Tonight I'm happy to announce I bought my first new (to me) car! I got a 2011 Ford Fusion with about 37,500 miles.
I followed a lot of advice that I saw on here with a few exceptions.
When I went for my test drive the dealer and I did the usual back and forth banter about the car, the radio, life in general. He asked me what I had thought about for monthly payments - I didn't fall for it. I said I wasn't sure but I was hoping to keep things around $XXX after tax, title, etc. I ended up paying about $1,500 more than I originally wanted but that included an auto start, and extended warrenty, and GAP insurance. I only negotiated the monthly payments at the very end.
I did get the warrenty and the insurance because I do plan on driving it until the wheels fall off.
I also did some loan shopping. I averaged about up to $15,500 with 2.5% APR for 60 months. DCU gave me the 1.99% rate for 60 months for $15,000 and I went with that in my pocket to the dealer. The dealer originally offered me 2.85% at 60 months for $16,500. After bringing up my DCU offer, they actually beat it! I got Capital One for $16,700 at 1.89% for 72 months! It was kind of funny. From what I've seen on here, the dealers usually say that the customer has "a few dings" on the credit report in order to drive up the APR. When they first ran my credit, the dealer said that my report was excellent - I should have no problem getting a low rate.
I have bi-weakly payments so I'll actually be paying off in about 66 months - or even sooner when I pay more than the minimum most months.
Thank you, everyone! The advice I've seen on here was very, very usefull!
AMEX BCE - $5K | BofA Cash Rewards - $1.5K | Barclaycard Arrival Plus WEMC - $3K | Chase Freedom - $2.5K | US Bank FP Select Rewards - $2K | Last HP June 3, '14 - Gardening until '15
FICO: EQ - 763 | TU - 761 | EX - 769 (as of 10/18/14)
