The auto industry has been hit hard and new car deals can save you thousands of dollars. Issue is that even if a car is reduced $10,000 it is still not affordable for over half of the US population. The cash for clunkers program seemed to help some new car buyers but the true affect that had on sales is still being debated. Ford and Honda reported a boost in sales but GM and Chrysler lost out due to their lack of smaller fuel efficient vehicles. Kind of makes it obvious why Ford and Honda both did not need bailout money to avoid bankruptcy.
The state of the auto industry is still being decided. Of course there will be new car buyers now and in the future, but there will be millions less than there were prior to the recession. The good news is that the used car dealers should see an increase in sales over the next 3 to 5 years. As the economy rebounds we will still see high unemployment numbers and many US families faced with lower household incomes. Unemployment rates do not tell the entire story due to the fact that many Americans are forced to take part-time positions, pay cuts or forced into early retirement. Each one of these factors creates a lower household income but does not reflect in unemployment numbers.
This drop in household income is going to turn new car buyers into used car buyers. In the end there is nothing wrong with a good used car. Used car dealers better be ready to capitalize on this expected trend, it may be a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Consumers shopping for a good used car may be able to find great deals on trade ins at your local new car dealership or search online. Finding a good used car online is very easy. Auto loan rates on a used car are not as low as new car loan rates but if you have a good credit score then financing should not be that big of a hurdle. If you have bad credit and need bad credit repair it is recommended you try and improve your credit scores prior to any major purchase like a car.
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‘Credit Repair’ Operation Settles with FTC; Company Made False Claims and Charged Illegal Up-Front Fees
A federal court has ordered a credit repair operation and its principals to stop making false claims and requiring advance payment for credit repair services. The agreed-upon court orders are a result of a settlement between the Federal Trade Commission and the “credit repair” defendants.
The Commission sued the defendants in October 2008 as part of “Operation Clean Sweep,” a crackdown on credit repair operations. The defendants represented that they could remove negative but accurate information from consumers’ credit reports, including bankruptcies and late fees. According to the FTC, the defendants charged consumers up to $59.95 initially, then $59.95 per month, to send letters to credit reporting agencies disputing information on the consumers’ credit reports. Contrary to the defendants’ representations to consumers, those dispute letters failed to remove accurate negative information from the consumers’ credit reports.
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