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This is more of a future plan but she wanted know her odds. We have a 2005 Sienna LE PAID, we bought it for $3800 cash in 2013. This was a USED car but we needed 2nd a vehicle so she could get to work. Long story short the ONE owner who had it before us did not take care of it AT ALL. And now the van is reaching the end, and quite frankly living in MD where they want nickel and dime you with fees on an older vehicle; it won't pass inspection UNLESS we pay about $3k to fix timing belt, water pump, and rear brake sensors. This estimate doesn't even include the amount needed to fix the A/C which she hasn't had since 5 months after buying it. IN ADDITION, we would have to pay MD extra fee on registering a 7 year old vehicle from "out of state", so a secondary state tax. We're from "no income tax Florida".
FYI: If whoever's name the van is in now gifts it to the other person, you can probably sidestep paying the tax on it. My ex and I did it when we changed our registration from FL to NY. (The clerk at the DMV actually suggested it to us when we about fell over after she said it'd be $1100 bucks initially.)
Have you looked at the list of what's checked on inspection in MD? A timing belt is a maintenace item that I can't imagine triggering an inspection violation. I suspect someone might be trying to take you for a ride. If its not overheating it doesn't need a water pump. Typically people just change them when they're doing the timing because you're already paying for the labor and a water pump itself is cheap. If you can get away without spending big $$ on it, I would drive it until the wheels fall off. I would get a second opinion. (Do not take it to the Toyota dealer btw.)
Moving on, she should do the $1 trial at CreditCheckTotal and get her true FICO shores. Credit Karma, etc., is good for keeping an eye on things, but they provide Vantage scores which basically no lenders actually use. You mind find her scores at CCT are better than you think.
Credit cards don't cause DTI issues unless you are carrying balances. She needs a third credit card to optimize her score. If the home purchase is less than 6 months away, they might be sensitive to the hard pulls for the new card. If it's more than 6 months away and INQs are relatively low, I wouldn't so much worry about a carefully considered app for a third CC.
Definitely try your credit unions for financing and see who has the best rate.
So long as your down payment is more than the tax, tag and title you won't be financing it.
Also don't rule out just buying another few grand car for cash. What will be 5 years out of a $3800 minivan is a pretty darn good run
Is that her income you are listing? If so that will be helpful.
I would have her try CapitalOne Auto Navigator as it is a SP and it can give her an idea if she would be qualified.
PenFed could be a good option if her FICO 09 score is solid.
Getting another credit card would actually help her DTI if she does not carry a balance.
Want to address you both in this post [Thanks for the awesome advice]:
When we bought the van, it was AS-IS, so we knew it would not be perfect but were not expecting to have to put so much into it. For example, we don't use the dealer mechanic unless like with our corolla, its covered under warranty. We used a myMechanic guy, and he had to replace cv joints and replace an outside fixture which allows you to get to the timing belt which cost us about $1100 [included cost of oil, inspection parts and labor for joint and sparks something (not the spark plug but something to do with the cylinders). That was just to get us up here to MD in the first. Renting a UHAUL was going to cost us $700 plus mileage and we'd still need to make use of the van. So, we bit the bullet and fixed the van. Our mechanic at the time did say we could get another 10k miles before we MUST change the timing belt(water pump had not been or belt had not been changed since the original year of the car which is 2005).
The brakes is really a safety hazard...I had an incident wear the brakes failed...had lost control and it was raining (not talking hydroplaning) I literally could not brake and had to wait for it to stop on its own.Told my wife about, she was skeptical at first but since she is the main driver of the vehicle, I had her test it. She took for a drive in the cul de sac and she slid off the payment, through mud and almost hit a tree. So there is definitely something wrong with the rear brakes and it scares me that my wife and kids had been driving in it with it faulty like that. The MD mechanic didn't even charge for the brake inspection and all the hours spent trying to see the problem was, just for the oil change(about $60 for sythetic)[this guy is from a mom/pop place here near FT meade, so he is an honest guy]. He said for sme reason you back brakes are not working and suspected it to be a sensor. sensors in this van are expensive. There is another sensor we needed to fix too but the FL mechanic said its not detrimental but would cost a mile or two with fuel economy.
