Best way to make payments on a car

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for some advice on how to make payments on a cheap car. The problem is that I can't afford to buy a used car upfront. I need to look into taking out a loan or financing a used car.

I've always bought my cars on craigslist, but money is too tight to do that right now. I need a car within a month or so.

What is the best way to make payments on a car? Is the bank incentivized to give me a good loan rate or not? How do I avoid getting screwed over at the used car lot?

Thanks in advance,
Guarren

Last time I had a traditional car loan, I ended up transferring it on one of those "0% interest for life!" credit card balance transfer deals. They make you use the card once a month to keep the deal, but I dutifully did so for 4 years while paying off $15k at 0%