Courtesy of Preferred Financial Services

Has the economy over the past two years prevented you from purchasing big ticket items? Or have you purposely stayed on the sidelines because you were not sure about your employment situation and didn’t want to risk investing a lot of money in any one item? Well, recent data suggests that now may be a good time to jump back into buying mode when it comes to new cars.

 As the economy has rebounded and mass layoffs are not an everyday occurrence anymore for most areas of the country, consumers are starting to realize that it may be time to replace many of their outdated items, including autos. As such, new auto sales hit a 2 and a half year high last quarter as Americans started to open their wallets again. More good news has come from Edmunds.com which reported today that auto loan rates hit a 9 year low of 4.16% in December. There are a couple of reasons for this but they all point to the fact that 2011 may be a good time to get that new car you have been looking for since before the recession hit.

 One, the consumers that have survived the recent turmoil in relatively good shape have for the most part very good credit scores. This allows them to qualify for better rates than the average consumers and also explains why demand for higher priced vehicles outpaced the demand for lower model vehicles. Secondly, many automakers reintroduced 0% interest loans for new car purchases in the 4^th quarter. This was a major reason why auto sales continued to post record numbers even while the unemployment rate remained high.

Please click HERE to read the rest of the article.