Customized Payment Plan


Customized Payment Plan

At Carousel Online, we make car ownership easy and stress-free by empowering you to build a  Customized Payment Plan that best fits your lifestyle, budget, and buying preferences. So whether you're interested in putting down a large upfront payment to lower your monthly payments or you want to keep your cash and pay larger monthly payments, the choice is yours. Our Customized Payment Plan also helps let you choose the duration of your loan as well as compare our loan offerings with other independent lenders to get the best rate.

That's why when shopping with us, we also help you unlock your payments on every vehicle in our inventory with no impact to your credit score. This helps you get a better understanding of what you can afford while also narrowing down your search results to models right for your individual financial situation.

Lifestyle and Budget

When shopping for a car, it is important to ask yourself the following questions to get a better understanding of your needs vs your wants. Common questions to answer while shopping include:

How much can I afford?

This question is where our Customized Payment Plan comes in handy, helping you get a good idea of a monthly expense. Add up your housing cost, living expenses (like food and entertainment), insurance (medical, renters, and automotive), and any other monthly expenses to uncover how much of a car you can afford. Don't forget to also allocate enough for saving and emergency expenses.

How long do I plan on owning this?

Think about whether this is a temporary or permanent ride, something you can grow into as your family grows or if this is your dream car. This can help establish a budget on how much you should be paying, buying a safer and larger family vehicle could be worth spending a little more.

What are my regular driving habits?

It's important to understand what you're using your car for. For example: Daily commuting to work may mean you want a fuel-efficient car whose gas you can afford. Or if you're looking for a ride built to handle camping and off-road treks, you may want to look into something with good ground clearance and All-Wheel Drive.

Buying Preferences

Now that you've looked at your lifestyle and budget demands, you should have a better idea of what your buying preference is. Putting down more money can not only help you save more on your money payments but it can also help lower the overall cost by lowering the amount of money you are borrowing.

For example: You've found a great new $25,000 pre-owned car that checks all your lifestyle needs. You can afford to put a $5,000 down payment without emptying out your savings account and still covering expenses. You have also been approved for 3% to 5% financing. 

Your next step in customizing your payment by choosing the length of your automotive loan. A shorter loan length of around 60 months will help unlock a smaller APR or Annual Percentage Rate while a longer-term like 72 months would raise your APR since you're borrowing money for longer.

In short, the shorter the length of your loan the more it may cost monthly but the less it will be in total due to raising APRs. So $25,000 with a $5,000 down payment means you're looking to borrow $20,000. Here are some breakdowns of how different APRs and the length of a loan can affect your total cost:

  • No Down Payment:
    • $25,000 for 60 months at 3% cost $449 a month which equals $1,953 of total interest paid
    • $25,000 for 84 months at 3% cost $330 a month which equals $2,748 of total interest paid
  • Down Payment with 3% interest
    • $20,000 for 60 months at 3% cost $359 a month which equals $1,562 of total interest paid
    • $20,000 for 84 months at 3% cost $264 a month which equals $2,198 of total interest paid
  • Down Payment with 5% interest
    • $20,000 for 60 months at 5% cost $377 a month which equals $2,645 of total interest paid
  • Down Payment with 5% interest
    • $20,000 for 84 months at 5% cost $284 a month which equals $3,745 of total interest paid

Get Your Customized Payment Plan Today

Now that you have a better understanding of how APRs, down payments, and the length of a loan can affect your credit score; fill out and secure your own Customized Payment Plan today! Explore, compare, and purchase on your own or get help from an expert Support Specialist - we're at your service. Our friendly Care Team is here to assist you and empower you to buy with confidence!