Archive for 2008

“Key-Pointers When Buying a Second Hand Car”

Buying a car from an individual or from a local car dealer is one tedious task if the objective is to purchase a second car that is still in good running condition.  A buyer would never trade his hard-earned money with just a complete wasted used car.  Whether new or used, when buying a car, it should be treated with the same importance and value. 

There are things to take into consideration before buying the car and these are:

1. Educate yourself as a consumer
2. Prepare a list of your needs.  Prioritize between the necessities and the wants.
3. Determine the budget and the kind of car that would best fit.
4. Make a selection by models and types.  Narrowing them will be helpful.
5. Research both online and offline by dealers.
6. Know the value of the second hand car in the market.
7. Research the Vehicle Identification Numbers and history.
8. Take a mechanic when checking the car whether buying from a friend or a dealer.
9. Never shy away from asking questions. 
10. If there’s a gut feeling about it not being good, don’t be afraid to walk away.

“Read the warranty, it will save some money.”

When consumers buy a car, the seller or manufacturer pledges to vouch for the car. This is a warranty. Federal law enforces warranties to be always available to buyers. It should be made clear to the consumer even when they are just searching for what car to buy or if they are just browsing the internet.

Coverage differs.  Therefore, warranties should be checked together with the design, value, quality and other car characteristics.

Warrantees and guarantees often confuse people that are trying to differentiate the two. These two words, although quite similar, have distinct differences in the area of home improvement. 

First, the basic terminologies are somewhat different. Warranty is usually attributed to manufacturers while guarantees refer to the labor.

Warrantees are usually pro-rated. This means that the coverage agreements could change as time goes on. Guarantees from the labor sector mostly are inclusive. 

Here are some examples:

1. Siding should have a warranty not to crack, sag or buckle.
2. The intensity of colors will not diminish for 3 points or more.
3. Warrantees are transferable to different owners and then changed to 5 years.
4. Require registration.
5. Effects of stains brought about by chemicals or too much mildew due to need for cleaning is not under the warranty.

“Buying a Car? Tips about Financing”

Before purchasing a dream car, try to assess if the budget can really afford it.  Questions like, how will it be paid, who will be helping to pay for it, what is the price limit of the car to be bought, and how long will it take to pay off the car? These should be considered even while planning to buy the car. The trend nowadays is that people buy the cars by cashing out the down payment, and the balance will be paid by installment. Others are just lucky enough to have saved the right amount of money that they are able to cash out the total cost of the car, which, by the way, seldom happens now.  Never set aside the possibility of paying thousands of dollars when buying from a dealer or a specific car company, where in the end, charges you more for the interest which takes even years to pay. 

Dealership scams out there

Are you thinking of buying a car but hesitant to approach your local car dealer because you are not sure about the processes of buying a car as well as wary of possible dealership scams? Do you feel that your knowledge about cars and getting great deals is not good enough and you want to learn more about this matter? Then reading these tips will enhance your understanding about dealership scams.

The car dealer and his trade

To have a proper understanding of car dealership scams, you must first have an idea of the car dealers themselves and how they go about their trade selling cars. First of all, the car dealer will not give you a price quotation as much as he possibly can. This is because the tendency of the buyer would be to go to another dealer and the other one will probably offer a lower price thus, the first dealer loses the buyer to the second dealer. To increase their chances of getting you to buy their car, they will try to make you commit to them before they give you the final selling price. On your part, you can do two things: maneuver the dealer into telling you the price quotation or negotiate the terms of the deal with them. If you decided to negotiate with the dealer then be always on the lookout for the following tricks:

“Take the extra mile: Fuel efficiency tips”

Increases in the price of gas, accompany the increase in the number of fuel-saving scams.

Continuous increase in the price of gas is common news nowadays. This is accompanied by an upsurge in advertising exposures for “gas saving” gadgets. These products attract potential buyers searching for methods to maximize fuel efficiency.

There are important procedures car owners can take in consideration to improve gas mileage.  According to the Better Business Bureau, the public should be critical in assessing products that claim gas saving features for vehicle devices or additives for gas and oil.

There are products that feature gas-saving features that really work.  In addition to that, consumers could be facing a major engine trouble or a nullified creator’s warranty by putting devices to the engine.

Consumers should be wary of these specific advertising slogans: “20 percent fuel efficiency improvement”

A hundred or more devices that feature gas-saving qualities are proven untrue by the Environmental Protection Agency. Worse, there are so-called “gas-saving” devices that may cause a harmful effect to a vehicle’s engine.

