Bad credit has a huge effect on your car loan and the interest rate that you will get. Depending how bad your credit is you may not even qualify for the loan. There you are sitting at the dealership, buying the car of your dreams. You feel like you are on top of the world. You have saved up $3,000 for the down payment, you paid all your bills on time last year and you just got a big promotion at work.

What happens next is something that you never dreamed of happening to you. The car salesman comes back out of the finance department, shaking his head, and with a sad look and says, “I’m sorry sir, you don’t qualify for this car.” You are in shock! How can that be? You paid your bills on time, you have a cash down payment and you just got a promotion.

A bad credit score can affect your car loan in a number of ways.

Bad Credit Scores And Your Car Loan.

A bad credit score can affect the interest rate you pay on a car loan, and it can also affect whether you get the loan or not. When a lender is looking at your credit they don’t just look at what you did recently, they take a hard long look at your past. They can go back as far as seven years to see if you qualify for the loan.

Lenders and banks use your credit scores, or FICO credit scores to determine if they will make a loan or not. Lender wants to make sure that you’re going to pay back your loan. Credit scores are based on several different areas, including pass history payments, how many inquiries you have on your credit report, the credit limits on your credit cards, what types of credit you have, how long you have had credit, and how much debt you carry.

Now let’s take a look at the example above. You could have had a nice raise, with cash for the down payment and paid all your bills on time in the last 12 months. But, what did your credit history look like before that? Did you miss any payments on your credit cards, or were you late with the payments? Did you co-sign for a loan for a friend? If you did, this loan would show up on your credit report and be figured in on your income to debt ratio.

Before you go out looking for a car and think you’re going to get a great deal, check your credit report first. You may be surprised at what you find.

When it comes to vehicle maintenance and upkeep, it’s important to be proactive, to take the initiative necessary to ensure proper functioning of your car or truck, but of course, it’s also important to be wise and discerning, and ultimately to act not just out of good intentions, but also out of real knowledge. There is perhaps no car maintenance mistake more common than simple neglect, but even among those who strive to take care of their cars, there are certain pratfalls and common blunders that should and can be avoided.

One common mistake is to think that the only important thing under the hood of your car is the oil tank. Indeed, anybody who knows anything about car maintenance knows that regularly checking oil levels is important, and indeed it is, but there are plenty of other fluids located in the same neighborhood, and it’s vital that you check and maintain all of them including brake fluid, transmission fluid, and coolant.

A related mistake is to fill your oil tank with the wrong kind of oil or, more specifically, oil with the wrong viscosity. Again, it is admirable when anyone takes the initiative to keep the oil tank filled properly, but it’s crucial to make sure you’re using the proper weight of oil, the one recommended in your owner’s manual. Using the wrong kind of oil can ultimately lead to a lot of wear and tear in your engine.

Some of the most common car maintenance mistakes can happen while you’re actually driving the vehicle. For example, slamming the brakes is a great way to ensure that your brakes fizzle out on you early. Of course we all encounter those emergency situations when slamming on the brakes is really the only option but making every stop an emergency stop is ultimately going to mean a much shorter life for your brakes, and possibly some very real danger to you, the driver.

And here’s another, particularly major mistake that is far too often made by auto owners: Avoiding taking a trip to the mechanic. Of course, keeping your vehicle kept up to date on its routine maintenance will largely eliminate the need for a mechanic, but still, things happen, and the single best way to see your car fall apart on you is to skip out on the mechanic. If there is a problem you can’t fix on your own or if your engine service light comes on you need to have it worked on by a professional. Delaying this will only make the repair more costly and major.

But again, this warrants repeating: The biggest car maintenance mistake of all is to avoid it altogether. Your car is an investment of both your money and your time, and neglecting the proper upkeep of your automobile is basically like squandering that investment. Stay on top of routine maintenance, and ensure that, when it comes to taking care of your car, you are both vigilant and well-informed.