What to Do With Your Tax Refund

ID-100111818That time of the year has finally come and gone for the majority of Americans. I hope you weren’t one of the people rushing to get to the post office on April 15th because you waited till the last possible second to file that return. Luckily, it’s done for another year. Now a hefty tax return could be heading your way and a new problem comes with it. What do you spend it on?

Ebay conducted a survey to find out just what people were going to be using that tax refund money on. About a third of the people polled plan on using putting their check towards purchasing a vehicle. 25 percent plan on purchasing a vehicle. Thirty-one percent plant to use the money to add a second vehicle to their household or buy it for a child.

More people were planning on using the money for something auto-related that wasn’t necessarily a new or pre-owned vehicle. 57 percent were going to use it for service and maintenance of a current vehicle. 36 percent are going to buy tires. 13 percent plan on using the refund to pay off a car loan they already have.

What are you planning to do if you’re receiving a refund? If you’re interested in a vehicle, the amount of money you’re potentially getting can make a good down-payment to help with your rates and monthly payments. There’s a reason why you see a number of auto-finance blogs write about how fantastic tax refunds are at this time of the year.

Getting a tax refund and need a new vehicle, contact us at Bayside Chrysler Jeep Dodge. We provide the Queens area with top quality customer service and want to work with you to satisfy your car-purchasing needs. We love to say yes! Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more financial advice and monthly parts and service specials.

What’s Keeping Used Vehicle Sales so High?

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We’ve written about in the past about how the used market has seen a major uptick in late of sales. A major factor for the New York area is because of the impact of Superstorm Sandy. When the hurricane came through and wrecked havoc on the city, it hurt many car owners who found themselves the morning after without their vehicle and were forced back into the market. Nationally, there are even more factors at play. For example, one is that people have reached the end of their vehicles life and no amount of repair and wishing is going to keep it on the road. It’s time for most drivers to get into the dealerships.

Tom Webb is an economist at Manheim and he took at look at used retail sales. He found that in the first quarter of 2013, used-vehicle sales were 12 percent higher year-over-year while most other industries are slowing down. He believes that a big reason is because how available financing has been for vehicles.

“On any given day,” Webb says, “there are literally hundreds of thousands of vehicles with owners who would like to trade up to get something a little bit better if they could do so with an affordable monthly payment. Given the availability of retail financing, a natural changeover of those vehicles over time will occur.”

What I find interesting is that numerous blogs and other speakers have, at lengths, informed me that the recent surge of the market has been due to the age of the vehicle, as I mentioned earlier. While certainly a part of it, Webb sees things differently. He believes that people coming in wanting to trade-up being the biggest reason why the used-vehicle sales are staying as high as they are.

Other markets are in flux at the moment because of the recent rise in payroll taxes and fluctuations in gas prices. Yet while these spending segments dip and slump, used-vehicles are seemingly impervious. Webb even says so himself, “To a certain extent, the used-vehicle market has been impervious to these factors in terms of retail sales activity.

The point of Webb’s study was to show that used-vehicle sales will hit an all-time high before 2015. What I took away was that he identified some great reasons why vehicle sales have maintained a positive upswing in the face of major economic issues impacting consumers. Financing has been made much easier to obtain and it definitely looks to be helping.

If you’re in the market for a used or new vehicle and need to look into financing, that’s where Bayside Chrysler Jeep Dodge comes in. We offer the best customer service to work with you to help you get into the car you need. We love to say yes, so contact us today and let’s get started in making sure you drive away satisfied with your purchase. Make sure you like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more financial tips and monthly service offers.

Image courtesy of nongpimmy / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Mistakes to Avoid for a Better Credit Score

Credit problems shouldn’t mean you don’t get the loan necessary to get a car. At Bayside Chrysler Jeep Dodge, we want to make sure that you come in and drive off with what you need. One way of doing that is to provide some tips on how to get your credit issues under control.

Auto Credit Express has a break down of the three biggest mistakes that people with credit problems make. If you’ve found yourself wonder just how your score got so low, chances are pretty good that you have fallen victim to one of these traps.

You may be paying your bills late. If you are, that can be damaging to your FICO score in a very negative way. Getting your billing situation under control to make sure you’re not being overwhelmed can go a long way in helping.

Another mistake you may be making is that your credit card balance is too high. When a lender checks into your credit, they don’t like to see your balance maxed out. You should be using around 30 percent or less of any credit lines. It’s a huge red flag if lenders see too much debt.

Applying for the same kind of loan, be it home or a car loan, in a small amount of time are seen by the credit companies as a single instance in most cases. When you start applying for variety of different credit types, however, it can impact your score.

If you can avoid making these three mistakes, you’ll find a better credit score at the end of the road. If you’re suffering from credit issues but need to get yourself in vehicle, contact us at Bayside Chrysler Jeep Dodge. We love to say yes. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more credit tips and other auto news.