Find My Ride

financing a car - do you buy or lease?

2011-02-18T04:10:00.000-08:00

Many people are not informed regarding their options for financing, they believe that the bank is the only source f financing for a car, well, there is another option -leasing...

Financing through the banks:
you can finance a new car from 12 -- 72months and used cars vary from 12-60 months, depending on the age of the vehicle you are purchasing. The older the vehicle, the shorter the finance period.
When financing through any financial provider, it is extremely important to look at the long term and not just getting your car. For example, if you want a car that you can only afford if you take it over 60 months with a residual, you may be better off going or a less expensive vehicle, demo or pre-owned version of the car you are looking at purchasing. Why? Well here's the scenario, 3 or 4 yrs down the line you want to trade your car in, your settlement is almost 1 and 1/2 times what you are being offered, you are then stuck with a car that you no longer want as you don't have the extra money to cover the settlement.
What is a residual? A residual is explained as follows: If you are buying a car for R150 000 your installments over 72 months will be +- R2950. That is out of your budget so you ask the finance consultant how you can decrease the installment, it is suggested that you take a residual of 25% over 72 months and your installment drops to +- R2500. So, what has happened is you have only financed 75% of the vehicle and once the initial amount has been paid off, you still owe that 25% (R37 500). This arrangement affects you down the line when you want to trade in your vehicle, many people who have taken residuals have been stuck with the vehicle until they have paid off the car in full as they have no way of getting out of the vehicle.
The fact is, a car depreciates in value every month, so f you are looking at buying a car and financing it, try and take it over the shortest period, that way you have a chance of being able to settle your car rather than having to pay in on the settlement.

This is where leasing is a solution: You can lease from 12 - 60 months. At the end of the leasing term, you hand your car back and owe nothing. You only get a penalty if you want to terminate the lease agreement.
There are 3 leasing options:
Operating lease - which is the basic rental of the vehicle of your choice
Maintenance Lease - This price includes the maintenance of the vehicle
Mainenance Lease incl tyres - This is as above and tyre maintenance.

he most important thing is to go with financing that suits you,make sure you look at all angles before making a decision and ask as many questions as you need to be fully informed.

Find My Ride provides all these services as well as keeping you informed and assisting you to make the best decision for each individual.

We hope this has helped keep you informed.

Till next week

The Find My Ride Team
We Find it you Drive it!
www.findmyride.co.za

Find My Ride

2011-02-02T12:18:00.000-08:00

Have not posted for a couple of days as have been completely swamped with work. We have picked up stupendously and are thus being kept busy with what we do best, customer service and sourcing cars. We are also being kept busy as we are in the midst of expanding and are hoping to be boasting even more specials and more stock in our virtual showroom.

So, will write soon more tips for buyers and what Find My Ride is busy with.

Till Then...
Be good

Find My Ride Team
We Find it You Drive it...
www.findmyride.co.za

Find My Ride - Tips for buyers #2

2011-01-25T04:01:00.000-08:00

Finance. Should be a simple task, you apply, you get approved or declined. Well, I'm here to tell you it's not that simple. The banks look at a few things when an applicant comes across them:

1. Credit History
2. Affordability
3. Amount of applications applicant has sent in.
4. Work history

So what is Credit History? Well, you create a history every time you get credit, cellphone contract, clothing account, car finance, credit cards, home loans,personal loans etc. If you are a diligent payer and do not miss a single payment, your credit history will be spotless, you have nothing to worry about and your negotiations to lower your interest rate are strengthened. If you have missed a payment or two and have caught up and been a diligent payer thereafter, your credit scoring will be lower, however, you will still be likely to get credit. If you have lost your job, missed many payments and are playing catch up with your payments, your credit score will not allow you to get finance.
Everything you get on credit, every payment you make is recorded and when your details are searched when looking for finance your payment history will come up, either giving you a great chance, a good chance or no chance at getting finance. At this time,I would also like to point out that if an expat comes looking for finance, they would also more than likely be declined as they would have no credit history at all. So if you are looking to finance a car/house, start with building your credit history with accounts. Now, I think it is only fair for me to point out that, if you do not get finance a at bank, you will not get finance anywhere else. I have had many people call into my business thinking that I can work miracles, unfortunately I can't, one would need to clear their name first and build up their score again.

