I had gone yesterday to get a quote for a monthly payment for a new sport trim. First they told me $189 + tax. So I went home to think about it. Came back today to the dealership, and long story short... they gave me a new price of $329. I needed a cosigner, and well, don't need to put my personal life out there...

So my parents advised me that I save a some money and sell my current car and come back and give at least a $5,000 down payment. I hope by my birthday I'll have a new car, which is in December. So in the mean time, I'm just gonna save some money.

I was really hoping to come out with a new car today.

I've heard that the new Fit will be coming out this year (?), and I know buying at the end of the year is always a good idea.

 

While it's certainly a disappointment, it sounds to me like your parents are giving you good advice. There's no shame in driving an older car you already own, rather than being in debt and paying through the nose for a new car.

When you do go car shopping, you might want to enquire about a loan from your bank or credit union. They are sometimes able to give a better deal than a car dealer. That also makes the bargaining with the dealer a little more straightforward, as you're only dickering about the price and your trade-in, if any, and not also playing games with the financing terms.

 

We're trying to see if State Farm approves my application for a loan. They have a 2.4% interest rate.

:fingers crossed:

I know it's better to save money and not be stuck with a high monthly payment, but stiiiiiiillll... LOL.

 

That's too bad. When you enter back into negotiations the amount to pay attention to is the purchase price of the car, not the monthly payment. Yes the monthly amount determines whether you can afford it, but it's just a component of the actual cost of the car. Dealers often obscure the cost of a car by selling it based on a payment amount. This will result in paying too much.

$189 to $329 is a huge jump and needs to be understood in terms of the amount financed, the payback period and the interest rate. The monthly payment isn't a good indicator of whether it's a good deal or not: $329 might be a better deal than $189 depending on the other variables (but I doubt it )

I suspect they're playing with the amount you're actually paying for the car and not being very forthright about it.

2.4% through your insurance company sounds great if you can get it. Watch out though: the dealers make money on the loans; going in with your own financing will reduce their profit and might increase the amount they're willing to sell the car for. When you negotiate for the car, just say, "yeah, I'll probably finance through you," and agree on a purchase price for the new car (and the trade-in on the old civic). Once they've agreed to a sales price (it's not predicated on financing with them) you can refuse their financing and simply go with your own.

Good luck!

 

I was going to ask you if you had a cosigner in your other thread because I was afraid this was going to happen, I assumed this was your first new car you were buying on your own.

Save up a good down payment like you said and come back at them. Good luck in the future with your purchase.

 

Yeah, it's my first car. I have good credit, just young credit.

I put my car up for sale, selling a few things I don't need and hopefully go from there. Gonna be on a really tight budget for a bit >.<

 

Just an FYI, I hear the 2014 fits will be made in Mexico. So if you still want to get a fit by the time you're able, try to get a 2013 or older.

 

Def dont buy right away...The dealers will want to stiff you. You want to keep an eye on honda cash (its like cash back) or aka a manufacturer discount. But some deals hold off. I would def look into getting in contact with 3-4 local dealers then pit them against each other on price.

But you should get the credit in check you can hire or use good diy credit fix pages on the web to get that in order...otherwise your pissing money away to a bank down payment or not interest rate will rape you.

 

^^^

It's not that I have poor credit, I just have young credit.

There's no way I'm getting more credit cards either.

 

Hats off to you for trying to do this on your own. Good luck!

 

Credit cards help but aren't the end all with auto loans anyway, if you've never had an auto loan before they're kind of sketchy about it from my experience. I had excellent credit like you when I financed my first car through Honda and I had to battle with them from 5pm till midnight on a Sunday with a couple of my friends to get the APR down, I already kind of robbed them on the total price but they weren't budging lower than 4% but they originally came in at like 8.9% or something lol