How much of a down payment ?

[Anonymous]

My curse is that I am provided a Company car for the past 20 years.... hence, I haven't needed to finance c ar.

Here is my question, I want a new fairly expensive toy.... Used Car, will cost approximately $ 40,000 (and the blue book is approximately the same amount)  

My Fico as per 2 days ago.....

TU = 704

EQ = 688

I have one bad thing on my credit card having to do with a tax thing back in 2008, plus one bad thing for a mere $ 200 medical expense that I had no idea I owed, also in 2008  (Can they even do that anyway ?)   I think that is what pulls me down just a bit.   I have 4 open credit cards, with 3 of them well over 3 years old and never a late payment and all carry very low balances. (less than 10%)   I make a little over $ 70k..... if it matters, older returns were over $ 90k when the economy was a bit stronger.   I have zero negatives on my report since 2008 and only positives. 

My question is, in your opinion, what size down payment should I expect to dole out to secure financing going ?   Or can I get away without a down payment ? 

Thank you for any opinions.

[pizzadude]

Money always helps, so as the size of your downpayment increases your borrowing terms should generally get better.

Even though you have no auto loan history ~ do you have any installment loans showing on your reports at all ?

[Anonymous]

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pizzadude wrote:
Money always helps, so as the size of your downpayment increases your borrowing terms should generally get better.

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+1. Bigger down payment = better loan. The scores look ok, I wouldn't worry about being denied. I would just worry about best rates.

[Revelate]

Depends on how used the car is.  The older it is, for 99% of all lenders, the more they want to see in downpayment.  At some age ranges they will not finance at all.

Used car purchasing is usually much smoother with ~20% down in general, more is better, less is sometimes workable, but it's nearly impossible to get a 0% down financing as you might on a new car... statistically speaking, people drive used cars till they break, and then they walk away from them, and sometimes that includes the auto loans too.  For this reason, used car financing is always both more difficult and expensive than new car financing, and the lenders especially like seeing you put your own skin in the game on a used car note.