Hurricane Sandy - Need a new car

[Anonymous]

So long story short, I lost my car (and pretty much everything else) in the recent hurricane. It was a 2010 Kia Forte Koup and I still had a loan out on it for ~13k. Luckily, I had equity in the car and the insurance company paid the loan off and left me with ~$3,500 for my next down payment. I needed to return my rental last Friday so I've been without a car and relying on others to get to work, not really doing anything else (socially), trying to get everything back together, etc etc.

Anyway, now I'm nervous about going through this entire process again. Recently, I've been irresponsible with applications for credit cards and got a little crazy (I know, shame shame). My history (3+ years ago) isn't too good (a few lates and one discharge - all settled over almost 2 years ago - dumb college mistakes). My utilization is currently about 40% of all available credit (will go down to about 30% this week - total credit of about $11,500 with $4,500 owed - I  know this is high but one of them ($2,000) is 0% interest). 

My question is, do I need to wait until my auto loan is shown as PIF on my credit report? My old loan was through Wells Fargo FYI and it was my first auto loan (by myself!). 

Here's some info:

Credit scores: (from July 2012)

Experien	642
Equifax	680
TransUnion	671

I'm nervous to check them again because I don't think they would have really changed since then and myfico is so expensive!

Annual income: $52,000

Any advice/help is appreciated. I am really overwhelmed with everything. 

Edit - I'm looking at the Dodge Dart Limited for $25,000 (hopefully I can get the dealer down to $22,500)

[Epcot]

So sorry to hear about your losses during the recent storms. At least you are safe!

I would definitely allow your util to drop and your auto loan to show paid before applying. Perhaps try capital one auto loans?

Do you have alot of recent inquiries?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply

I do have a few I'd say less than 10  but maybe around 6? (again I haven't checked since July).

Any idea when my auto loan would show as paid? Or how quicly my CRs would be updated? I just paid $600 today on two credit cards and paid them off. Paying off another tomorrow and then another $1000 this weekend. 

[rootpooty]

it depends when the statement cuts per account.  usually 3-5 days after the statement cuts on the account is when the new info should be reported.

Just my suggestion if it was me in your shoes and trust me ive been there.  I would take that 3500 and just buy the best car that 3500 could buy me.  That way you can recover more quickly and pay any debt you have faster.

Sorry for your losses I wish you a speedy recovery