Can I Buy a Car with No Money Down?

Want to buy a car with no money down? It's possible, sure, but not necessarily recommended. When you go in looking for a no money down lease or a no money down finance offer, an auto dealer may leave you with an excessive interest rate to counteract your non-existent down payment. If you're looking for financing with no money, we may have some solutions to your problem. Read on to find out some of the best alternatives to trying to buy a car with no money down, and let the financial experts at Elgin CDJR walk you through the process.

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Make Any Down Payment You Can

Like we said above, when you try to buy a car with no money down, you may get a higher interest rate that will cost you significantly more in the long run. So, our first major recommendation is to make any amount of down payment. Whatever you can comfortably pay upfront, do it. This will make your car-buying experience far less expensive as time goes on. It's typically recommended that you put down at least 20% of the entire payment upfront, but we understand that that probably isn't a possibility. However, if you can put down 10%, that will still make a big impact on the fees and rates you'll end up having to pay later on.

Enhance Your Credit Score

The next thing we would suggest if you want to go with a no money down lease is to boost your credit as much as you can. The better your credit score, the better chance you have of having the lender waive your down payment without a bump in the interest fee. If you have a credit score above 680, you may be able to pull this off. Anything less, however, and your interest rate will probably be raised without a down payment. Check your credit report to make sure it's accurate and then work to increase your credit score by paying off debts and bills on time.

Other Tips for Financing with No Money

Another tip we can give is to negotiate and look at other lenders when buying a car, and also just have some ground-level knowledge on average auto loans. Figure out the average that someone pays in interest for your credit level, so if a lender tries to give you a bad deal, you can know to negotiate or look elsewhere. You can also try to find a cosigner who can help to lower your interest rate thanks to their good credit score.

Get Further Financial Advice with Elgin CDJR

Want to know more about buying a new or used car in Elgin? Well, take a look at our guide that talks about leasing vs. buying and what credit score you need to finance a car, and learn what the best car loan rates are. While you're here, you can also apply for financing online and use our payment estimator as well.