Few people can afford to pay cash for a car, even second-hand. This means joining the 84% of Canadians who are paying off their rides in instalments. When deciding on how to finance their second-largest lifetime purchases (after only their homes), smart buyers consider their loan options very carefully.
Depending on their personal situations, taking out a loan from a bank or a dealership could have very different financial consequences over the years ahead. Here’s a quick guide on the pros and cons of each option, and which one might be right for you.
Financing through a bank or credit union usually involves applying for a pre-approved loan. Once your application is accepted, the lender issues a letter of commitment that you can to the dealer, once you’ve found the vehicle of your choice. This is a great time saver, as the entire deal can [...]
When thinking about buying a car, many drivers wonder about how this huge amount of debt will affect their credit rating. Can it really build credit, or does it have a negative effect? The answer is: both! However, the dip in your credit score is very brief, rapidly offset by years of prompt repayments.
Every time you pay your auto loan on time, your credit score improves. The information added to your credit history includes payment promptness, amounts owed, duration, new loans, and your credit mix. These boosts usually appear in your score at milestone consolidation dates, like every six or twelve months.
What Factors Influence My Credit Score?
There are at least five factors that affect your credit score, each of them carrying a different weight. In very general terms, they are:
- 35% of your credit score comes from your payment history. For [...]
When you take out a loan to pay for a new or used car, you don’t actually own your wheels until the loan is fully paid off, together with all its ancillary charges. So if it’s stolen or damaged, you could be held liable for paying it off entirely, if it’s not covered by insurance.
That’s why most reputable lenders require you to present proof of full coverage before you drive out the door, as they must protect their investments by insisting on total protection for the vehicles they finance. From time to time, they’ll also check that you’re still carrying full coverage on your financed vehicle, until your loan is fully paid off. This is because liability insurance covers only damages to another driver, with no compensation for damage to yourself or your own vehicle.
In fact, you could even lose the car to [...]
The world of finance speaks a language of its own, and it’s often incomprehensible to many Canadians looking for the best auto loans in Halifax. So, with the usual Laneway Auto proactive approach to transparency, here’s a list of the main terms used on the auto loan market, with easy-to-understand definitions.
But before getting down to the nitty-gritty of each and every term you might hear during your used car purchase journey, here’s an overview of each step along the way.
Auto Loans Turn Dreaming to Driving
Does your dream car seem impossibly far away? Don’t despair – our vehicle financing experts are always happy to help you pick the best auto loans in Halifax. Even if you can’t afford your dream car right now, they can draw up a plan that steers you closer towards your ideal wheels with each successive purchase over the years. So here are the six simple steps that [...]
