Car buying resources online

For easy-to-find informaton on the reliability of various vehicles, we suggest MSN Autos.. The grandfather of all car research is, of course, Consumer Reports. While it's ALWAYS worth buying CR's auto issue, you can find highlights at Yahoo Autos.

A group called AWARE (Americans Well-Informed on Auto Retailing Economics) runs a Web site designed to prevent you from being ripped off; Auto Financing 101. Similar information can be found at Better Auto Loans.

If you're not familar with InterActive Financial, the operator of this Web site, you should know it runs the oldest and most respected bad credit car loan financing site on the Web (CarLoan.com, and its sister sites AutoLoan.com and CarLoans.com. The longer you've been in business, the more simple the URLS (as compared to, say, www.qualify2drive.com.

For up-to-date information on the industry, see Auto Loan Daily.

You can match your credit score to your expected interest rate at MyFico.com. That site doesn't list rates for credit scores under 500, but sites that deal with such scores include Quick Car Credit, Easy Car Financing and Auto Credit Central. Car-Loan.com specializes in car loans for really bad credit and this site specializes in poor credit car loans.

This site will let you apply for vehicle financing either online or over the phone: 1-800-Auto-Loan.

We believe car buying (even with bad credit) should be fun. So do some research at the snarky The Truth About Cars and take a moment to read Time Magazine's outstanding story on the 50 worst cars of all time.

Finally, the mother of all used car pricing information -- The Kelley Blue Book and this very, very simple car loan monthly payment calculator.