tell you everything I know.
December 22nd, 2010 -
Is Gap Insurance something you really need? I know my answer, but I thought I’d just google it and see what others thought…I found this post in the very first link I tried. It’s from a random automobile forum: “I had gap on my wife’s car that was totaled and thank God we did.
The price on her car dropped like a rock after 9-11 and about 6 months later some jerk totaled it. I have gap on 2 cars right now and it cost me $4.56 a month. Seems like a small price to pay every month but could end up providing a lot of coverage.”
The more I looked around, the more accolades I found on the benefits of Gap Insurance and here’s why. I’ll make it simple. So, you’ve just bought a new car at $40,000. The minute you drove it off the lot it depreciated in value according to your insurance company. So, now it’s worth $30,000. You wreck that car and the insurance company gives you the $30,000 for it, but now you still owe a remaining $10,000 on a car that you aren’t even driving because it’s been totaled. Unfortunately, this happens all the time to people, but it wouldn’t happen if they had GAP insurance. See, GAP insurance will insure you for the difference between what you would owe on a vehicle and what an insurance company says it’s worth. So in other words, you would be 100% covered if you were in an accident and now you know why it’s imperative to get GAP insurance.
*The one and only reason you might not want GAP insurance on your new car is if you paid for it with cash and don’t owe anything to the bank.
When searching for GAP insurance, research all of your options because there are a few different ways to obtain it. You can get it through the dealership, your insurance company or in some cases, the bank will roll it into your loan.
Let me know if you have any experience with Gap Insurance and if YOU have any advice.
November 8th, 2010 -
So often we do business with people near and far that we don’t know. At Hiley, we want to change that. That’s why we give you the opportunity to get to know us, and we hope you’ll give us the opportunity to get to know you. Here’s our story:
The Hiley Family of dealerships is a locally-owned family business that has sold 100,000 vehicles and counting. In 1976, Randy Hiley moved to Fort Worth, Texas to work for his uncle – Dub Shaw, a Fort Worth Ford Dealer. After working there for several years, he then went to work for a local competitor – Charlie Hillard. Fourteen years, seven franchises and a company vice presidency later, Randy realized a life long dream and opened Hiley Mazda and Hiley Volkswagen in Arlington, Texas.
Needless to say, it was a very successful venture. In 1992, General Motors approved Randy Hiley to be one of the first Saturn retailers in the country. After interviewing all of Hiley’s employees, from the top to the bottom, and the Hiley employees had the highest rate of employee satisfaction that they had ever seen. Hiley was awarded the two franchises in Dallas and they both opened in 1994. Shortly after the two new dealerships opened, Randy Hiley became the chairman of Mazda’s National Dealer Council and became a director of Saturn’s franchise operations team.
Randy Hiley’s two sons, Jason and Matt went on to buy and sell more dealerships and now serve as the president and vice president of the company. The Hiley dealerships are still family-owned and operated after nearly two decades and are one of the last privately owned dealership groups in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
In keeping with the family’s passion for growth in the automotive industry, we would like to announce the Grand Opening of our Buick GMC store. It’s the only Buick GMC dealership in Fort Worth! We’re located at 3535 West Loop 820 South, Fort Worth, TX 76116. Come in and help us celebrate all month long!
September 20th, 2010 -
Are you in the market for a new car? If so, it’s important to figure out what you can afford to spend — before going shopping. By doing some simple math and evaluating your current situation, you’ll be prepared to shop for a car you want – and can afford.
How Much Can You Spend?
The first thing to figure out is how much you can afford to spend on monthly car payments. Most experts argue that you should not spend more than 20% of your monthly gross income on a car payment. In special situations this figure may vary, but as a rule for the average adult, sticking to 20% or less of monthly gross will likely be a wise move.
Short Term or Long Term?
Once you determine a safe figure for monthly car payments, you should consider the loan term. Remember that a longer car loan will mean much more interest paid over time, while a shorter car loan term will mean less interest but higher monthly payments.
Selling Your Current Car?
If you already sold your car you may have some available cash to contribute as a down payment. Any down payment you make is great as it will cut down on monthly car payments. If you still need to get rid of your current car, be sure to consider selling your car before simply trading it in to the dealer. You can usually expect much more money from selling your car than trading it in. If time is an issue, look for a reputable used car buyers like Big Bucks Auto™ in New York Tri-State Area.
If you already sold your car and have some leftover cash from the sale, consider keeping it for a down payment on your next new car. Any down payment you make will cut down monthly payments significantly.
Considered Leasing?
If you’re currently leasing a car, you’ll need to either wait until your lease term expires – or get out of your lease early. And if you have savings or other available cash, this may be used as a down payment as well if you choose to do so.
Thought about Insurance Costs?
Insurance costs are another major consideration when figuring out how much you can spend on your new car. A sports car or a high theft car will likely have a far higher insurance premium than a run-of-the-mill sedan. To put this into perspective, remember that two new cars with sticker prices of $20,000.00 each may have insurance premiums which vary by as much as 50% – or more! In other words, it’s very important to figure out – roughly – how much insurance is going to cost for all of the new cars your interested in.
Calculated Maintenance Costs?
Then there are maintenance costs to consider. Some new cars will be far more expensive to repair than others. Foreign cars, for example, may be quite expensive to repair. However, many of these cars now come with warranties and free scheduled maintenance. New offers like this may actually make cars which used to be expensive to fix, far less expensive than other ‘cheap to fix’ cars! Therefore, the maintenance issue should be evaluated on a car-by-car and offer-by-offer basis, as manufacturers and their offers vary significantly.
