If you have bad credit and need a car loan but don’t have any money available for a down payment you may be wondering if you’ll qualify for a car loan. First, you need to establish a timeline. Did your car break down today and you need to get to work 50 miles away? Then you need a car pronto. If not, you may have a little time. Even if you have perfect credit, it is a good idea to put as much money down as possible on your car loan. This will end up saving you up to thousands of dollars in interest charges over the life of your loan. Don’t think it’s just a bad credit thing, it’s a smart thing. If you’ve got some time, start figuring out how much you can save by the time you need a car. Are you going to replace a car because it has a ton of miles on it? That’s a good reason, and cars, being mechanical, will inevitably break down eventually.

You should start saving money immediately, save money until you have 20% or more to use as a down payment. If your car breaks down early, don’t fix the car just try to get your car at that point. There is almost never a situation in which you will get your money back out of a car repair upon trade in. Now if you can’t wait to get a car and you don’t have any money to put down, you should try to get a car that is going to work best for the lending programs. Remember, even if you get a good deal on a car you are still adding in your tax, title, license, and fees into the loan. This may not be possible in many cases especially if your credit is really rough. Just ask the finance manager what cars will work with little or no money down and they can get things going in the right direction.