Financing Guide for First Time Buyers 

Identify Your Budget

It’s important to take the time to evaluate your budget. You don’t want to get into a situation where you can’t afford the monthly payments. Buying a car that you can’t afford can lead to countless financial problems.

Write out a budget that encompasses all of your income and all of your expenses. Especially if you’ve never owned a car before, remember that you also need to include the cost of auto insurance and gas.

Once you figure out the monthly amount of what you can afford, make the promise to yourself that you won’t go over.

Get Pre-Approved

What you can afford and what you can get approved for can vary dramatically. There are a number of factors that go into getting approved for an auto loan – credit rating, time on the job, and more.

If you aren’t happy with your credit rating, work on improving it for a few months before you apply. You can improve your credit rating by paying down debt and making sure that you pay all of your bills on time.

The pre-approval process can be done online. Once you get pre-approved for a set amount, it can make it easier for you to research the kind of vehicle you want to buy.

Compare Rates

Not all banks offer the same rates. It’s important for you to compare rates from at least two to three banks before you decide who you want to go with to finance your vehicle.

Some banks may offer you lower rates but not provide you with the full amount that you want. Other banks may offer you higher rates and offer you all the money you could possibly ask for.

Since it can be overwhelming, we offer in-house financing. It allows us to do a lot of the rate comparison shopping for you. We work closely with your credit so that we can find the best possible deal for you.

Do Some Model Research

Once you know what you can afford and you’ve been pre-approved for a loan, it’s time to start shopping for a vehicle.

Doing a bit of model research can help you to narrow down the possibilities. Consider a few things:

• Car, truck, SUV, or minivan?
• Seating capacity you need
• Top features you want to have
• Performance requirements

You will also have to decide whether you want to buy new or used. Depending on the budget that you have, it may be better to buy used so that you don’t have to worry about the high MSRP that is found on the latest and greatest models to hit the dealership lot.

By talking to our sales department, we can help you to navigate the used and new vehicle inventory. You can also do quite a bit of research online before you even get to the dealership.

Talk to the Finance Department

You will have all sorts of options to help you afford your monthly payment. Once you have been approved for a loan, you can decide whether you want to pay over 36 months, 48 months, and in some instances, as many as 72 months. While you’ll pay more in interest over longer terms, it can reduce your monthly payment dramatically.

Sit down with the finance department at Gerry Lane Cadillac. Let us run your credit. Talk to us about what kind of monthly payment you can afford. We’ll run the numbers to show you what the various payment options are – and if you can put a larger down payment down, it can help you to keep your payments low.

Schedule an appointment to check out our inventory today or stop in to talk to us. We’ll work with you to make buying a vehicle for the first time as easy as can be.