After considering these simple factors, you’ll be prepared to go out and shop for a car that truly fits the bill, no pun intended.
July 21st, 2010 -
Any time a person examines vehicle insurance coverage costs, one must check out many insurance carriers. It means spending quite a few minutes hunting for the perfect quotes at insurance providers near by. Nevertheless the world wide web has simplified the task of getting deals for car coverages. People just have to search on the net at various web sites and only complete the set of questions displayed.
A person have to provide information such as the range of insurance policy coverage needed, the duration of the insurance policy and on top of that numerous particular data. Quickly, a number of insurance quotes coming from reputable providers is going to be introduced.
As should be experienced, it’s truly easy to locate inexpensive car insurance packages. Internet based insurance comparison web-sites include chat support which will allows consumers to question insurance difficulties with an experienced person. Have a look at these types of online sites while undertaking your current investigation for insurance protection to locate the best available package deal just for yourself.
Buyers frequently go for excellent insurance companies whenever they examine quotes and uncover good deals via numerous auto insurance sites. Next, individuals may need to ascertain if these particular firms are trusty and if they will offer superior client service. So they can possess a comprehensible knowledge of those matters, individuals may either just take effort to travel to the federal insurance governing agency or surf by means of their particular web site.
The next step is for consumers to look for every discount rates those auto insurance carriers can be giving. Insurance vendors may offer price reductions for many types of factors.
Talked about below are a few discounts provided by car insurance firms who help many people to spend less.
Getting house insurance with the insurance provider allows for them to cut down monthly premiums by around 19% (supposing it is readily available).
With quite a few insurance firms, if almost all individuals in a family get insurance from their website, lower price rates of 14% to 24% tend to be granted.
Perhaps you have fitted security gadgets in your car or truck like air bags, crook sensors, mesh brakes and anti theft hardware? In case you have installed any or many of these you should gain quite a big price cut.
July 16th, 2010 -
Do you realize how much you are at risk financially if you wreck your car or it gets stolen? Your auto insurance policy might not provide all the financial protection you need, if the value of your car is less than the balance of your auto loan. Gap coverage is designed to cover the difference between the value of your car when it was lost and the balance of your car loan.
This is also called Negative Equity. Having to continue to pay off your car loan every month, when you don’t even have your car anymore is probably not what you had in mind when you bought it.
Let’s say you lost your car in a hurricane or other disaster, one year after you purchased your car: Now let’s say you still owe $20,000 on your auto loan and your deductible is $500. Let’s also say your car was worth $15,000 at the time you lost it. The insurance company pays you $14,500. Then your Negative Equity or Gap is $5,500.
Gap Protection isn’t really insurance, it’s a Debt Cancellation Agreement. You could call it a waiver of the part of your auto loan contract that requires you to pay the difference between the value of your car and the amount still owed on your car loan. There are a few states that do consider Gap Protection a form of insurance, but most states do not.
Is Gap Protection for you? Talk to the person considering your auto loan. Car buyers who are putting little or no money down on a car may need Gap Protection. If you are transferring the balance of previous car loans into the current car loan or taking out an extended car loan like a 60 month loan you may need the extra protection. Any car buyer who will owe more than their car is worth needs Gap Protection.
You have to take figure out the expected depreciation on the car you are buying and the rate of equity accumulation through your auto loan. This will help you figure how big a gap you’ll have and for how long.
Some lenders or leasing companies include the coverage in the agreement for the their own protection. This is common in lease contracts. The decision to buy gap coverage is easy. Deciding who to buy it from is much more difficult.
You can get Gap Coverage for your car loan from your the dealer, Credit Union or another lender, online sellers of gap protection or your auto insurance company. Each option is different, so read on before you decide on an option.
On the Internet, it’s easy to explore these options. You can do a search for the information there or go to your favorite search engine like google or yahoo and use the keywords “gap protection” or “auto loan gap coverage”. Make sure that you check out any company you find on the web before you give them your credit card information. You don’t want to end up with a provider that won’t be there to help you cover the gap in your car loan if something happens.
Your Auto Insurance Carrier: Not all insurance companies carry gap protection for your car loan. Check with your agent. Check to see if they already included gap protection in your car loan and how much coverage they gave you. You may need more than they offer. The cost of gap protection is relative to the value of your car. The more expensive the car, the more it will cost, and the more coverage you need.
Also, very important to keep in mind. Your insurance company or other provider will continue to bill you for gap protection every month. It’s up to you to calculate and decide when you no longer need it. In other words you need to know when you will be out of the hole. You need to know when there is no longer a gap between the value of your car and the amount you owe on your car loan.
The Automobile Dealer or whoever gave you your car loan is another source for buying gap protection. This is done at the time you get your car loan so bring it up right away if you choose this option. Some lenders may let you purchase it later, but it’s best if you buy it when getting your loan. As soon as you drive the car off the lot, it becomes a used car.
The cost is normally a one-time charge, typically the same set price for all customers buying the same coverage. Buyers may roll the fee into the total loan amount and include it in the monthly loan payments. Dealerships usually have the best rate for gap protection. You may want to choose another option. The average price for gap protection through auto dealers is about $500.
Make sure your gap protection also covers the deductible. Look for other features such as automobile replacement or money towards a new car in the event something happens. So don’t let just price be your guide when choosing who to buy gap protection from.
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