Almost everyone loves to get a new car. Now that doesn’t only mean this year’s model but just replacing your current automobile with something different. For some people old cars are like bed sheets, they need to be changed on a regular basis.

Deciding that you would like to purchase a new car is the easy part. Signing your name to the dotted line of a finance contract is the challenge. Of course, your best strategy is to buy only the automobile you can pay for with cash. Realistically, with the cost of cars today, most people do not have the cash reserves to purchase much more than a moped so we turn, instead, to financing. With a little preplanning and forethought, there are several ways today’s consumer can get more bang for their buck. Let’s consider just a few of these strategies.

First, we suggest you borrow the least amount of money as you have too, to be able to obtain the least best expensive car that will fit your needs. In other words, you should make as large a down-payment as possible on the most pared-down automobile you can live with. This approach can be compared to ‘living within your means’ and is not common among today’s consumers. Yet, buying less for less allows you to stretch your dollars and relieve the stress of bill-paying each month.

Next compare the offered interest rates and finance terms available through local lenders including banks, on-line financers and credit unions before sitting down in the finance office of the automobile dealership. Fore-armed is forewarned. The savvy consumer will take the extra time to shop for the best finance deal so they don’t have to take the time to find a second job to pay for that automobile in the years to come!

Also, you should take time before making the biggest decision of any car buyer who is looking for financing and that would be the length of offered loan. Many auto loans range from 36 to 60 months. While the longer the term auto loan while result in the lower monthly payments, it will also result in the higher the overall amount of interest you will have to pay. So, if you are the type of person that trades in your car every few years, this information is invaluable.

Finally, never jump at the first finance offer tendered in your car-buying negotiations. Shop around for the best deal and your savvy consumerism will be rewarded over the life of your loan.

In today’s economy many people are deciding against long family vacations and taking shorter road trips instead.  Even a three or four day road trip can put some miles on your car, though.  You will need to prepare for your road trip before you leave to make sure that you are able to have the best time possible in your shorter vacation time frame.

Vehicle Inspection

About two weeks before your road trip have your car inspected by a professional mechanic.  Let him know that you will be taking a trip in the car and that you want to make sure the car won’t give you any trouble.  The two week time frame is in case the mechanic finds something that needs to be fixed.  This way you will have plenty of time to wait for the repairs before setting out on the road.  If you didn’t budget for the repairs, put them on the credit card and pay for them when you get back.  Don’t avoid repairs to save money.

Pack Smart

While it is important to check the weather report before you leave so that you are taking the right clothing, it is more important where you put your clothing and other items for the trip.  If everything will be in the car, make sure to keep any items that will be dangerous in the case of an accident in the trunk or buried well under soft clothing and blankets.  Heavy and sharp things tend to go flying through the car on impact, so place them where they won’t be able to hit anyone in the head.  If you will be using your roof racks, make sure that the heavier items are centered on the roof.

Pack Kid Smart

If you will be traveling with children, take things to keep them busy on the road. Travel games are available in the toy section of any department store, but on a long road trip these tend to get boring after a couple of hours.  Electronic handheld video games and movies will keep their interest, though.  Get out your credit card again and invest in a car DVD player and some good DVDs for the kids to watch, as well as a couple of new games for their handhelds.  You will have that credit card bill to pay later, of course, but the credit card bill will be of little inconvenience when you recall how pleasant the trip was with no fighting children to maintain in the back seat.

Drive Smart

Driving smart means driving while awake and alert.  Don’t try to go too far without taking breaks and don’t try to drive all day and all night to make it to your destination quicker.  This is simply not safe.  Take frequent breaks to get out of the car, stretch, and get some fresh air.  This will wake you up for the next leg of the trip.  Stop to sleep at night, too.  Even if you are switching off on the driving, sleeping while someone else drives is not really restful sleep and you will get tired after it gets dark.

Getting a car loan is harder than ever these days, especially if you don’t have any credit or have any bad credit at all.  Even one late credit card payment can keep you from getting a car loan.  But you need transportation, what can you do to get a car if you can’t get a loan?

The first thing anyone who has ever had trouble financing a car will tell you is don’t give up.  There are financing companies who will work with you if you have no credit.  Don’t take the first denial to heart, it happens to the best of us at some point in our lives.  If you can’t get the first car you had your sights on, move on to the next lot and try again.

If you don’t have any credit at all, you may want to first apply for a credit card in order to build your credit.  Get your credit card and use it a few times, make your payments a week in advance and pay a little more than the minimum each time, but leave a balance on the card.  Some creditors prefer to see that you are making monthly payments rather than paying your credit cards off each month because somehow they think this shows more responsibility, even though most of us know that the opposite is true.  Wait about three months and try for a car loan again.

