The History of Auto Financing

The History of Auto Financing

The world of auto finance has evolved from the early days where you could only get a car loan for twelve months and were required to put 50% of the price of the car as down payment today where you can finance for 84 months with little or no down payment. The reason the world of auto financing has changed so drastically is because the price of cars keeps going up. Without these extended terms and creative finance programs, no one would be able to qualify for a car loan anymore which in turn would put a hurt on the car makers and our economy.

With the creative finance terms comes the need for the cars to be better made and last longer. Consumers are taking care of their vehicles better and the manufactures are building a much better machine. The introduction of the import brands into the United States helped in this process. Many of the domestic car makers are also forming joint ventures with car companies overseas to learn better ways to build their vehicles.

Still, auto financing is more of a need today than ever before. Without finance companies and lenders offering these extended terms and requiring lower down payments, we would never be able to buy these expenses vehicles. Think about having to walk into a dealership and just writing a check for a low end vehicle. If we were back in the 60’s, you could only finance that $15,000 vehicle you are buying for 12 months making your payments well over $1,000 per month.

Not only can you get a car loan today for a much longer period but the lenders have come up with very creative loan products to help reduce your monthly output. Leasing became popular in the late 80’s where you only have to pay for a “portion” of the vehicle. Lenders got burned however with this product in the late 90’s when it came time for consumers to trade and the car was not worth their original estimates.

Yes, auto financing has changes over time but is still a necessity of everyday life. You can find out more about car loans and the ins and outs of car financing at OpenRoad Lending.