I got into improving my credit, which led me to MyFICO, because I wanted to buy a Corvette.
I tried to buy a Corvette. Couldn't get it financed for $24k. But I remembered I had a pre-approval for an auto loan from Capital One. That only worked at certain dealers and the dealer with this car was not on their list. BUT I was pre-approved for another, more expensive $27k Corvette, at another dealer nearby. Went there and found that they'd sold that car the night before. 
I decided this was ridiculous. I need to get my finances in order. I'm not broke. I have some bad credit in the distant past and very little credit now. Time to improve. I should not be shopping for a lender who will approve me, I should be able to shop for the lender who'll give me the best interest rate.
I got sucked into the credit card game and sometimes lost sight of the original goal. My strategies for getting the next best card I needed were not always the quickest way to getting the car I wanted. So it hasn't been a direct path, but I got there.
I had picked out a 2013 Corvette Grand Sport and thought I was about to buy it. I knew that traditional lenders would usually not make an auto loan for a car over 10 years old. I was dealing with Corvette Warehouse in Dallas, a place that specializes in Corvettes of all ages. I figured they'd know lenders who dealt in classic cars and such. I borrowed a trailer from my boss and pulled it four hours to Dallas, I was so certain I was bringing this car home. No one would finance it because it was over 10 years old. My credit was very good, 780-800. Dealer asked if there was a 2014 or 2015 I'd be interested in. I said I wanted a C6. He said that ends at 2013. I was well aware of that. I brought the empty trailer back home. This was May 11 of this year.
I moped around a bit and then started looking at C7s, after having spent the last 3-4 years researching C6s. Found a 2014 Corvette Stingray I liked in my price range right away, at the same dealership. Tried to finance that. Dealer said that because it was right at 10 years old, the only way anyone would finance it was if I put 50% down! If I had that kind of money for a down payment, I could get a lot more car than that, or a house! Dealer suggested I apply online with a lender called Lightstream. Sounded shady to me. He said they deposit the money directly into my account and then I could use it to buy the car I wanted. I said that sounds like a personal loan instead of an auto loan. He said that's exactly what it is, a personal loan. Hmmm, sounds harder to qualify for in the amount I need, and probably higher interest rates. But at this point, I'm willing to give it a shot.
I applied for a $49k personal loan and was approved in about 30 seconds. The 2013 no one would finance was $35,995. This 2014 was $42,995. With TT&L it came out to $47,146.24. I'd already given him $500 on a credit card to hold the car for me until the weekend. I booked a flight - using my Chase UR points and my CSP that I never would have gotten had I not been in the credit card game 
(Heck with trailering the car home, I want to DRIVE it!) When the funds hit my account, I went to the bank and got a cashier's check for $46,646.24. Dealer picked me up at the airport. At that point I could have bought a 10, or 20, or 30 year old car. My money. I bought the 2014 Stingray and couldn't be happier. That was May 18. I made a couple of extra payments right away with the excess money from the loan.
Yes, the interest is a little higher, 8.99%. But I have a clear title. I don't have to pay for full-coverage insurance, only liability. (Many people think that having a Corvette of any age without full coverage is foolish, but whatever 
) What I save on insurace more than makes up for the slightly higher payments.
EQ8 761, TU8 749, EX8 766 as of January 20
I'm shocked the dealership in Dallas didn't know how to finance your car; my son used to work for an exotic car dealership in Miami with stuff on the floor dating back many decades, and their first stop to finance sales was to Woodside Credit Union, the only proviso being the selling price of the car needed to be at least $20,000 and the value of the loan needed to be at least $10,000.
For the car nerds like me,
2014 Corvette Stingray
6-speed automatic transmission - before you even start, I drive a truck and shift gears for a living.
Z51 performance package includes more performance-oriented suspension, bigger wheels to house bigger brakes, dry-sump oil system, more cooling for transmission and such.
NPP dual-mode exhaust gives it an extra 5 hp for 460 hp and 465 lb-ft torque from the naturally-aspirated 6.2 liter LT1 V8 (Thats 376 cubic inches.)
I do not have the active suspension with the magnetic shocks. That's about the only performance option it lacks. Well, there were also sportier seats available that year and I have the base seats, which are still very good.
3LT trim is the most luxurious package with more and better leather, memory seats, heated and cooled seats, etc.
Not really a Chevy guy, but I've always had a thing for Corvettes. I have a '23 C8 that I've been loving so far. Very nice car you got there, glad it all worked out for you, congratulations!
@JoeRockhead wrote:Not really a Chevy guy, but I've always had a thing for Corvettes. I have a '23 C8 that I've been loving so far. Very nice car you got there, glad it all worked out for you, congratulations!
I've wanted a Corvette since I was about 15. I'm 56 now. It never seemed practical as my only vehicle.
My Chevy pickup is 20 years old, bought new in 2004. Every time I go look at new pickups, I get sticker shock. I start thinking that there's really not much wrong with the pickup I have. But every time it has to be worked on, I think that if I'm going to drive a vehicle that old, I need two of them, so I have one to drive when the other one's in the shop, lol. That brings me back to I've always wanted a Corvette. I can't afford a new one. (Well, I could probably get a new Stingray with little-to-no options, but it would be a stretch. I couldn't afford to do anything but sit home and look at my car.) But there are a lot of really nice used Corvettes out there for less money than what they want for a new pickup. So I kept my old truck and bought a 10-yr-old 'Vette.
@mgood wrote:
I need two of them, so I have one to drive when the other one's in the shop, lol.
I like the way you think. This is much more logical than some of the reasons I've come up with... 
Since I bought the car in May and didn't get around to posting about it for almost 5 months, the details come back to me in bits and pieces.
The 2014 that supposedly no one would finance without 50% down? PenFed did approve a loan for it for the full amount. I think I requested $47k, which would just about cover TT&L.
But they could mail a cashier's check to me. I didn't have time for that, I wanted the car now, now NOW!
Or I could pick it up at one of their branches. There is no PenFed branch anywhere near me. There is at least one in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. I never did find out for sure if they were open on Saturdays, which was the only day I was planning to be in town.
As it turns out, the way PenFed would pay it would be with a check to both me and the dealer. I would have to sign it and then hand it over to the dealer. Well, Corvette Warehouse doesn't accept payment that way. Wire transfer directly to their account or cashiers check made to them only. Period. There didn't seem to be any willingness to compromise from either side.
So when the dealer suggested getting a personal loan from Lightstream, I first applied for a personal loan with PenFed to see if that would work. I was denied. I don't know if that was because I had just gotten approved for an auto loan and they saw this as me trying to get two loans at once, or if they weren't going to give me an unsecured loan in that amount anyway. Of course asking such questions with the guy on the phone is a waste of breathe. He doesn't seem to have any idea what I'm talking about.
Chase and Capital One didn't even seem to have a way to apply. Their scroll-down menu doesn't go back that many years so you can't even input the car to ask for a loan.
They're a bunch of idiots, they could have worked directly with Woodside and gotten their money ASAP.