This trick works for some people, but not for everyone, especially if you have had any credit problems in the past.  You may need to secure a co-signer.  This can be a parent, grandparent, close friend, or anyone who has good credit.  A co-signer is someone who signs the loan note with you in order for the loan company to have someone to fall back on in case you default on your loan payments.  They will go after the co-signer for the payments instead.

It is difficult to find a co-signer for many people because those with good credit are afraid that if you can’t make your payments they will get stuck with them.  And if they can’t pay for your car, their credit will be ruined as a result.  If you can’t find a co-signer, and it becomes obvious that you won’t get a car loan through traditional financing, the next course of action is to begin looking for a good used car at a Buy Here Pay Here type of lot. 

Buy Here Pay Here lots are used car lots that offer in-house financing.  In other words, you take your car payment to the lot and drop it off every week or two weeks.  Rarely will they allow you to make monthly payments, they want their money more often than that.  They will finance almost anyone at Buy Here Pay Here lots as long as you have an income.  But these are the bullies of the industry, too.  If you are one day late on your payment, some of these lots will repo your car without warning.  These lots are a great last resort option, but don’t be late with your payments!

With the rising price of gasoline there is some relief if you have good credit and a rewards credit card you can at least save a little bit on gas.  In this time of economic chaos, every little bit helps. 

The first step is to find the right credit card for you.  Most major oil companies have some kind of credit card with their name on it that will offer you all kinds of perks; discounts on gas, discounts on merchandise inside the station, and reward points that can be used for a variety of different products.

If you spend $100 a week on gas and you have a card that kicks back 1% to you that means that over the course of a year you will save yourself $52 a week every year.  It may not seem like a lot but it definitely adds up.  Most gas credit cards offer 3% cash back and with that deal you would save over $150 a year.  Now we are starting to get into decent savings.  Another benefit of these cards is that not only do you get cash back on your gasoline, but on many other purchases.  For example, groceries, snacks, and even airline miles.  If you find a card that gives many perks all the better.  There are a lot of cards out there so the best bet is to research the different cards and find the one that will give you the most benefit.

With today’s financial uncertainty we are all understandably suspicious about any deal, especially from a credit card company.  The reward cards are one of the really true good deals.  The catch is, however, that you must pay your balance off every month.  If you don’t, you are losing money instead of gaining money.  If you don’t pay your balance, or can’t, these rewards don’t benefit you.  Than $150 dollars you got back doesn’t mean anything if you are paying $500 in finance charges every month.

This is one of the secrets that the credit card companies don’t go out of their way to tell you.  But, if you’re smart you can come out on top of the credit card industry for once.

One of the problems we face as consumers is that the credit card companies count on our ignorance to make money.  There is no way that the credit card companies are going to lose money to give us rewards.  They have themselves well protected and as long as the consumer is dumb, and we all suffer from this from time to time, the credit card companies will be just fine.  If the time ever comes that the consumer wises up, you will find the credit card companies discontinue these promotions.  So, until the day comes when we become intelligent consumers, those who do pay their bills and have good credit, should take advantage of these offers.

Remember, we, the consumers hold the power.  The companies just don’t want use to realize that we have that power.

Not much more than a hundred years ago, an average American was going about his business in an age where everything modern lay ahead. There were no televisions or computers. There was not even the automobile. It was a vision in Henry Ford’s mind.

This conception, perhaps even considered by some to be a fantasy, became a tentative reality in June of 1896. 

History reports that Mr. Ford was only 32 years old. He would work for hours in the tiny workshop behind his Dearborn, Michigan home, experimenting ways to bring the gasoline powered engine to life. Finally, after more than two years of failure after failure, Henry put the finishing touches on what would become the first gasoline powered motorcar – or automobile. This first experimental car was dubbed the “Quadricycle,” because it ran on four bicycle tires!

The word automobile actually means to make oneself mobile alone. Public or mass transportation was the norm a mere century before. Now, through the genius and tenacity of one man, the country and world were forever changed. This taste of success by Henry was really the cornerstone of his automobile ambitions and would eventually lead to the founding of Ford Motor Company in 1903.

I’m sure most adults are more than a little familiar with the rest of Ford’s story. After two unsuccessful attempts, an auto factory opened in Detroit. It took two or three people to assemble each car and only a few were completed on a daily basis. Now Ford, credited first for the creation of arguably the most important invention ever, became the first person to envision the mass production of anything through the use of the assembly line. Before you knew it, hundreds of cars were being turned out each day and auto dealerships had to be devised for their purchase.

While most people have a walking knowledge of the beginnings of the auto industry and attribute it to Henry Ford, many average citizens do not realize the monthly payment plan system and credit market were also his brainchild. You see, back then no one could afford to purchase a new car for $820.00. So here was Henry Ford designing and manufacturing a product en masse, and there were no consumers in sight. Henry was forced to go back to the drawing board and figure out a way to put his product in people’s hand. That’s how auto financing was born, and the credit goes to Ford, literally.