Why you should consider online car loans: Getting the lowest APR

Your best benefits of online car loan companies is you don't have to pay application fees, or down payments. Your speedy car loan approval takes just minutes, and you get online access to your loan account. You just can't beat that. Once you have your online auto financing quotes from sites such as Capital One Auto Finance and HSBC Auto Finance, compare that to the dealer's financing so you have a basis to negotiate your best car loan interest rate. The online sites usually have a lower interest rate than dealers, so online car financing rates are the standard that the dealers must beat.

How to lower your current car loan payments: car refinancing tips

If you got suckered into a high APR car loan, or even got a decent rate on your current car loan, you can refinance your car loan down to a lower rate and save. Many lenders like Capital One Auto Finance and HSBC Auto Finance are offering popular auto refinancing car loans. They pay off your current car loan, and now you pay them back at your new lower APR rate. Read our chapter Auto refinancing tips & scams to avoid, which covers how to lower the APR on your current car loan and auto refinance for people with bad credit. You do not need an appraisal to refinance your car loan.

Safe driving strategies to live by

If you follow these tips below, you will greatly help yourself avoid wrecks, and injuries, and most importantly, everyone arrives alive.

• Don't drag race ever! People often get killed, usually in the other car, then you go to jail
• Always wear your seatbelt. Every time we see the news about a couple of teens who die in a wreck, they were not wearing seatbelts and were ejected
• You are the driver, so you have authority. Refuse to drive anywhere until ALL passengers are wearing seat belts. No exceptions, be FIRM
• Don't talk on your cell phone while driving, you lose concentration. If you must talk, use speaker phone mode
• Use the three second rule when driving behind cars so that you won't crash into them when they stop suddenly
• Don't put yourself in the situation where you are driving home in the early morning hours after a party. Your reactions are much slower
• Don't sneak out of the house at 2 AM to go joy riding, that is when many teens die. Stay in bed. Wake up tomorrow. Enjoy life
• Schedule your time better so that you are not in a rush, and risk speeding, or making hasty decisions like weaving in traffic
• Don't give in to passengers daring you to run red lights or go faster. They are not the ones who go to jail when someone dies
• Always signal seconds before you turn or change lanes
• Know all the blind spots on your car by having someone slowly walk around the car as you watch in the mirrors
• Never drive if you have been drinking alcohol, and don't let anyone else drive who has had alcohol. Take their keys

Don't let a cell phone land you in a cell

We all love to talk on our cell phones, but come on, you really don't need to talk on your phone in the car. How can you expect to drive straight with your head cocked at an angle? Have you ever been cut off by someone talking on their cell phone? Have you ever had to pass a car going way too slow because they were talking on their cell phone? It's just a bad idea, because it robs you of your full concentration. The effect is exasperated if you have passengers in the car with stimulus coming at you from all angles. Most safety advocates tell you to pull over and stop if you are going to talk, and many states are starting to pass legislation about cell phone use in the car. If your caller really needs to speak with you, don't you think they can wait 10 minutes? Alternatively, some phones have speaker phone mode, so you can just put the phone down and talk.

Whenever you turn of change lanes, always signal several seconds before doing so, no exceptions

It's amazing how many wrecks will be prevented, because if you are about to change lanes and possibly hit another car, your blinker will give that driver enough time to take evasive action and avoid a crash that you would have caused.

Physics Lesson:

If you are traveling at 35 MPH and get into a wreck, due to the moment of inertia your 150 pound body has, you MUST to be capable of bench pressing about 600 pounds to keep yourself from slamming into the windshield. This is not made up, it is a force of nature fact. No human I know can bench press 600 pounds, much less protect themselves in the 1/100th of a second it takes to slam into the windshield at 60+ MPH. Remember, in an accident, the used car has already stopped, but you are still moving at 60+ MPH, thanks mostly to Newton's Law about objects in motion wanting to remain in motion until acted on by an outside force, i.e., windshield. Gosh, if only you had known about that silly little formula before you got into the used car! Should have paid attention in Physics lab!

People who refuse to wear seatbelts always tell us "I can react in time and brace myself". They obviously do not understand the forces of inertia, and the simple formula m1v1=m2v2. Most people are unaware it takes about 0.75 seconds for your foot to start pressing the brake once you spot trouble. The same principle applies to your false confidence that you can protect yourself from slamming into the windshield in 1/100th of a second. You owe it to yourself, and your loved ones to wear your seatbelt. You must demand that all passengers in your car wear seat belts. They will not think you are foolish, they will respect you when they see you are adamant about it. And if you happen to get into an accident that everyone walks away from, you will be their hero.