by "Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
Published 05/26/2017 at 22:08
by "Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
Published 05/26/2017 at 22:08
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STARS: 1
I’m thinking about taking out a car loan. It’ll be for $15k at the absolute most. Does anyone have experience taking out an auto loan? Or maybe a personal loan to pay for a car?
(It’s not for a 240Z. I wish.)
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
05/26/2017 at 22:16, STARS: 2
They’re always dependent on the car you’re purchasing and your interest will depend on your credit score...
"E90M3" (e90m3)
05/26/2017 at 22:16, STARS: 1
I’ve gotten a loan for all 3 cars I’ve bought.
"Pearson Hurst" (phurst)
05/26/2017 at 22:19, STARS: 1
As an adult who isn’t independently wealthy, I’ve certainly experienced the joy that is financing a car several times. What specifically do you want to know?
"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
05/26/2017 at 22:24, STARS: 9
Credit unions! At least where I live, their rates are far better than any bank. Assuming you’re not talking about going through a dealer or some such thing
"dogisbadob" (dogisbadob)
05/26/2017 at 22:25, STARS: 1
Capital One Auto Finance is lame because their LTV limits are based off wholesale value, but people generally buy retail. So it won’t work unless the dealer sells the car for less than what they paid for it.
"Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious" (shour)
05/26/2017 at 22:33, STARS: 0
This. Credit unions almost seem to specialize in auto loans in my neck of the woods, new or used.
"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
05/26/2017 at 22:35, STARS: 0
Well, I’m going through a dealer who does NOT offer financing at all, so the financing will be entirely up to me. I plan on putting money down, so I’ll be financing $10-15K.
My credit score is 730, which I think is pretty good. The problem is that I’ll probably be buying an imported car from Japan, so I’m not sure how a bank/credit union/financing company will react to that. I know there are some collector car financing companies out there (just like Hagerty does insurance for collector cars), but I am betting their rates would be a bit high.
Can you share your experiences, good or bad? How long does the whole credit and background check take? How long was it from your first chat to a check in hand / wire transfer complete?
"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
05/26/2017 at 22:36, STARS: 0
My credit score is about 730 so I’m ok there, but what presents and issue is that I’m probably importing a late 80's / early 90's Japanese car. I’m not sure who will be willing to give a loan for that.
"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
05/26/2017 at 22:37, STARS: 0
Any horrible experiences? Any particularly good companies? What is the routine like?
"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
05/26/2017 at 22:37, STARS: 2
Dealer who doesn’t do financing. Credit Union was definitely at the front of my mind!
"MarquetteLa" (marquettela)
05/26/2017 at 22:40, STARS: 0
If you can wrangle a USAA account, they gave me a small car loan at a fine rate for when I bought my 1988 Mazda 323 GTX a couple years ago. Not sure if importing would be an issue.
"ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)" (adabofoppo)
05/26/2017 at 22:42, STARS: 1
Based on you other comments, you’re probably going to have to secure a personal loan. Not sure of anywhere that would go along with your plan to import a foreign car.
Check with your local credit unions, and I do hope I am wrong, but I suspect you’re going to be looking at some serious interest rates if you can even get that money at all.
"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
05/26/2017 at 22:44, STARS: 0
The importer I plan on using takes care of all the paperwork, I end up with a DMV-issued state title if I make a purchase. I’ll look into USAA, thanks!
"Chuckles" (chucklesw37)
05/26/2017 at 22:44, STARS: 1
I took out a loan through my bank to buy my 94 Miata. It was too old for a car loan, so it ended up being a personal loan. Interest rates are usually higher on personal loans, but way better than a credit card. I think my loan was around 10%, and they approved me for way more than the price of the car, so I used the rest to pay off a small amount of credit card debt and then paid back whatever I didn’t use. There was no penalty for early payoff, so even though I had probably 7 or 8 years to pay it off, I paid well over the minimum so I ended up not paying a ton in interest. I probably could have just waited 6-12 months and saved up to buy it without a loan, but the right car came along and I have no regrets. My bank is PNC by the way.
