Do I Need a Down Payment to Buy A Car

One of the most common questions we get here at Rusty Wallis Honda is can I buy a car with nothing down? The short, honest answer is "YES"! If you have a Super Preferred Credit Rating, which typically requires a Credit Score, on Equifax, of 740 or higher. If you have a credit score of 740 or better you are among maybe 10% of the buying public. So how do you determine what you will need for a down payment to purchase a new or used Honda vehicle? Here are a few factors:

• Your Credit Score
• Gross Salary, All Sources
• Current Debt to Income Ratio
• Equity in Your Trade In, or Lack Of
• What Is Bank Loan Amount On The Car I Selected?
• Time at Your Job
• Length of Time at Your Current Residence

Rusty Wallis Honda staffs our Honda Auto Finance Center with car loan professionals. We need to look at your credit application for an honest answer. It all starts with you completing our simple Honda Finance Application before you come to the store. Why before you visit the store? Because we can pull your credit, evaluate your credit score, credit history, income and the other factors listed above. If you know you have credit issues, know your credit score is 650 or below, you may think about putting the following items, referred to as "Stips", together:

• Driver's License (Buyer and Significant Other)
• Proof of Insurance
• Last Two Paycheck Stubs
• Utility Bill That Comes to Your Home Address. Water, Electric or Gas
• Six References, Name, Address, City, State, and Phone Number

Of course you can wait to put all of this together, but doing that will extend the time you have to spend at the dealership. Our Finance Staff want you to have a great experience and not have to spend a whole day, if we can prevent it. By having all of the "Stips" when you arrive, it will allow us to identify which lender to submit your credit to, the lender most likely to approve a loan on the vehicle you selected. It will give the lender we submit the credit to a complete picture, and should speed the process.

One great way to not have cash out of pocket to buy a car is to trade in a car you have a significant amount of equity in. Significant equity is usually about 10% of the price of the car, depending on your credit. Credit scores below 650, or a large amount of negative equity on your trade in may require a bigger down payment.

At Rusty Wallis Honda we want to make buying a new or used Honda vehicle a fun and rewarding experience. If you can qualify for a no down payment car loan, we are happy to let you buy the car that way. Best way to find out is to submit that car loan application today!