roseembolism | Car shopping up and downs- and car loan question.

Well, we had a narrow escape this Sunday when we went car shopping.

We made the mistake of making eye contact with a dealer, and nearly ended up being bullied into buying a Dodge Neon. Damn, those guys were persistent- willing even to drive the car 60 miles to get title transferred, and the down payment made. If they had some big bruisers, I'm sure that they would have kept us from leaving until we signed or lives away. And the car was such an awful color, too.

We're going to be a bit more cautious next week, and not get roped into buying a car we don't want. We're also going to take a fake blood capsule for RXM to surreptitiously bite down upon; I think even a used car dealer will let us leave if one of us has bloody foam coming out of her mouth.

The good-sorta good- news is that we do qualify for financing, and we can get monthly payments below $200.00. The bad news is that based on 48 monthly payments of $198.00, I get a freaking ridiculous interest rate,one over 30%. I'm really hoping I miscalculated the interest rate.

Does anyone want to check my math there? Or should I just get a relative with excellent credit to co-sign?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Glad to check your math, but we are lacking a fundamental variable -- the proposed cost of the vehicle.

First, can you wait until the end of the month to purchase your car? You'll get a better deal on the overall cost of the car if you go on the last weekend of a month, as the sales pirahana's have quotas to make. It makes them more aggressive (I know, hard to believe), but it means if you can say "no" a lot, you can get a better price.

Next, do you have insurance? If so, call them. Some insurance companies loan money for cars, and if so they can a) tell you what cars will reduce your insurance and/or loan interest rates (insurance companies would like you to drive safe vehicles), b) sometimes give you a better rate than most places c) WILL give you a better rate than the dealer d) is someone with whom you are already doing business, so iffy credit might not count as much on the overall loan (but WILL at the dealer). It's always best to try to get a car loan through someone OTHER than the dealer if you can. So, if you have a bank or (even better!) credit union you like, talk to them; often even with bad credit they can accomodate you some and it will still be better than the dealer's rates.

(incidentally, if either of you are children of teachers or former military, and your parents are still alive and talking to you, you could join the teacher's credit union for the area where the parent worked or the military branch credit union. This is especially good for home and car loans, because their rates are actually LOWER than what most banks will provide, and, again, if you are already doing business with them it might be easier to secure a loan)

I suck at the "go away, I'm just looking" game, so I usualyl take David for these types of decisions, who is happy to tell them he'll give our sale to the nice person NOT bothering us if this one doesn't go away.

I will be trying to get a new car (according to the budget) somewhere between March and May of next year.

Finally, if you REALLY need a low monthly rate, and you are willing to take your risks with the finance company of the proposed dealership, you can look at leasing a car. Typically the monthly rate is lower than a car purchase, but you do have to, you know, RETURN the car (although you can try purchasing it at the end of the lease, you probably shouldn't...not enough value left in the thing, no matter what car you purchase).

The credit union idea is a good point- I'm a member of a credit union, and my mother has excellent credit there. With her cosignature we could probably get a very low interest rate.

Personally, I'd love to wait until the end of the month, but I'm not sure our car is going to last that long- and when it goes, its trade-in value will be zero. As it is, I'm liking First Financial's car buying program.

Point one: it was a Saturn, not a Neon. I would have bit someone in the face if I was made to buy a Neon. Which, admittedly, would have been the best way for us to be allowed to leave. Must consider biting persistent salesperson in face next visit.

Point two: Proposed price for baby-shit gold Saturn: 12,000 (I think. She was willing to go down to 10,000.)

Point three: Persistent Saturn saleslady CALLED ME AT WORK TODAY. You were nice to her last night. Today, I was not. I have the right to say no, I exercised it. No more lettin' 'em down easy, ya big sissy.

Got it...

Well, simply dividing $10000 by 48 monthly payments = $208.33/month

If you were quoted 48 monthly payments of $198, then you were getting it for far less than $10K, or some numbers must be missing somewhere.

Ah, yes, I forget, was there a down payment amount?

Do either of you have a credit card with a low APR and a high limit? If so, you might want to consider just throwing the car on a card and paying it off thusly.

ooof, no, neither of us have credit that good. I'm a latecomer to credit cards, so I need to build up a bit before I get that kind of credit.

In re: blood capsule.

I'll go one up on that. I'll do the blood in the mouth, but maybe I'll also hide one in my pants, and we can explain that we just came back from travelling in Africa. Just a little feverish, but I'll manage.

Now if only I could fake the bleeding-out-the-eyes part of hemorrhagic fever.

Then I bet they'll let us leave.

For clarification: the overall cost of the car is $10,000, and we're putting
$5,000 down. So, to pay for the $5,000 remaining, we would be paying $198.00 a month for 48 months.

I found the equation to figure out the intrest rate from the monthly payments- it's complex enough that it will take me a while to do the calculations (damn it, I don't have a decent calculator program, so I've been fiddling around with Excell; Excell hasn't been cooperating though. *sigh* I strong suspect the interest rate is in the 30% range.

Car shopping up and downs- and car loan question.

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