Reader question:
Do all dealerships take checks from e-lenders for new car purchases?
Mandy
Well, I won’t say all.
There may be one or two weirdos out there, but not enough to make much of a difference. First, let me tell you a story. The most recent car I got was financed through an e-lender. In my opinion, this is one of the best ways to finance your car. It’s easy, it’s fast, and, unlike when you finance it through the lot, you know you’re set before you even go to get your car. They send you the check in the mail or contact the lot to confirm the deal, and you’re ready. It’s especially great for people with bad credit, so they don’t have to go to a lot to get told that, sorry, they can’t be financed.
One trick car lots like to play–and let’s be honest: this is a scam–is to say, once you come up and try to hand them your check from an e-lender, that they don’t accept financing through e-lenders. In almost every case, ever, this is not true.
Why isn’t it true? Hey, the e-lenders have been around since the internet has. They are a part of the auto financing industry that is here to stay, and there’s nothing iffy about them. Car dealers are used to e-loans and they are fully integrated in the system. If a salesperson tells you that they won’t accept the check, counter back by telling him that you’ll just have to get your car somewhere else, then. That will straighten him up.
Why do they lie, though? The truth is that e-lenders often offer you pretty good deals on financing, and the dealer can’t offer you a better one. But they don’t want you to finance through somebody else, they want you to finance through them, so they’re going to try everything they can to get you to do so.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.