For people that used to have good credit, buying a car with bad credit can be a painful process. If you are used to being able to walk onto any dealership, pick out any vehicle, and call all the shots on your vehicle purchases, you are in for a little bit of a shock.

Why Can’t I Buy a Car Where I Want?

For starters, not every dealership works with people that have credit challenges. There are three reasons for this:

• First, many dealers do not want the stigma of being thought of as a “Bad Credit Car Dealer”.  Especially Luxury and Import dealers.
• Second, lenders that specialize in bad credit auto loans only want to associate with dealers that are willing to advertise for their type of customers, which would brand that dealer as a “Bad Credit Car Dealer”.
• And finally, the bad credit lenders do no have any interest in signing up every car dealer for their programs because they do not have to.

If you have bad credit, you are going to end up getting turned down by most dealers until you end up at an auto dealer that has the finance sources to help you. Why go through all the legal hassle of contracting with 100,000 dealers if 1,000 of the dealers would send you 95% of your business? It just does not make sense to the lenders.

Why Can’t I Buy the Kind of Car I Want?

We deal with many different types of bad credit auto loans. Our customers often have recent bankruptcies, recent repossessions, foreclosures, or other bad credit items on their bureau. The lenders that do these loans put restrictions on how large of a payment they are willing to do, and how new the vehicle must be (years and mileage).

One of the statements we hear most often is: “If I am going to be making a payment on it, it has to be the car I want.” 9 times out of 10, the person saying this has repossessed one or two cars in the past, and thinks that this time they will be able to pick any car they want. Additionally, they usually trying to buy a big truck, SUV, old car, or expensive car which we will explain in the next few articles why those are harder to do.

But, I Want to Pick Out My Car

I don’t remember what movie it was, but the famous line was “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. You choose.” That is the approach we take with our customers. You can afford $XXX.XX per month, and you can put $X,XXX.XX as a down payment, right? The lender is going to like some cars more than others, right? So why not do it the fast way and see what your options are rather than fall in love with a vehicle that will either need a higher payment or a higher monthly payment than you want to do?

EVERYONE wants a nicer car than they can afford, or SHOULD spend. It is just human nature. People that drive $30,000 cars want $45,000 cars. People that drive $10,000 cars want $20,000 cars. When you are looking at the Ford Focus, it is only natural to like the Ford Fusion a little more. If the two vehicles were the same price, of course the Fusion is the better value. Of course, the two vehicles (with the same mileage, year, and equipment) are not the same price. One is designed to be more expensive, and if you can afford it, the Fusion is a great car. However, if either you or the bank decides that you cannot afford the payment on the more expensive vehicle, then there are only 2 choices: Buy the car that has the payment you want, or Buy the car you want, but put more money down to get the payment you want.

Seems simple, right?

A lot of people do not understand that concept. We want to help you get a car that works for you at terms you can afford. A vehicle that meets all of your needs, and your budget. If we happen to meet some of your wants as well, great. But if not, it is important to look at the bigger picture when buying a car, rebuilding your credit, or taking on any major expense.