step-by-step procedure in buying a car

**automatic** · September 15th, 2008 07:09 PM

hello.

newbie here.

my wife and i have been planning to buy a car. what's the most cost effective way of going about this?

btw, we plan in getting a bank in financing our purchase of a new car.

thanks.

**yebo** · September 15th, 2008 09:53 PM

first identify which bank you want to have the loan from. most consideration will of course go to your usual bank since they already know you and you can get pre-approved by them with no hassles. another consideration is the interest rate the bank will charge you. if the bank with the most favorable rate is not your usual bank then you will have to satisfy their loan eligibility requirements first before you can be pre-approved by them.

if you are pre-aproved already AND it is with your usual bank, they may not require you to open a checking account anymore. if on the other hand the bank you decide to get the loan from is another bank then they will require you to open a checking account (not necessarily with them). the checks will be needed as guarantee of your amortization payments. explain this later.

with a pre-approved loan, then is the time to go to the dealer. ask your bank not to tell any dealer that you have been pre-approved for a car loan. NOT YET. why? because car sales agents tend not to give customers the best deals/maximum discounts/freebies if they know that you have a pre-approved loan. they know that they will not have to work so hard to get you to buy, so not much "sales talk" required to get your business. get them to list down first the freebies and discounts, and bargain for some more. play hard to get. when they already have it on paper and you think it's good enough then announce that you have a pre-approved loan.

after this they will contact the bank and the bank will send them the purchase order for your vehicle. you pay the dealer the downpayment, and if the other fees (like car insurance) are not included in the bank loan then you will have to pay this, too. if on the other hand it is already a packaged loan, like what banko de oro offers, then you will not have to worry about this anymore.

then you have to go back to your bank and issue them the checks. the bank normally will ask you to issue checks in advance, like 36 checks if the loan term is 36 months. this is why you need a checking account. but it depends. if the bank is your usual bank and you have been a long time customer of good standing they will bend the rules for you and not require this.

next step, choose your plate number. if you don't mind what day your coding day is then they can get the plates to you quick. but if you have a particular request, like an ending in 7 or 8, then you may have to fork out an extra few thousands to get the plates in time.

take delivery of your car. don't forget to ask for the DR, or delivery receipt. remember, no plates no travel. the DR allows you to use your vehicle for 2 weeks from date of delivery without a plate number. TIP: ask your sales agent several copies of the DR which are ante-dated. this allows you to have a fresh DR even after the 2 weeks have passed. the DR is also required if you happen to pass by those check points. if your vehicle does not have plates guaranteed you will be flagged down and they will ask for the DR. as an example, if you plan to take your car to Manaoag Pangasinan to have it blessed there is a check point in Tarlac that is guaranteed to be watching out for those vehicles with no plates. no DR and you suddenly become a carnapping suspect.