Long story short our corolla purrs like a kitty because we were second owners and the first owners was an elderly couple , it only had about 3k miles at the time. We take care of our cars, pamper them. Our 2010 corolla has barely 65k miles on it. So, due to not wanting to pay $700+ just to register it here in MD next Spring, pay $600 for a timing belt, $1500-2k on NEEDED brake job [it snows pretty well and I can't be cheap with my family's safety], it's starting to become a pit. And I would HATE if something else needed fixing after all this.
We hope a new secondary vehicle will be WELL maintained like our corolla and will probably only have 50k miles on it in 7 years too. Which means we can keep them for well beyond 10+ years. I hope for our Sienna to last until after we close, but by March for sure we will need something reliable.
For context:
The income listed was hers(50-58k), she will be working for DOD God willing. No news is good news as she has told me about OPM. I make 75k but she did not want me to go on the auto loan since I will be the only person on the home loan(we plan to buy w/n 6months or so/before our lease ends on March 1st/tired of pay almost $2k in rent). [I had considered] putting her on the home loan but with her student loans it would increase our DTI dramtically and only got us like an extra 5k of borrowing power than what I get now on my own. Conservative number for a home: 200-250k and ABSOLUTE MAX 300k just based on my file, unless we are willing to pay more for a down payment to cover the difference[thinking no/only can realitically save 12k by March for DP and would NEED closing covered].
Tangent:
If she applied for another CC, how long would she need to wait before getting an auto loan? [future plans: she wants either a fiat 500x Trekking or a Rav4(which I'd prefer she get come that time)] But hey happy wife, happy life, huh!
I with you!:
If wasn't for the time we lost control, would keep it another 3-5 years. Our mechanic said short trips are fine until we decide what we wanted to do, but would not push LONG distance trips. Like driving from here to NY. And yes, that was our original plan to ride it until it couldn't go NO more but this thing called life you know! And As long as it lasts until at least March when I get a bonus from work, it can fall apart on closing day for allI care! xD
@ejm201 wrote:Want to address you both in this post [Thanks for the awesome advice]:
When we bought the van, it was AS-IS, so we knew it would not be perfect but were not expecting to have to put so much into it. For example, we don't use the dealer mechanic unless like with our corolla, its covered under warranty. We used a myMechanic guy, and he had to replace cv joints and replace an outside fixture which allows you to get to the timing belt which cost us about $1100 [included cost of oil, inspection parts and labor for joint and sparks something (not the spark plug but something to do with the cylinders). That was just to get us up here to MD in the first. Renting a UHAUL was going to cost us $700 plus mileage and we'd still need to make use of the van. So, we bit the bullet and fixed the van. Our mechanic at the time did say we could get another 10k miles before we MUST change the timing belt(water pump had not been or belt had not been changed since the original year of the car which is 2005).
The brakes is really a safety hazard...I had an incident wear the brakes failed...had lost control and it was raining (not talking hydroplaning) I literally could not brake and had to wait for it to stop on its own.Told my wife about, she was skeptical at first but since she is the main driver of the vehicle, I had her test it. She took for a drive in the cul de sac and she slid off the payment, through mud and almost hit a tree. So there is definitely something wrong with the rear brakes and it scares me that my wife and kids had been driving in it with it faulty like that. The MD mechanic didn't even charge for the brake inspection and all the hours spent trying to see the problem was, just for the oil change(about $60 for sythetic)[this guy is from a mom/pop place here near FT meade, so he is an honest guy]. He said for sme reason you back brakes are not working and suspected it to be a sensor. sensors in this van are expensive. There is another sensor we needed to fix too but the FL mechanic said its not detrimental but would cost a mile or two with fuel economy.
Long story short our corolla purrs like a kitty because we were second owners and the first owners was an elderly couple , it only had about 3k miles at the time. We take care of our cars, pamper them. Our 2010 corolla has barely 65k miles on it. So, due to not wanting to pay $700+ just to register it here in MD next Spring, pay $600 for a timing belt, $1500-2k on NEEDED brake job [it snows pretty well and I can't be cheap with my family's safety], it's starting to become a pit. And I would HATE if something else needed fixing after all this.
