Most car sales professionals are honest, hard-working people with a job to do. Unfortunately there are a few who fit the bill of the “stereotypical” car salesman and will do everything they can to sell you a car. If you apply for finance through the dealer, this just gives the car salesman another tool to use against you as leverage. Instead, walk onto the lot with online auto loan quotes in your hand and you may be surprised at the difference in how you are treated.

Credit Report Shenanigans

Of course you would never shop for cars without pulling your own credit report, right? Well some people do and that gives the dealer a chance to tell stories.

They’ll tell you how you have a terrible credit score and then act like they are doing you a favor by giving you a loan at all. Of course they will have to charge you a higher APR and possibly additional fees for the terrible risk they are taking.

Understand that they will tell you this even if your credit score is perfectly fine.

Your Loan was Rejected

You sign papers and drive off, thinking you own a new car. Then a couple of weeks later, the dealer says the financing fell through and you have to come back in. They’ll hit you with higher payments, refinancing fees, and all kinds of other nonsense.

Unless you lied on your application, the dealer knows whether you qualify for the loan or not before he lets you off the lot. Do you really think he’s going to let you drive off in a $25,000 piece of merchandise otherwise?

Applying for a Loan by Accident

Even shoppers armed with online auto quotes aren’t immune to loan scams. The car salesman may tell you that he needs to pull a credit report because of Patriot Act reporting requirements. You might even notice the form you are filling out is titled “Application for Credit.”

The Patriot Act does not require a credit report or your Social Security number so don’t be fooled into applying for dealer financing. Your name and driver’s license number should be all they need.

Lies About Online Car Loans

Some car dealers are so threatened by online auto loan quotes that they will tell you anything to get you to abandon them in favor of dealer financing.

One of the common lies is how all online car loans are scams and their checks will bounce. Yes, there are a few bad apples among online lenders, but they are generally easy to spot. Most companies that offer online auto loans have been in business for years and are just as reputable as your bank or credit union.

The best way to protect yourself against these and other loan-related scams is to get your online auto loan quotes before going to the lot. That way you know what you have qualified for and don’t have to worry about the dealer using your loan against you.

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The answer is quite straightforward, but maybe confusing to those who are not in the subprime finance business. In essence it boils down to a simple case of security and potential loss. If someone defaults on a personal loan, there is no real potential of recovery of any of the funds in a swift period of time.

For instance, customer A defaults on a personal loan, apart from taking them to court and trying to recover income from them, there is no alternative and if the customer has a genuine reason for default, it’s unlikely that you would obtain a judgement for anything meaningful in terms of monthly instalments. Therefore your loss is total – advance, minus payments made and the derisory judgement the court makes in a repayment schedule; assuming that the customer actually keeps to it. In this scenario, your return will drip feed in over many years and without doubt you will have to chase the customer for the payments as well. All in all, not a good position to be in if you’re a lender, this is why loans with no security are few and far between in the subprime world.

Let’s now take the subprime car loan. First of all, the lender knows that there is an asset they can repossess and sell in the event of default, so immediately were ahead of a personal loan in terms of loss. Secondly, we know that the vehicle is more than likely a critical requirement for the customer, few people want to get public transport and nowadays in general we all prefer to travel by car. This means that the customer has a reason to pay for the loan as well, so were looking good now.

Not only do we have some immediate return in the event of default, we also know there is a need for the customer to pay for the loan, rather than the basic obligation of a finance agreement. Now we now need to analyse what the loss situation is going to be. The loss is in direct proportion to the amount you lend on the vehicle relative to resale/auction value. Lending someone £10,000 on a car that’s worth £600 at an auction is dumb and is as good as writing a personal loan. Sure, cars still depreciate; however, you’re betting that the instalments made will help offset this problem.

A standard market value in the subprime sector is to lend retail value (mileage adjusted), using an agreed independent and updated valuation source (Glass Guide or CAP) in the hope you will obtain trade price at the auctions. For those not in the “know” circa 120-125% of trade represents the retail amount, however, prices do vary.
Operating in this manner, the dealership or seller makes enough profit out of the metal for it to be worth their while and the finance company “ideally” has an asset that can realise a good amount in the event of repossession and resale at auction. This will ensure that the loss isn’t total and those customers who pay will pay for those that don’t.

The only security superior to that of a vehicle, is obviously the security of a charge on the property.

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