You are given a form that the dealer faxes to your bank. Usually you can print the form from your online access to the bank.
Usually the dealer is eager to beat the pre-approval. So, give them a shot at beating it.
Go for the shortest term you can easily afford. If all you can easily afford is a 72 month loan, then you are buying too much car.
The main priority to the dealer is getting you off the lot in their car as quick as possible, I am sure you could walk in their and have a horrible deal on a car in less than a half hour. Do not be in any hurry. That will inevitably get you ripped off. Take your time, this process should take awhile. It takes several days, weeks even to get the right price and terms on a car.
You need to contact several banks and CU's for pre-approvals.
Then, get in contact with several dealership. True car is a good tool for that, if you have USAA use their true car tool. Get the dealers competing, then once you have the dealer nailed down that you like the best. Go to them and negotiate some more. It may take leaving and them calling you back in a couple times. Once you have the price locked in, give them a shot at beating your pre-approval rate.
@Anonymous wrote:
Ok so i got an approved by my credit union for an auto loan when i was applying over the phone they asked me the year,make,model and price of the car that i wanted , my question is. Does that mean that im getting the loan of the amount i told em ?
That depends on so many factors.
We bought a car two weeks ago. This is how it went for us:
Searched and searched online for what we were looking for. Constantly visited the websites of various dealers. Would go after hours to look at vehicles when salesman weren't there. This eliminated so many for us.
On Friday I saw one online that fit the bill nearly perfectly (except color). THe price was unreal. E-mailed to ask a few questions. Was told upfront they had zero wiggle room on price. I wasn't surprised as it was nearly 3k below blue book. So Saturday afternoon my husband and I went to look at it. Told the saleslady we were going to another dealer to look at another car to compare. She asked what she could do to get us to stay but admitted right away she could do nothing with the price. We told her we would be in touch. Got in our car and my husband said we should jump on this one as he was really happy with it. (Dodge Dakota quad cab, fully loaded with only 51,000 miles and still smelled like a new truck). They were asking 13.5 and blue book was at 16.9. So we parked the car and went in and said we would buy it. Sales contract was written up. Told them we wouldn't pay any documentaiton fees etc. Told finance guy he could pull my report once and could only go with a local bank or credit union and nothing over 6%. He said give me 20 minutes. 20 minutes later we signed the loan papers etc. First he tried to sale us gap insurance, warranty etc. I told hiim to stop asking or he would lose the sale. He laughed and said he got it. 90 minutes after walking on the lot we left with the truck.
HOWEVER - After reading on here about DCU I called and got approved for 25k at 1.78% and took the loan. In less than 30 hours from applying I had the check from DCU and paid off first loan.
Easies car transaction I have ever made. Feel as though I got a killer of a deal with payments that are affordable and a fabulous interest rate. Couldn't be happier.
