DENIED! (Not a big surprise)

[Nick9075]

I bought a Dodge Stratus for $3000, 5 years old with 68,000 miles on it. Is it a flashy car? NO! Is it a reliable car? Yes, it is. (Have added almost 100,000 miles to it since buying it and it's still going strong at 160K miles!) Maybe it's your attitude towards what is a "decent pre-owned car" that is keeping you from finding anything under $15,000 Nick. Cars are just something to get you from place A to place B. My little economical car does that just fine. Why spend any more than absolutely necessary on a depreciating asset? Our love affair with the automobile and all the commercial advertising that has sold us on "needing" all the bells and whistles is insane. Beliefs that cars aren't "safe" unless they are SUV's (hello, SUV's have much WORSE safety ratings!), etc. I'd much rather drive an affordable lower end used car that I can pay cash for, than ever make car payments again.

Don't know where you found this car for $3,000 but even a late model Honda Civic that is a base model (not EX or LX) is about $13,000 with 77,000 miles on it. 160,000 miles on a car to me is a disaster or breakdown waiting to happen. Used to be you could find a decent used car for between $8,000 - $12,000. Now $12,000 - $20,000 is the minimum for a reliable car that you wont' be spending thousands every year on repairs.

I have a 2000 Nissan Altima with close to 101,000 miles that I already spent over $3,500 on a Torque converter plus transmission rebuild + full tuneup at 100,000 miles. At that time I was unemployed so getting a loan at any rate was out of the question. Now that I am employed I think I should be driving a better vehicle and keep this car as second hand. Too bad that in todays world you are judged by what you wear & what you drive but that is the world we live in .

These lenders don't want to work with me not because on my credit but because I am not the typical car buyer who is only concerned about getting the car they want at the monthly payment they can afford.
As I told this one lender -- you tell me if I am approved or not, at what rate & how much I can borrow. Sort of like a mortgage, you get a preapproval and make decisions based on that.

[Nick9075]

Hmmm, on the issue of what kind of vehicles you can find for around 15K. Was out looking with my DD the last two days and may very well buy one of these two vehicles:

1. 2008 Jeep Liberty 4x4(completely loaded but no leather seats) 15 miles Dealers initial offer to us was $17,465 including tax, title and licence.

2. 2009 Pontiac G6 9 miles. Dealers initial offer 17,895 including tax, title, and licence.

Don't know where you are but here in the Boston area (imagine that NYC where I am from is even substantially higher) both cost at least $30,000 'out the door'. Check out craigslist to find what you can get around the $15,000 price point. Most listings are between 60,000 - 100,000 miles and not Lexuses from the late 1990's but Honda Accords from 2001, Nissan Altimas with close to 100,000 miles

Next given the above scenario, lets say I could get those prices. Would I be able to put down $8,000 and finance the rest which is essentially a 50% equity position in the vehicle or will they start playing games with me such as jacking the price up, selling or 'requiring' expensive ad ons like extended warranty or comprehensive insurance??

[catleg]

There are plenty of good runnable cars with 100k miles on them good for another 100k. Just don't buy from a dealer. I just checked cars.com and found a '97 Lexus ES300 with 104k miles for $2950. I just sold two decent cars with high mileage at great prices because the dealers weren't giving anything for trade-in and since I knew the cars were good I sold them to neighbors at roughly the same price.

[catleg]

However, if you must finance, the only way is through a dealer, since they can shop your credit app out on their system. I got financed with about a 580 credit score for about 14-15%, and the dealer was able to play some games by adding my wife and buying down the rate a point to get it around 12%. I also got approved by Roadloans back in October but at the time they apparently lost their source of financing so they pulled out of the business for a while, that would have been about 15%. I wasn't aware of the dealer add-on but it doesn't surprise me. There is such an overhang of cars right now, used car prices are way down. I also saved money by cutting my car insurance back to the state minimums for liability.

[Nick9075]

However, if you must finance, the only way is through a dealer, since they can shop your credit app out on their system. I got financed with about a 580 credit score for about 14-15%, and the dealer was able to play some games by adding my wife and buying down the rate a point to get it around 12%. I also got approved by Roadloans back in October but at the time they apparently lost their source of financing so they pulled out of the business for a while, that would have been about 15%. I wasn't aware of the dealer add-on but it doesn't surprise me. There is such an overhang of cars right now, used car prices are way down. I also saved money by cutting my car insurance back to the state minimums for liability.

There is supposed to be an overhang of apartments for rent, homes for sale and cars buy when you actually shop (and this is in Mass, CT & NYC from my experience) prices are sky high, the sales people are these arrogant twentysomethings who all think you have a cosigner for that BMW M series and think you should be greatful for a 22% APR even when putting down 50%

[Rick9972]

Don't know where you are but here in the Boston area (imagine that NYC where I am from is even substantially higher) both cost at least $30,000 'out the door'. Check out craigslist to find what you can get around the $15,000 price point. Most listings are between 60,000 - 100,000 miles and not Lexuses from the late 1990's but Honda Accords from 2001, Nissan Altimas with close to 100,000 miles

Next given the above scenario, lets say I could get those prices. Would I be able to put down $8,000 and finance the rest which is essentially a 50% equity position in the vehicle or will they start playing games with me such as jacking the price up, selling or 'requiring' expensive ad ons like extended warranty or comprehensive insurance??

In KY. and yes if you borrow a dime against a vehicle the bank will require full coverage auto insurance.

[Gerry]

Too bad that in todays world you are judged by what you wear & what you drive but that is the world we live in

Not all of us live in that world. Why care what other people think? Only the trivial among us care about trivial crap like car models and clothing labels.

[dingdong]

Not all of us live in that world. Why care what other people think? Only the trivial among us care about trivial crap like car models and clothing labels.

Beaters Rock!

I especially like the red duct tape over my brake light, I can spot my car in a minute in a crowded parking lot.

I agree, who cares what you drive as long as it gets you there and stops when you ask it to.

Course, I wouldn't turn down a free Mercedes!

[Nick9075]

Not all of us live in that world. Why care what other people think? Only the trivial among us care about trivial crap like car models and clothing labels.

Gee I don't know... Maybe those who got I/O ARMS, 125% HELOCS to buy these cars and who maxed out credit cards can answer that. I admit I was guilty of that for a time but a bad situation got worse after being unemployed for 5 months.

I hear how people are saving more and maybe thinking beyond the latest $200 designer shirt and BMW M series but personally I don't see it. I went to Fanueil Hall in Boston over the weekend and I wanted to get the hell out of there because of the below mentality

One thing I will say and maybe someone from this area can tell me why -- New England is ALOT worse in this regard even though the roads are crap and the winters are probably hell on cars.

I probably will just keep my car for another year as 'painful' as that decision may be. It likely needs another $600 - $1,000 in repairs -- new front struts and tires.

I already spent a total of $3,500 which included Torque converter + trans rebuild + full complete engine tuneup & new brakes.