We hope a new secondary vehicle will be WELL maintained like our corolla and will probably only have 50k miles on it in 7 years too. Which means we can keep them for well beyond 10+ years. I hope for our Sienna to last until after we close, but by March for sure we will need something reliable.
For context:
The income listed was hers(50-58k), she will be working for DOD God willing. No news is good news as she has told me about OPM. I make 75k but she did not want me to go on the auto loan since I will be the only person on the home loan(we plan to buy w/n 6months or so/before our lease ends on March 1st/tired of pay almost $2k in rent). [I had considered] putting her on the home loan but with her student loans it would increase our DTI dramtically and only got us like an extra 5k of borrowing power than what I get now on my own. Conservative number for a home: 200-250k and ABSOLUTE MAX 300k just based on my file, unless we are willing to pay more for a down payment to cover the difference[thinking no/only can realitically save 12k by March for DP and would NEED closing covered].
Tangent:
If she applied for another CC, how long would she need to wait before getting an auto loan? [future plans: she wants either a fiat 500x Trekking or a Rav4(which I'd prefer she get come that time)] But hey happy wife, happy life, huh!
I with you!:
If wasn't for the time we lost control, would keep it another 3-5 years. Our mechanic said short trips are fine until we decide what we wanted to do, but would not push LONG distance trips. Like driving from here to NY. And yes, that was our original plan to ride it until it couldn't go NO more but this thing called life you know! And As long as it lasts until at least March when I get a bonus from work, it can fall apart on closing day for allI care! xD
Got it. Bye Bye Sienna! LOL.
What are the inquiries like on her reports now? Auto loans aren't as sensitive to them as mortgages. You never know, but I don't think one carefully calculated inquiry for a new credit card would hinder the auto loan process.
The CapOne auto prequal is a good idea . . it's a SP so even if it's just for fun it may give you some confidence before you talk to your CU's about a loan.
I think you could get into a low mileage few year old used Rav4 for a good price. And with a similar experience to your Corolla instead of the Sienna!
To ensure she is looking at current scores you can have her joint Credit Check Total with a trial membership for $1. This will provide your true FICO 08 scores across all bureaus. Just make sure to cancel within the first week and you will only be out $1.
I would be curious as to what her Auto FICO scores and FICO 09 scores truly are. Unfortunately, the only way to get those is to pony up for a 3B report here on myFICO.
Also, Carvana is another site that allows you to see what you would qualify for with only a SP. This site at least gives some potential options for cars, financing and payments.
Truly hoping your van does not give at out on you. The cost of an at fault accident could be catastrophic.
@Anonymous wrote:
In context to the statement, "Do not take it to a Toyota Dealership BTW"...that is a rediculous comment! Why not? Why not take it to a Toyota Certified Technician who has seen and heard everything that could possibly be wrong with the vehicle...who has to keep their certification by taking tests and passing them by certain issues that have come up recently regarding every vehicle that manufacturer has made? Because you believe that they'll tell them to fix things that you don't "believe to be" necessary? My first recommendation would be go to a Toyota Dealership and have a Certified Technician inspect the vehicle! Even though they might charge a higher Diagnostic Fee they are well within their rights to do so! Not going to the Toyota Dealership first would be like going to your Dentist...though also a Doctor...for a pain in your chest! The Dentist might be great at cleaning teeth buf he's probably not very good at open heart surgery!
Dealers charge far higher prices for maintenance & repairs. It's common knowledge. I have a 2007 VW and a private mechanic that specializes in working on them. He charges HALF of what VW does for a brake pad/rotor job.
A dealer is going to take a 13 year old vehicle, run it through the computer, all of the service it should have had, and most often give some estimate of thousands plus as if you're fully reconditioning it. That's not what you're going for on a 13 year old car you're only trying to get another few years out of.
With a car that old, you find a mechanic you trust, that has reasonable prices, and that can level with you on what actually needs done to the car (and what's worth doing given it's age and life left) and perform just the vital repairs.