Five Things You Must Know Before Buying a Car

(Author: Mark Marine | Article Views: 23 | Word Count: 637 | Published: Sep 8th 2007)

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The offers sound enticing—0% interest, no money down, low monthly payments and huge discounts. With offers like these, you’re sure to get a good deal on a car, right? Not necessarily. Seems like there’s always a catch or fine print. And that’s why most people hate buying a car. They rank it right up there with getting a root canal—downright painful. The basic problem is that most people don’t understand how car dealerships operate. So they wind up paying too much.

That’s where Mark Marine comes in. A long-time car dealer and author of the book, “Kick the Dealer...Not the Tires!” (Motom Publishing), Marine believes consumers need to understand the role their credit plays when buying a car. And shocking as it may sound having good credit does not automatically mean you’ll get the best deal. “You may not want to hear this but the people getting the best price on a car are people with bad credit,” says Marine. “The car-buying experience is designed to allow dealers to make up profits lost on bad-credit sales by making bigger profits on good-credit sales.”

That’s why Marine stresses the importance of understanding credit. He offers five key points that he thinks all consumers should know before they even consider buying a new vehicle:

1. Check your credit report. Most credit reports contain inaccurate information. It’s up to you to correct it—there’s no government agency that requires the credit report companies to amend mistakes to your report.

2. Good credit means you’re ripe for abuse. When you have good credit, banks place fewer restrictions on your loan and that allows dealers to charge you more. So it’s crucial to know your lender’s conditions on your loan up-front.

3. Bad credit means the bank protects its money. When you have bad credit, the bank places more restrictions on the loan. That gives dealers less wiggle room to add on extras and options. But bad credit still means you have fewer options when borrowing money.

4. Get pre-approved before you visit any car dealer. That way you know the conditions placed on your loan up front. Then the dealer is forced to make a deal that fits the conditions outlined by the bank—again, eliminating that profit wiggle room.

5. Have an exit strategy. Don’t let the lust for leather seats and a premium sound system melt your brain. When buying a car, keep in mind at some point you’ll sell that car. So you have to be smart. You’ll pay much more for options than you’ll recoup when selling it down the road.

Marine says he also wants people to know that when it comes to their credit, the best thing they can do is pay their bills on time. If they fall behind, he warns them to beware of ‘credit repair’ scams. “There is no such thing as credit repair,” says Marine. “These companies claim they can hide or remove negative information from your credit report, even if that information is true. But they can’t. What’s even worse is that after they’ve ‘repaired’ your credit, your score drops even lower than before you went to them.”

When it comes to your credit and buying a new car, Marine advises consumers to be informed. Check your credit score, get pre-approved first, and plan your exit strategy. “A car purchase will affect your economic life for roughly three to seven years,” says Marine. “That’s a long time to be stuck in a bad deal. Get pre-approved.”

Book Available at: Amazon, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.borders.com

For more information visit www.kickthedealer.com

About the Author

Mark Marine has been in the car business since 1989. He grew frustrated listening to the litany of stories from consumers who were upside down, or owed more than their car was worth, in their car loans. Bothered by the standard practices in the auto industry, Marine decided to start empowering consumers by explaining how dealerships operate, and have designed a system to use your credit as a tool for profit. His work for consumers led to national interviews on the Allan Handelman Show, Everyday Wealth with Geri Detwiller, Dr. Penelope Sugrosse, Bare Bones Biz with Ellen Rohr and The Jim Sumpter Show. Marine also hosted a daily talk show for four years on KTKK radio in Salt Lake City and wrote a weekly column in the Enterprise Newspaper, which was distributed to businesses throughout Utah. He currently lives in Utah where he owns and operates a car dealership.

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