As you prepare to get an auto loan, you have to take a good look at your budget. Determine how much you can afford for a monthly payment. Remember that in addition to your auto loan, you’ll also have other expenses including insurance, gas, and maintenance. If you’ve owned a vehicle before but it wasn’t new, expect your insurance to go up.

Remember the monthly payment that you can afford, whether it’s $200 or $600. Once you begin working with the finance department, you won’t want to accept a deal that is over the amount that you can afford.

Get Pre-Approved

You’ll want to get pre-approved for an auto loan. The bank will look at your earnings and your overall credit to determine what amount you can get approved for.

What you can afford is not a factor. You may get approved for more than you can afford or less.

If you know that you have a lower-than-average credit score, you may want to work on improving your score for a few months before completing the application. Reduce your debt-to-income ratio, pay your bills on time, and ensure that everything reflected on your credit bureau reports is accurate.

When you do get the pre-approval, bring it to the dealership. It will make it easy for you to get the auto loan and drive home in your new vehicle.

It’s a good idea to research some vehicles before you get to the dealership. Now that you know what you can afford and what you got approved for, you’ll know how much money you can spend on a vehicle.

If there are a few models you like, get insurance quotes on them. Especially if your budget is tight, you don’t want to secure an auto loan only to find out that insuring a particular vehicle is going to be too expensive.

When you’re ready to start test driving, you may want to share your budget with the sales associate helping you. It can ensure that you’re only shown cars that you can afford.

It can be difficult to remember to pay your monthly payment every month. If you forget one month, it can trigger a repossession and destroy your credit. Most banks offer the option to set up an auto-pay. Your car payment will be the same amount every month, so it’s not like a minimum payment ordeal with credit cards. Set it up and forget about it to ensure you’re making the payments like you agreed to do.

When you’re looking to pay your auto loan off faster than the terms of your loan, there are a few additional tips:

• Never skip a payment to avoid late charges

• Pay a little bit more each month

• Make one extra payment per year

• Refinance your loan if you find a lower rate

The most common auto loan term is 72 months (6 years). However, depending on your credit and the monthly payment you want to stay within, there are options that range from 36 months to 84 months. If you can pay the loan off faster, you will end up saving on the interest you pay.

Shopping for a car, truck, or SUV is the fun part. We have a large inventory of vehicles – and many have some incredible deals on them. Our goal is to help you find a vehicle you love and ensure you can afford it. Once you find a vehicle, you’ll work with our finance team to show you what your monthly payment options are – with and without a down payment.

Call to book an appointment or stop at our dealership during operating hours to learn more. To save time, you can even get pre-approved for an auto loan online in just seconds.