"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
05/26/2017 at 22:46, STARS: 1
Very interesting. After snooping around the internet for the past few weeks, I think a personal loan is the way to go. I think if I can arrange something at a <10% interest rate with no penalty for early payoff I might be heading in the right direction.
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
05/26/2017 at 22:51, STARS: 1
I’ve been with USAA for 25 years, but you have to have been in the military, or your parents had to be in. The age of the car means you won’t be able to get a car loan (at a lower rate), so instead you’ll get a personal loan at a higher rate. It’s higher because the loan is unsecured (they don’t have a title to hold).
edit - just read Chuckles reply saying essentially the same thing
"Chuckles" (chucklesw37)
05/26/2017 at 22:52, STARS: 0
My credit score was very good, but not excellent, and they approved me for 10k at 10% without any collateral.
"415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)" (415s30)
05/26/2017 at 22:55, STARS: 0
Well as it happens I usually take loans out for car projects to build credit. I did it for my 240Z and it’s almost done. I only did it for the initial cost and paid it back. But for a normal car, I would try joining a credit union, look around. The only bad experience I had was through Wells Fargo, for a 2010 Si I got back then. They used someone else’s money to pay a couple of my payments, then later I got the title etc... and they came back eventually saying I didn’t finish the loan, I fought them and made it as painful as I could for them, I eventually talked to someone high enough to have a secretary. I was going different places in the Marines so I didn’t notice anything was wrong.
"Pearson Hurst" (phurst)
05/26/2017 at 22:57, STARS: 0
I’ve always used my credit union. They always beat what the dealership and/or places like Capital One can do by a mile. If you’re a member of one, definitely start there. They financed a private sale for me, and really don’t seem to give a shit what it is your buying or from who as long as the numbers work as far as what you’re borrowing vs. the value of what you’re buying. Mine in particular will finance up to 120% of the value of the car. Not that I’d recommend starting out way upside down on your loan, but my CU at least is pretty lenient on that point.
My last purchase was just a few months ago, so the specifics of that are fresher in my mind. I knew more-or-less what I wanted and what price range I was looking at. I went into my local branch and applied for financing. The application took about 15 minutes. Because they’re my CU, they already knew what my income was, what my mortgage payment is and all of tht stuff, so I was never asked to provide anything like pay stubs or tax returns. Approval took another 5 minutes or so. They told me how much I could spend, what my interest rate was (which varied slightly depending on the age of the car I was buying, with the best rate for a new car) and how the rest of the process would work. Basically, I would go find what I wanted, negotiate the price and either have the dealership call the bank with the particulars, or, if it was after hours, a weekend, or a private sale, I could have them get in touch the next morning, or bring them a buyers order. From there, they could wire the payment directly, cut me a check to deliver, or FedEx a check to them.
In my case, I ended up at an out of state dealership on a Sunday. I had them print out the buyers order which I took to the bank Monday morning. They entered the vehicle info, purchase price and NADA value, and since all the numbers worked, FedExed the dealership a check. Deal done. If I had found what I wanted locally and wanted to take a half day off of work, I could have applied, been approved, purchased a car and had the bank pay the dealership in a matter of hours.
As a side note, the dealership I dealt with was out of state, didn’t know me from Adam and had never heard of my little local CU, however they let me take the car with me on Sunday with nothing more than the promise that a check would show up on Tuesday. I never showed them any approval paperwork or anything else from my CU. I guess they felt like they had my ID, phone number, email, and all the associated info on the title of the car I was trading in, so they could find me and their car if they needed to take it back.
"BLCKSTRM" (BLCKSTRM)
05/26/2017 at 23:01, STARS: 0
I’ll second the credit union comment. They’re owned by their members, so they’re not trying to make as much money - just break even - so rates are lower.
However, with the “personal loan” situation you may be limited to borrowing from your current bank. Highly unlikely you’ll get a signature or personal loan from a bank or CU you just opened an account with.
And yeah, that Z looks fantastic.
"E90M3" (e90m3)
05/26/2017 at 23:01, STARS: 0
I had a really hard time getting the M3 financed. I was 24 at the time and it was really hard to get a bank to loan me the money to buy it, despite putting 40%+taxes down. I guess that was a bad experience; that was my worst experience.