Another side effect is more smoke emissions. Examples of these devices are Engine Modifiers, Additives, Fuel Line Gadgets, Liquid Injection, Vapor and Air Release Devices and a lot more.

Reasons for Buying a Car

Besides the obvious reason, transportation, are there any other pressing reasons for buying a car?  Perhaps it is a necessity like requiring inexpensive transportation to and from work.  Or, maybe you are a “stay at home” Mom or Dad and need a vehicle to haul children around to school and various other activities.  Regardless of your reason, make certain that purchasing the car is for a valid purpose and not just because you want to outdo “The Joneses.”

In this guide we will show you some of the pitfalls to avoid as well as information to make your selection much easier.  The following are basic reasons you should consider when making that all important car purchase.
 
Is it a good buy?

The best time period to buy that car you have always dreamed of having is later in the month.  Usually, there are numerous rebate programs and bonus offered by month’s end based on a dealer’s monthly sales quotas.  The idea is that, sometimes dealers fall short of meeting their sales objectives.  If their performance is assessed by the end of the month this can prove to be good news to most car buyers since dealers now have no choice but to sell vehicles at a price that is lower than their norm.  They are pressed to make more sales that will count for their monthly sales and that puts you at an advantage as a buyer.

Do not buy flood damaged cars

There are many flood damaged cars being sold on the market. Usually, flood damaged cars, SUVs and trucks are placed in salvage yards. Some though, are made spick and span and put into the car market and they will be up for sale. But the problem is, there really are no tell tale signs of flood damage that would give them away. This is because the cars will be restored so they would look almost like new. The damages caused by the flood would be erased or covered. After the changes, the cars will then be sold to unsuspecting buyers who thinks they are getting a good bargain.

Fact is flood damaged cars are being moved by unscrupulous merchants. Consumers can and should protect themselves against being taken advantage of in the auto market. Luckily, there are several things consumers can do to protect themselves from buying flood damaged cars.

Where to Get Great Used Cars

A franchised new car dealership is a reliable, if not the only, source for anyone who wants to buy a new car.  But to those who prefer buying used or previously owned cars, there are plenty of options and sources one could choose from to be able to make that vehicle purchase the perfect one. 

The following are some of the readily as well as easily available resources to consider when buying a used car. 

The Used Car Superstore

Imagine it as the Wal-Mart of used cars.  There have been numerous used car superstores that have mushroomed for the last five years. These superstores usually have a large inventory of used cars, more or less numbering from four hundred to five hundred vehicles.  The cars found in these stores more often than not are late models.  The vehicles found in these stores came from auctions that cater specially to car dealers. The good thing about buying from these used car superstores is that the warranty they provide are often equivalent to the warranty coverage provided by dealers who sell new cars.   However, it is still best to compare. 

New Car Dealer

How to apply for a student loan

There are many factors to consider before applying for a student loan. Among these are how much is available in savings or other non-loan areas. Are you going to receive any scholarships? Is the educational institution accredited? Will you be going full time or only taking one or two classes? Make a list of the expenses for each semester. Will you be living on campus or commuting? Allow enough money to purchase books, food, clothing, and other basic supplies. Once those criteria have been established, you must allow yourself plenty of time to complete the process.

Before even considering loans or grants, you must have received an acceptance letter from the educational institution of your choice. Once that has been accomplished, it is best to visit the school in person and make the acquaintance of the financial aid office. However, that is not always an option. The second step, once an acceptance letter is received and returned is to fill out the FAFSA or Financial Application For Student Aid. Most financial aid offices will help in filling out this form and sending it to the correct address. While awaiting the results from this, explore the possibilities of various grants and scholarships that are available. Again, the financial aid office will help determining the availabilities of these.

Why Consolidate Your Student Loans?

Once you have graduated from a college or university, you need to start thinking about the loans you needed to get through these years. They must be paid back in a timely manner in order to keep a good credit rating for such times when you may need another loan to purchase a home or car.

For some students who have a few student loans to repay concurrently, it can be a financial drain on their family finances. That is where student loan consolidation comes in.

Student loan consolidation basically consolidates all your student loans into one loan so that it is easier to manage and make payments. When you are getting a student loan consolidation whether from the government or the private market, your existing student loans are paid for and erased by the student loan consolidation lender. The balances are transferred to the new student loan consolidation. Thus you start a new loan and only needs to make a single payment each month.

There are many advantages to using student loan consolidation. The interest rates will be lower since it takes the average interest rates of your previous student loans. Thus due to government legislation, the maximum interest rate cannot be higher than 8.25 percent.