There is a new and interesting approach that if followed by almost all the car dealers and car manufacturers, and that is offering 0% finance option to the customers.
This simply indicates that the buyer is given a good breather, wherein he/she is able to save him/herself a great deal of money which otherwise would have gone for paying the rate of interest. This is the important reason as why people get attracted to consider this offer or option.
It would not be wrong to say that this particular method or a strategy of selling the cars has negative tags of disadvantages attached to it. As a matter of fact, it is just one of the traits used by most of the dealers for attracting the customers or buyers. It is a well proven fact that hardly one third of the customers are able to qualify for this offer of 0% finance due to the stringent and strict rules and conditions that have to be fulfilled by the customers. Some of the strict conditions for the 0% finance option are as follows:
* Credit score: If any customer plans to go in for the option of 0% finance deal, his/her credit report will play a vital role in deciding whether he/she is eligible for the loan or not. The thing does not end here as there are many terms and guidelines that also need to be served for the credit score. Any individual with a poor or bad credit score will certainly be denied for the loan. In order to take advantage of 0% finance, the person should have a credit score of over 700. If a person has a bad credit history or score, then he/she becomes ineligible for getting the 0% finance deal. In fact, this is one of the most common reasons that people are not able to take advantage this opportunity.
* Short duration: This is applied by most of the dealers, they offer these deals of 0% finance only for a very short span of time. In majority of the cases, the dealers offer not more than 36 months for the completion of the loan, whereas the buyers demand around 48-72 months. Although there is no interest that is charged during this tenure of 36 months, the amount payable every month is very high. This becomes quite unachievable for many people.
* Selected models: Another important fact to be considered here is that the 0% finance option offered by the dealers is only applicable for a few selected models, which are available at that particular moment with the dealer. This leaves the buyer with no or minimum choice of makes or models of cars. Often, it is noted that the deal is applicable for those models which are either outdated or are not in demand due to many reasons such as low mileage and efficiency and bad performance. At times, you might be lucky to get the desired model at the o% finance deal but the colour or the interior may not be acceptable.
There is certainly no harm in going for the option of 0% finance, but what is more important to calculate all the risks and terms associated with it. You have to make sure that by accepting or considering the option of 0% car finance you are not getting into a trap of any kind. Once you are able to fulfil or meet all the desired conditions of 0% finance, there could be nothing better than this.