| Car Financing The F&I Department |
18 Jan |
OK, youve finally gotten through the front end part of buying your car. You have worked hard done some tough negotiating and feel like you have negotiated a good and fair deal on your car purchase and trade-in. Now its time to head into the dealers F&I (finance and insurance) department and go through the formality of signing the financing paper work on the back end of the deal.
You may have noticed a couple of terms: front end and back end. I used these terms to illustrate a point to you. From a car dealer perspective there are two distinct parts (profit centers) to each deal. The front end of the deal is the new car price, your trade in, any dealer add ons that they got you to buy with your new car, etc. All of this, most everyone is indeed familiar with. The second part of the deal, the back end, is not a place to let your guard down. The back end is the F&I department. The F&I manager is every bit as responsible for making sales numbers and profit margins as everyone else at the dealership and they are sales people NOT financial advisers and their purpose is to help maximize the profit on the deal.
Dont assume that you are going to be offered the best possible interest rate you can get by the F&I manager. Quite the opposite! Adding a point or two (or more) to your contract interest rate above what you qualify for is a serious profit maker for the dealer.
Also keep in mind that all of your hard work negotiating your deal on the front end has been by in large verbal and perhaps a handshake. True, as a result, you may have a signed buyers order or worksheet that the salesperson and or manager have signed off on, but it is in the F&I department where all of this gets put into contract form.
Stay focused. Some dealers and salespeople may even imply that in order for the deal to get approved, you have to finance through their finance department. You dont. In fact, if you have done your homework and found a better financing offer, you should take it. At the very least, you know what numbers you qualify for, and as such you should ask the car dealership to try to better what you already have.
Read the contract. Sound so basic, but most people dont. Dont just assume that everything that you negotiated with the dealership on the front end will make its way to the back end of your car deal. If youve had a long day negotiating to get the price you want, dont give it all back in the F&I department by getting lazy at this very crucial time.
Without question, the single biggest mistake car buyers make is failing to prepare. That, and setting your expectation that car buying and the negotiating process within can take at best several hours to accomplish. Know that you are going to be at the dealership for a while can help you stay energized and focused. Do your homework. Know your credit score. Get your financing pre-approved and see if the dealer can beat what you already have. Be familiar with all the areas of potential sales and profit that the dealer can potentially land. Know what extras (if any) you will and will not pay for. Make sure the contract in the F&I department reflects all the negotiations that you have worked to accomplish before hand. Then, finally, remain on your toes and dont drop your guard once in the F&I department.
Tags: Car Dealer, Car Financing, Car Purchase, Fair Deal, Finance Department, Financial Advisers, Formality, Handshake, Homework, Insurance, Insurance Department, Interest Rate, New Car Price, Perspective, Profit Centers, Profit Maker, Profit Margins, Sales Numbers, Salespeople, SalespersonRelated posts
read comments (0)| Buying Your First Classic Car |
12 Jan |
For most people, owning classic or vintage cars is a dream-come true. Owning classic cars are considered a luxury. It is very expensive and most people cannot afford to buy one, much more to restore one.
If you are considering buying a classic car, you should first think about your budget, how much are you willing to spend on these antique machines? There are some people who spend their saving just to own one.
Vintage cars can also be an investment. After you restore one, the market value of the car would be better than you imagined. Depending on its model and condition, classic cars can be a potential profit maker.
These classics are usually sold in auctions and there are many classic car enthusiasts out there willing to spend a fortune on these cars.
However, before buying one you should consider the following:
Keep in mind that what you want to buy would be described as a collector car.
Decide what car fits your budget. This will probably eliminate those vintages you drool about in major car shows, unless you are very rich. Just one of those cars you see in major car shows can cost you at least hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Researching on where to buy classic cars is not easy. You have to spend a lot of time and effort just by searching one of these cars. Remember that these cars are not manufactured anymore and you do not often see these on your regular used car dealership.
You would probably find one on junk yards or on old peoples houses that do sell or throw these classics away. You can even get them with a bargain price. However, these cars are probably covered with rust already and have engines that are in bad shape.
Another good way to look for a classic car is by going to auctions. If you can afford to travel, take time to go to car auctions in different places.
This will give you a chance to offer a bargain for it. You can also opt for a classic car that is in good condition and less restoration will be required.
If you found what you were looking for, compare them. If you are a mechanic you can probably do the comparison yourself, if not, try to bring your trusted mechanic along to help you decide which one to buy. Always remember that the less restoration required the better.
After purchasing the car, the next step would be restoring it. Be prepared to spend a lot of time and money on this phase, since good car parts for classic cars are hard to come by and are usually very expensive to manufacture.
Obtaining the car parts necessary for restoration will be very time consuming and will require you to make many calls in shops that sells antique car parts. One way of easily obtaining classic car parts is by searching in the Internet.
Here, you can obtain hard-to-find parts for the model of your car.
If you do not find one, you can ask a machine shop to manufacture one for you. All you have to do is bring the old part to the shop and they will do the rest.
If you dont know much about repairing cars, much more restoring it, it is probably best if you hire a mechanic to do the restoration or go to one of those classic car restoration shops. These kinds of shops are usually very expensive and not recommended if you bought the car for investment purposes.
This is because some classic cars restored are valued less than what it costs to do the restoration.
After the restoration and paying huge bills for the mechanic or restoration shops, you can now fully enjoy your vintage car for years to come.
Tags: Antique Machines, Bad Shape, Bargain Price, Buy Cars, Car Auctions, Car Dealership, Classic Car Enthusiasts, Classic Cars, Collector Car, Different Places, Drool, Fortune, Hundreds Of Thousands, Junk Yards, Model Cars, Profit Maker, Rust, Thousands Of Dollars, Vintage Cars, VintagesRelated posts
