Length of Employment for Car Loan?

Anonymous · ‎01-07-2018

My car has been giving me major problems lately. The check engne light keeps on coming on. It's a 2005 Toyota Corolla with 275,000 miles on it. I've owned it for 10 years. We've had record lows here in Texas and my car was having issues turning over (sometimes it would, some times it wouldn't). Tempertures have risen and the car is still having issues. I'm afraid I will go outside, try to start the car and it will be out for good. I use my car for work (I drive to people's homes) and no car means no work. I've been at this job for 3 months. The timing couldn't be any worse because I am in the process of buying a home (we hope to close around 1/16). I had plans to buy a new car but I didn't have plans on doing so, so soon.

I was wondering, how long do I have to be at this job in order to be approved for a car loan? 3 months? 6 months? A year?

TIA

lexus829 · ‎01-07-2018

I think with your score and limits on your card you should be ok.. you mean you didnt have this issue with the house loan? Is your employment continuous? shouldnt be a problem if it is, hopefully not a big gap..

11/2016 - EQ(575)/TU(550)/EX(565) Current - EQ(675)/TU(680)/EX(678) Goal – 700

Anonymous · ‎01-07-2018

Thanks for your response.

I just graduated with my masters degree in August of last year and was able to obtain a full time job in the field I went to school for. When getting hte house loan, they counted the time that I was in school as my 2 years of required employment. I am thinking along the same lines as you-- since I was able to secure a home loan, then I should be able to get a car loan. However, I am having some doubts about this.

Kree · ‎01-08-2018

I've gotten car loans with offer letters. So 0 months is probably the answer.

Anonymous · ‎01-08-2018

Don't panic and buy a new car. You seriously might only need a $75 battery. Get it tested. (free) Have your check engine light read. (free) If repairs are a few hundred bucks, ride it out.

When the car does die for good deal with it then.

Anonymous · ‎01-08-2018

Spend $100 on a new battery and a new gas filler cap. Cold weather can make old batteries crank slow or not at all, and cold weather can cause the gaskets on your gas cap to be brittle. Replace both, problems may go away.

Kree · ‎01-08-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
Spend $100 on a new battery and a new gas filler cap. Cold weather can make old batteries crank slow or not at all, and cold weather can cause the gaskets on your gas cap to be brittle. Replace both, problems may go away.

I don't know how often I've seen people get quoted $1000 dollar repairs for check engine lights problems, usually codes like "fuel system leak", and a $15 gas cap fixes the problem. Biggest scam in the industry, and the sad thing is 50% of the time, they really do replace the fuel tank or something, because mechanics can be idiots too.

Anonymous · ‎01-08-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
Don't panic and buy a new car. You seriously might only need a $75 battery. Get it tested. (free) Have your check engine light read. (free) If repairs are a few hundred bucks, ride it out.

When the car does die for good deal with it then.

I definitely agree with this. I'm thinking worse case scenario here.

Anonymous · ‎01-08-2018

It wasn't the battery. Had that tested. I have an appointment at the toyota dealership in Wednsday. Now, I'm thinking of taking it to auto zone first.

Anonymous · ‎01-08-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
It wasn't the battery. Had that tested. I have an appointment at the toyota dealership in Wednsday. Now, I'm thinking of taking it to auto zone first.

It wouldn't hurt and will take 5 minutes for them to tell you what code the light is throwing.

Also, unless you've been going to the dealer for regular service all of this time, I would really find a private shop with good reviews (from family, friends, or even Google/Yelp) and go there. Dealerships tend to throw a huge list of stuff that needs done at you that is often waaayyy beyond what you *need* to do to keep a high mileage car on the road. (They also sell the shiny new cars there. Coincidence? LOL)

The last time my car was taking forever to turn over, a new fuel filter fixed it. Old one was clogged and it had plenty of crank but wasn't getting the gas it needed to turn over regularly. It was noticeably worse in cold weather. The filter was probably $15 and I paid an hour's labor to have it done since I don't have anywhere to work on my car in NYC. Ended up being $100 total.