buying a car on credit

jhanlon

I don't normally 'do' credit but I'm about to buy a second-hand car and don't want to wait. What's the cheapest way to do it? I thought maybe one of those 0%/ 12 month APR cards but do all dealers take credit cards and what are their charges like? Am I right in assuming this is likely to me cheaper than any finance loan arranged through the dealer?

For info I'm looking to spend £8-10K and hope to repay within 6-8 months. Any advice greatly appreciated.
cheers

scheming_gypsy

finance through a dealer will get you a better deal on the car itself. You can often beat down a deal for finance and then tell them you're going to pay by credit card, or see if there's an early settlement fee on the finance; if there isn't or it isn't too high - pay it off with the credit card.

mikey72

jhanlon wrote: »

I don't normally 'do' credit but I'm about to buy a second-hand car and don't want to wait. What's the cheapest way to do it? I thought maybe one of those 0%/ 12 month APR cards but do all dealers take credit cards and what are their charges like? Am I right in assuming this is likely to me cheaper than any finance loan arranged through the dealer?

For info I'm looking to spend £8-10K and hope to repay within 6-8 months. Any advice greatly appreciated.
cheers

Any 0% deal will be cheaper than any dealer finance.
If you can pay back the £1250 or so a month to clear it down in 6 months, it'll be worth paying the 2-4% the dealers normally charge for credit card payments.
If yoy can't clear the debt, the 0% charge changes to about twice the normal dealer finace though, and that'll be expensive.

Don't forget the cost of the insurance, you might need another 0% card for that alone.

(Personally, I'd wait a month, and buy a car for the £1250 you've budgeted for the first payment)

jhanlon

thanks guys, the mention of 2-4% credit card fees makes me realise I'll be paying a few hundred extra whatever I do. I think I need to apply for a 0% APR 1yr card now to give me the option then maybe just save up half the balance and buy the car a few months later. Deferred gratification will save me half the fees. I'll see what finance the dealer can offer at the time. On my last car-buying venture a couple of yrs back the dealers were not too keen to haggle - hope I can beat them down a bit (any tips?)

cheers
james