Affordability, well, either you can afford it or you can't. I have had many applications where a client believes if they earn R7000, they can afford to pay R3000 a month for a car. Unfortunately, the banks do not work like that, they take into account insurance that still need to go off, and any other unforseeable extras one might find themselves needing through the month. So,perhaps look at a max of 25% of your salary after monthly payments going towards your monthly instalments for a car. Don't forget though, if you are already paying a monthly instalment on car that you are planning to trade in, to take that amount off your expenses and add it to your surplus.

Applications, well, many people do not realize that if you apply for a car at every dealership your credit score decreases. Banks look at this and then will decline you eventually. When buying a car, make sure you know what you are looking for, and once you have viewed the car and any others that you are interested in, make a decision and apply.

Work history, if you have worked at 3 different places, for example, in a year, the banks will not really consider your application. They want people who are grounded and stable with their income.

Well, I hope this has helped to keep you informed, once again, Find My Ride can help you with all of this just send your details to us and we'll do the rest. www.findmyride.co.za.

The Find My Ride Team

buying a new car - tips for a buyer

2011-01-24T01:55:00.000-08:00

So, you've decided the time has come for you to change over your current car and you have a few cars in mind, what now. Well, if you really want to purchase a 'new' car, make sure that you have the following thoughts in mind:
When getting a quote, remember negotiations are allowed, never go for the first price unless you see they have given you a discount. Negotiate the license, registration and admin costs as well. Cost for Liscensing a vehicle is between R550 and R900, the extra charges for admin can be negotiated as well, if the dealership is not willing, are they really worth your business? When getting a trade in price, remember to ask what trade and retail is, trade is what a dealership can pay up to for your car if it is in very good condition, retail is what they can an will resell for. Make sure you are getting the best deal possible.
Ok, New vs Demo, When you purchase a new car, you lose a great % of it's value once you drive out with the car. So,consider looking at a demo vehicle. Demo's are great value for money, as you can many times save between R10 000 and R40 000 (depending on make and model) of the purchase price.
Finance, remember, finance is also, always negotiable, banks often just give a prime +3 rate in the hope the client knows no better, but now you do, so ask the finance advisor assisting you to negotiate a better rate, 9 times out of ten you will get a better rate. If you have a bad credit rating or are a first time buer this is a 50/50 chance you have to better your interest rate, try anyway! But,if you come to Find My Ride, we will negotiate all of this for you anyway!!! I hope this gives you some insight into the car buying world we will be posting much more info and advice.
Future posts will include:
Finance - do's and don'ts
Insurance - what you need to know
Trade ins - sell privately or not
Finance - is HPyour only option?
Any topics you would like discussed - let me know...
Till next time
Find My Ride
www.findmyride.co.za

About Find My Ride - new and used cars

2011-01-24T01:10:00.000-08:00

Hi there,
So, I suppose I should introduce myself and tell you what the point of this blog is. Well, first off, Find My Ride is a virtual dealership where you can go to if you are looking for a new and used car. www.findmyride.co.za will give you a new car quote online, it has a virtual pre-owned showroom, where you can browse all cars that are available. If we don't have it, we can source it for you. We know that in this day and age, time is precious, so we want to take the hard work of buying a new car away from you. Firstly, if you get a quote off of our website, we then have your contact details, we contact you, get all the details of what you are looking for, if you have a trade in we arrange for a price subject to viewing. Test drives, yes, we do that. We will bring you the car you are interested in viewing/test driving to you, be it at work, home or anywhere else. Finance, yes we arrange finance for you too. We will send you the finance forms, all you need to do is complete them send them back and with in 2 hours we will have an answer for you. We arrange insurance as well. The only time you would have to leave your house/office would be to sign your contract and take delivery of your new car. We also, due to our strong relationships with the dealerships we work with, are able to give you the best pricing available and negotiate that you do not have to pay the rediculous admin, lic + reg fees that so many dealerships are charging now days.
So, getting back to why we are blogging, well, we want you to know we are here. We want to be able to answer any questions you might have regarding buying a new -pre-owned car and we want you to save time and money when buying your new car.
We will also keep you updated on all upcoming events, all new vehicle launches, new specials, finance news and anything else you would like to hear about.
Remember...We find it, You drive it
Have a good one, till next time
Find My Ride
h ttp://www.findmyride.co.za