In Kansas City, Missouri, there are hundreds of places from which you can buy a car. For the bargain hunter, there are many different apps and websites which allow you to peruse used vehicles. If you’re looking for a more streamlined process, you can drive anywhere within the city limits and likely hit a used car dealership in five minutes or less. Or, if you’re looking for a new car, Kansas City is where car buyers from Gladstone, Kansas City Northland, Parkville, Liberty, and areas even further away come to strike a deal on a shiny new ride.
If you’re looking for a quality used car, we’d hope Auto Bank would be one of your first choices. However, when it comes down to it, we understand that sometimes buy here pay here dealerships get a bad rap. We’re here to dispel any rumors you might have heard about the buy here pay here process and tell you that buy here pay here dealers are often some of the most useful dealerships around - regardless of whether you’re trying to rebuild your credit or just find a car that works for your lifestyle.
People with less-than-great credit often have a tough time finding help from a dealership or bank when it comes to financing their next car. Banks and independent lenders rely on a person’s credit score to establish what they consider to be a person’s creditworthiness. Credit scores do tell the tale of whether a person makes bill payments on time, sure. However, credit scores also monitor how high your credit card balances are, how many loans you have out, and more.
Each one of these credit balances tells a very personal story that doesn’t necessarily say that the person seeking a loan is terrible with money. However, they do all influence your credit score and can lower it. When banks and lenders see a credit score under 700, they automatically raise an eyebrow without asking you about your side of the story.
Buy here pay here dealerships, however, do not solely pay attention to your credit score. Instead, they learn more about your financial obligations and monthly take-home pay. Applications for in-house loans are easy to fill out, and much more insightful than a simple number on a credit application. They will never turn you away for a low credit score or a lack of credit.
If your credit does happen to be low, making monthly, on-time payments to a buy here pay here dealership can help you rebuild your credit and qualify for future credit-related purchases.
Not all establishments report on-time payments to credit agencies, and some only report the bad. This leaves you in the unfair position of having to defend yourself - many people even have to call their rental agencies and other monthly payment obligations and request that they report their on-time payments to credit agencies to boost their score.
Auto Bank will report your payments to credit agencies because we believe that purchasing a buy here pay here car is about more than getting reliable transportation. It’s about helping to get you back on your feet.
Independent sellers can be helpful, but more often than not, they are looking to sell off their vehicles at any cost. This has typically made purchasing a car through a platform like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist a buyer’s risk. Buyers have to go through the process of researching the market value of the vehicle, test driving it, sometimes taking it to a mechanic for a second opinion, haggling to get the car to its ideal price, and ultimately taking a risk on its purchase.
With a buy here pay here car, you never have to worry about hidden issues with a vehicle. Our mechanics work to get our inventory in top condition, and federal law requires us to let buyers know what problems (if any) exist with the car before purchase.
Buy here pay here dealerships do have competitive interest rates on their loans, despite what rumors might tell you. Sure, you might be able to secure a loan for the coveted 5% interest rate that you’re dreaming of, but for that to happen - all factors must be right. In most cases, if a person with low credit approaches a bank or a dealership for a loan and gets approved, they are looking at loans with credit rates well above 30%. Additionally, loans from traditional dealers are designed to take a long time to pay back.
The average buy here pay here dealership interest rate is about 20%, with the opportunity to be lower if the circumstances are right. At first glance, this might not sound like a great deal, but when you weave in the other purchase factors, this rate makes perfect sense. It not only guarantees that you will get a loan regardless of your credit score, but you get the loan often on the same day, and you can set your repayment terms - which means if you want to spend less time paying off your loan, that’s an option and an opportunity to pay less in interest down the line!
Finally, one of the most significant issues that people looking to finance a car run into is the down payment amount. Colossal down payments are often required for new vehicles, and if you’re trying to get a car from a private seller, you can forget about down payments. Buy here pay here dealerships like Auto Bank let you choose the amount you want to pay as a down payment, meaning you can always drive away with a car.
Let us convince you to buy your next car with us. Visit one of our Kansas City locations today to get started with an application, or click here.