Driving along an urban expressway at rush hour – well, maybe “crawling” typically would be a more accurate word to describe the experience – two questions often cross my mind: Who’s driving all these cars, and how did they get here?
The short answer to the first question is that nearly everyone is driving.
Americans own not quite one vehicle each – new and used, from beauties to beaters, muscle cars to pickup trucks, SUVs to Mini Coopers. And it often seems as though they’re all on the highway at the same time, battling for the same narrow strip of asphalt.
One possible answer to the other question has little to do with the roads your fellow motorists used.
Few of those vehicles on your front and rear bumpers are owned outright by the person behind the steering wheel. Financing car purchases is big business – for dealerships and lenders, alike. Nearly three-quarters of new car purchases are financed, according to the website, www.newcars.com. That means drivers sharing the traffic jam with me probably financed their vehicles, new or used, while only a few paid cash. I count myself among the former group as you probably do, too.
Purchasing a car is a major financial event for most of us, with auto loan debt usually one of our largest monthly payment commitments after the rent or mortgage. So it makes sense that car buyers would look for the best options to finance their purchases. The good news is that alternatives are available, especially when you’re financing a vehicle through Santander Consumer USA.
Santander, regarded as one of the world’s leading banks with auto/consumer lending as its core business, provides indirect loans, or retail installment contracts, through auto dealerships (with Santander Auto Finance, www.SantanderConsumerUSA.com, and Drive, www.drivefinancial.com), and through its direct-to-consumer Road Loans brand, which also handles refinancing.
Santander Auto Finance funding is available to consumers with good to excellent credit, while Drive enables auto dealers to take care of those customers who have dings – or even bankruptcies – on their credit histories or have no credit history at all. RoadLoans.com handles full spectrum of direct-to-consumer loans for consumer credit situations ranging from subprime to prime through its website.
So no matter where you are during the rush-hour commute or where you’re headed, there’s a financial solution for your auto-purchase and related financing needs at Santander.
