Help! Best Way to Buy a Car After BK

[carmiekay]

Hi Everyone... I looked at all the different threads and am still dazed and confused. I recently got discharged from my Chapter 7 last month and now need a reliable car since I returned mine. I'd pay cash but I don't have enough to purchase so I need to finance.

Can anyone tell me the best way to get financed? I've heard about roadloans and capital one, but I've gone to different sites that people complain about being robbed by them... plus, I've had capital one and they were included in my discharge.

Any success stories?? I've been told I could get approved, but don't want to trust a finance person from a car dealership. Plus, they said I'd be looking at 24% and they couldn't tell me what the loan amount would be or the monthly or the terms until I run my credit...

Help!

[LSUTiger32]

I hate to recommend them but if you are desperate you might look for a lot that will "tote the note". It's not advisable, but if you need transportation it might be the only way.

Check out the Buying a Car after BK forum also.

[maddog2112]

I purchased a brand new vehicle 6 mos into my 13, financed thru drive auto. I had heard of a few horror stories online, but after 2.5 years have had no problems whatsoever. I paid 21 % interest, but was told if I could have waited a year, it would have been 14%. Couldn`t wait, had to turn in my lease.I`ve never been late, so htey`ve bumped me up to semi sub prime santander. Hope this helps. I think you`ll be much better off since you`ve been discharged. Good luck.

[Amy26]

I got a brand new ford at a ford dealership days after my discharge with 1k down and a 17.9% interest rate. Don't waste too much time applying at online places... I did this and got denied everywhere... I didn't really care about the inqueries on my credit report... I mean... its already f'd up... But, just contact a reputable dealer that sells the kind of cars you're interested in and see if they will work with you. Explain your situation. The dealerships have a lot of lenders to work with and they generally know who might accept you and who won't.

I tried carmax first and to get a used car, but I discovered and was told that bankruptcy & used car financing = high interest rate. I also got approved for a drive financial loan but they wanted like 4k down and 25% interest.

[carmiekay]

Thanks for sharing everyone...

Hi AMY26 - what bank did you end up getting the deal from? Our scores out of discharge are (me) EQ 540, EX 620, TRS 530... (my hubs) EQ 570, EX 580 and TRS 540. I know everyone situation is different due to credit history and etc, but I just want to get all the information I can before I commit to another 5 year loan... trouble is easy to get into, but hard to get out of...

If anyone else has anything to share, my ears are open!!!

[Amy26]

Hi there, I was approved through AmeriCredit. The used the Equifax report and my numbers are a little bit higher than yours... and I only wanted to put the minimum amount down...so if you went in with more than 1k, you might even get a better rate.

They submitted the app to like 3 or 4 lenders...ford turned it down as well as my personal bank Wachovia (ha!) and Capital One whom I discharged with.

[carmiekay]

Thanks for the info... and sorry to be so nosy, but how much did you get approved for? One guy told me that I was looking at 24% on the low end, but couldn't tell me for how much. I basically called the finance department at a dealership that I saw a decent used car that I liked and told him my situation. Based on what he heard, that is what he told me. The used car was about $13,000 and blue book is about $15,000.

[Amy26]

25,000 ... yea as I said I also found that the used car financing for people like us was a much higher interest rate and a higher down payment. It was actually cheaper for me to buy a new car.

[gophermn]

I also used Americredit and they have been awesome to work with. Very professional folks.

[swampwiz]

I used to work with a guy that ran a used car lot on the side. I even traded my old car to him for credit towards a new car at a regular dealership (i.e., I didn't have to pay sales tax on the amount of the trade.)

The new car dealer was only going to give me $800, but he gave me $1400, dumped $600 into it to get working all properly (my car had a busted A/C, hail damage to the body, a broken motor mount - I think you get the picture! .) He ended up selling to some guy for $4500, where the guy had to put $1K down and make payments at 21% interest. As I recall, a few years earlier, this guy ended up with brain tumor so he ended up taking the car back and more or less doing the same thing.

[carmiekay]

Wow! Thanks everyone for your input... I guess I'll have to weigh in what the cost is on a new car with the APR versus the used car with the higher APR... Jeez, the choices we have to make. I'll let you all know if I need anymore help. I'll let you know what we end up getting too. Hopefully, we don't get robbed for too much :P

[carmiekay]

BTW, what's the lowest APR that anyone has gotten for a used car and for what amount? Oh, and how soon did you go for the loan? Just curious, since we really can't afford a new car... haha, we can barely afford a used one!