Other than that, it’s been pretty good. I financed most of my 128i and 100% of my 328i, because I had been unemployed for 10 months and didn’t want to put anything down. I financed the 328i through PNC bank and if I could, I would avoid them mainly because they’re a pain in the ass to deal with. I had the M3 financed through Sun Trust and they were so much better.
I’ve only bought from dealers, so the routine is them applying finance for me. You can walk in there pre-approved and not worry about that. Basically, as long as your credit is decent and you have enough credit, someone will finance you. Well, it depends on the car. As long as it isn’t too old or too many miles, a bank will finance you.
"MylesD" (mylesd)
05/26/2017 at 23:09, STARS: 0
People have probably said this exact same thing but I’m not looking comments for a clean POV - Credit Union all the way, find the best rate you can and be prepared when you get there. Have an amount of financing ready to go and you avoid their financing plus use it in your $$ negotiating (sorry sir, I’m only approved for X. Whoops - even if it ain’t true)
"96Formula6spd" (96Formula6spd)
05/27/2017 at 00:00, STARS: 0
Credit union if you car. And what ever you do no Wells Fargo. Still fighting them over $700 on my car. A loan is a good and bad thing. I have done one car loan. It was for my Miata. 5k for 3 years. All my other cars I have bought in cash. At this point I am done with car loans. Sometimes you have to. But even if I decide to buy a C5 Corvette in the next few months it will be in cash. Granted a couple cars are salvage title so I would be buying from an auction and you can’t get a loan. I say it this way if you have it paid off nobody can take it from you. Buddy had this loan term, 1 payment of 100%. No monthly payments. But seriously screw Wells Fargo.
"MarquetteLa" (marquettela)
05/27/2017 at 00:37, STARS: 0
Just to clarify, USAA did give me a car loan at 7.99% on a 26-year-old car and held the title.
"500 Days of Kittens" (500daysofkittens)
05/27/2017 at 01:00, STARS: 0
If you aren’t a member of a credit union, but would like to finance through one, a few suggestions (these are pretty standard for any financial institution, but especially so for the more personal service at a credit union):
- Speak with a personal banker and tell her or him your intentions.
- Bring 13 months of pay stubs and bank statements from your primary checking or savings or whatever, to give them a sense of funds available and ability to pay.
- Bring a copy of your credit report from at least one of the agencies. They’ll pull it anyway, but the personal banker will be better able to tell you on the spot about eligibility and rates.
- Check out articles like this to pick the best one for you: https://www.google.com/amp/amp.kiplinger.com/slideshow/credit/T005-S001-7-great-credit-unions-anyone-can-join.html
- Look for any niche CUs you may qualify for through military service, employment, trade group affiliation, education, certification, location, etc.
I got a low interest rate from my CU for my current car, and though I could’ve paid cash, turns out I have better things to do with it. As long as you can comfortably afford it, and make a plan for it even if shit hits the financial fan, an auto loan is NBD. Bonus, it looks good to lenders if your long term plan includes a mortgage.
"MyJeepGetsStuckInTheSnow" (myjeepgetsstuckinthesnow)
05/27/2017 at 02:09, STARS: 0
If you need a loan for $15k for an imported fun car it might not be the best financial decision (flame suit on). “I need a $15k loan for a car to get to my job while I get my finances in order,” is a different story. Paying cash for the car and having money left over to fix it when it breaks and upgrade it will give you a more positive ownership experience. Taking out a loan and fixing it/upgrading with cash instead of paying off the loan is a bad situation to be in. If having the instant gratification of having your dream car is worth the financial pain then by all means you should get the loan. In my personal experience having a paid off car and a financial buffer has always made me happier.
"MyJeepGetsStuckInTheSnow" (myjeepgetsstuckinthesnow)
05/27/2017 at 02:13, STARS: 0
It takes about an hour start to check in hand to get a loan from my credit union.
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
05/27/2017 at 19:11, STARS: 0
I’m surprised to hear that. Most lenders won’t give a car loan for anything older than 5 years.
"MarquetteLa" (marquettela)
05/27/2017 at 22:35, STARS: 0
Yeah, most won’t. USAA is pretty rad though.