GREAT EXPECTATIONS

     When I was selling cars, one of the constants was that credit challenged buyers were unprepared for the realities of the costs involved in buying cars.  They often wanted a much more expensive or luxurious car than they could reasonably afford.  I was the salesman for a young woman who had 4 repossessions in the same year and she could not understand that the lenders were not going to finance expensive luxury cars for her.  After over 2 years of working with her, we were able to get her financed on a Honda CRV.

     Take a good look at your monthly budget.  If you do not have one, now would be a Great time to start one.  You need to find out how much money you can afford to pay every month for your car.  Remember you will also need to budget for insurance, tags and repairs as well.  I can tell you there is nothing worse than paying for a car that doesn't run.

     Once you have your monthly budget set,  then you want to start looking for a car that will fit within that budget.  There all sorts of payment calculators online that will allow you to figure out how much car you can afford.  Just remember that if you have some issues with your credit to figure on a high interest rate.  It is better to figure that your interest will be  high and have it come down than low and have it go  high and be more than you can afford.