If your credit is less than perfect and you have been to a dealer and been disappointed with the amount of time it takes to get everything done you are not alone. The bad news is that even if you have perfect credit it is not a quick process to leave with a car. If you break the time up into segments you can probably allow at least 30% of the time to looking at cars and test driving. This is something that the dealer has very little control over. They want to make sure that you are going to be happy with the car before they try to get everything out together. With this in mind, you are not doing anyone a favor by telling them you like the car and don’t want to drive it. You don’t spend thirty dollars on a pair of shoes without trying them on why would you spend ten thousand or more dollars on a car without driving it. Does it save time to not drive? Yes, technically, but when you are sitting in the finance office trying to close the deal you will have doubts and this may ultimately result in a missed opportunity for you and you will leave having just wasted the entire time there.
At some point the dealer must verify your identity. I’m sure you know who you are but how would you feel if someone just walked in and bought a car in your name without proving it. It’s not just a good idea it is the law so it’s not something they can skip.
If you have perfect credit, this is one thing. The lenders are far less strict in their requirements for finance managers accommodating these loans and for customers buying. If you have less than perfect credit, the lenders will usually require many documents; Proof of income like most recent check stubs, proof of your address like a utility bill, references, and auto insurance. Once these documents are received, your finance manager must look through everything to make sure everything matches what the sent to the bank. If it does not, they need to be aware of it and overcome any problems it may cause up front.
Once they verify all of your information, they need to enter it into their systems. Their is a ton of paperwork for you to sign and they all have a lot of information on them it takes time carefully to enter this information. After they get all of your information entered they can send any information over to the bank that they require so they bank can verify it if necessary. Your finance manager may also have to negotiate with the bank to try to get your payments to fall into place or get by with a smaller down payment than they would like to see. This is not always possible but sometimes your finance manager can negotiate you a better deal. Since this is obviously in your favor you don’t want them to skip this step. Finally, once they have done all of these things they need to load the banks terms into the computer so they can finalize your deal.
Once they have all of those steps complete you will need to go into see the finance manager and go over the terms. If you agree, they will need to print all of your paperwork and explain all of the information, disclosures and policies. Finally, when you complete this you will need to go out and pay your down payment and have them answer any final questions you may have before you leave.
