Guaranteed car finance companies have helped thousands of customers who have different past credit problems to finance the purchase of a new or used car. Some people need guaranteed car finance simply because they have no credit history. So, thank goodness for guaranteed car finance arrangements whereby you can find a car you like and drive it out of the showroom within minutes, right? Maybe not. You might want to look a little closer before signing those papers...

Rates

As usual, the rate you are offered will depend upon your credit history. If your credit history is bleak at best, then you can bet your quote will include an interest rate that is sky high upon "approval", and be careful with that as well, because the rate advertised is not always the rate you will get. I've heard of some guaranteed car finance companies coming back with an interest rate as high as 15% and higher! That's like credit card interest on a larger principal amount. Car finance rates are determined by the percentage or cost added onto the loan by the lender and the dealers get paid a commission on higher purchase deals and will try to charge a rate that is more beneficial to them, and not you.

Payments

Once you have the purchase price of your automobile and are working with the interest rates, be sure to figure the total monthly payment that you will be paying, and determine if it will work with your monthly budget. Remember that just because you may have a good purchase price and acceptable interest rate, if the monthly payments are too much for you to handle comfortably for a number of years, it may be best to pass. Also, if the payments do seem to be too high, don't let the dealer talk you in to stretching out the financing for years and years. Remember that a car loses 60-70% of it value in the first two years. So if you sign into a loan for 7-8 years, you may still be paying for the car when it is a heap!

I understand that your credit record may not be perfect at all stages in your life, many things can happen to leave you with a bad credit history. If you do not have the savings and cannot borrow from friends or relatives, you will have to face the possibility of applying for a car finance loan and are likely to find it more difficult to obtain approved car finance with a bad credit history: difficult, but not impossible.

Bottom line, anything that claims to be "Guaranteed Finance" or "Bad Credit No Problem" is likely to be out to devour your bank account. My suggestion is to save a little money, and buy a car with cash. It may not be the sports car you've always dreamed of, but it will get you from point A to point B until you have a chance to repair your credit, and save up some money to buy that sports car. If you cannot wait and simply must get a guaranteed car finance loan, be careful, shop several different places, and go with the best proposal.