car shopping

bucutie02 · #1 11-14-2006, 11:01 PM

okay so I have a 2000 Honda Civic and even though its paid off and only has 55K miles on it, I feel like its time for a new car!

I was interested in a Toyota 4Runner for the longest time, but recently changed my mind because im not married nor have kids, so I think it might be too big of a car for me. Then i was looking at the 2007 Toyota Camrys and all the reviews that I read on yahoo said that it has really bad transmission which caused me to continue looking! So now I have come to the conclusion that I want an infiniti G35, nice looking car, realiable and just my size! However, I think I might go for a pre owned one, maybe like 2005 with low mileage and under 30k! I have found a few, but im not quite ready to purchase one since I want to put a good downpayment. I just have a couple of questions about car shopping...

what is typically a good down payment? ive heard that if its not that much than its not even worth it, but how much is "good"?

what about shopping for interest rates, what is the best way to go about it since you cant really tell what interest rates anyone will give you until they pull your credit, and doesnt that alone lower your credit score?? should i go to banks or straight for the dealership?

i am not looking to lease, definitely want to buy and was thinking of putting 2000 down, but dont know if i should wait longer and put more down...

blueangel · #2 11-14-2006, 11:18 PM

Have you thought about keeping your Honda for a few more years? Is your car in good working conditions?

Hondas are great cars and go on forever. If it's all paid off, why go back into debt when you don't have to?

If you can hold onto it for a couple of more years, why don't you pretend you have a car payment to make, and put that aside in a money market account. Then.. you'll have a nice down payment.

If you're dead set on buying another car, here's a great website which gives great advice on the process... and should answer most if not all of your questions.

http://www.edmunds.com/caradvice.html

Two grand isn't much to put down on a new car... which means your monthly payments are going to be high.

As far as financing.. do you know your FICO score? If not, you need to! Get your financing from the bank... definately. Shop around.

Don't trade in your car, sell it privately.. you'll get more for it. Here's a site to find out what it's worth:
http://www.kbb.com/

Remember that cars are lousy investments. They devaluate from the moment you drive off the lot.

Good luck, whatever you decide!

aephi alum · #3 11-14-2006, 11:21 PM

If your car is in good shape, you may want to think about hanging onto it for a while longer and saving up some $. If it's starting to need major repairs and maintenance, it's time to think about a new car, but a car with 55K miles and no major accidents should be ok. I still drive my '92 Acura at 95K miles... I've been in a few fender benders, but nothing major. I'll keep that puppy as long as it runs.

A credit inquiry does lower your credit score, but I believe it's negligible unless you suddenly get a LOT of inquiries at the same time (indicating that you might be taking out a lot of loans and/or getting a lot of credit cards all at once, and that you might plan on racking up a lot of debt in a short time span). One or two credit inquiries shouldn't have a major impact, especially if you currently have a good rating.

You should do some careful calculations. Often, you'll see a deal of "0% loan or $3000 cash back" or whatever. If you take the cash back, you can still finance the car, but at 5% or 6% or whatever the going rate is. The cash back can go toward your down payment, thus reducing the amount of your loan. So you should crunch the numbers and see which deal is better - 0% loan or cash back.

Be careful with trade-ins. You will probably get less $ than you would selling the car privately, but if you choose to sell the car privately, you have to deal with the hassle of advertising the car, being available for total strangers to take your car on test drives, negotiating the deal, etc.

bucutie02 · #4 11-14-2006, 11:59 PM

there is NOTHING wrong with my car, its in great shape! my dad said he wants the car to drive to work so he doesnt waste gas on his big ole truck! He said he would buy it from me, so I dont know how much he is going to give me, but I can use that to add to my down payment.

i do know my FICO score, and about 6 months ago I tried getting a 4runner and they were financing me at 3.9% which i think is pretty good. so i know i can get a pretty good interest rate. plus, i work at the bank so they offer good rates for employees with good credit!

i know what you guys are saying about keeping the car since there isnt anything wrong with it. plus, i need to start paying off those lovely student loans in the next few months so things will definitely be tighter for me if i get a new car. its just, ya know, i graduated college and feel like i deserve to get a new car, yet im so unsure about so many things, i dont want to make a bad decision!

Emory Kappa · #5 11-15-2006, 10:23 AM

I have an Infiniti G35x, which I got for the all-wheel drive. It's great in snow and fun to drive, but there are a couple of drawbacks you might want to be aware of. Most of my driving is on the highway, and my mileage is around 22-23 MPG. Not bad, but lower that the much larger Volvo S80 that I had before, and probably lower than your Civic. (I had one of those too!) Service at the dealer is really, really expensive. I have oil changes at the the local in and out place, but the 30K service at the dealer was over $700. Fortunately, it hasn't needed anything other than routine maintenance.

SoCalGirl · #6 11-15-2006, 07:21 PM

Look into BMW, don't they cover most/all of the basic maintance?

With regards to the downpayment. I paid $5000 cash plus $1800 trade in when I bought my Accord for $23K. About 30%.

smiley21 · #7 11-15-2006, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

Look into BMW, don't they cover most/all of the basic maintance?

With regards to the downpayment. I paid $5000 cash plus $1800 trade in when I bought my Accord for $23K. About 30%.

For BMW, all standard maintenance from normal wear and tear (from oil changes to brake pads) is completely covered by BMW for 4 years or 50,000 miles. The owner pays nothing. I seriously want a BMW.

deadbear80 · #8 11-15-2006, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smiley21

For BMW, all standard maintenance from normal wear and tear (from oil changes to brake pads) is completely covered by BMW for 4 years or 50,000 miles. The owner pays nothing. I seriously want a BMW.

Yeah, but I've had friends with BMWs whose cars are consistently in the shop. Doesn't matter if it's free if you can never drive your car.

My Mom has an Infiniti G35 and loves it. She's had it for about 4 years now and has yet to have a single problem with it.

jon1856 · #9 11-15-2006, 10:33 PM

The following is a listing of Auto sites that I have collected over the years.

The best one, IMHO, is fighting chance. It works. My girlfriend used it to save over $4,000 on a new Honda Accord.

Good luck!
PRICING SITES:

http://www.edmund.com/

http://WWW.KBB.COM

http://WWW.INTELLICHOICE.COM

http://WWW.FINANCENTER.COM/NEWAUTOS.HTM

http://www.leasesource.com

http://www.leaseguide.com/index.htm

www.fightingchance.com

INFORMATION AND WEB LINK SITES:

http://WWW.CARTALK.COM

http://www.CARPOINT.MSN.COM

http://www.popularmechanics.com

http:// www.consumerreports.org

http://WWW.AUTOSITE.COM

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp

http://www.nadaguides.com

http://www.carsmart.com

http://www.nctd.com

http://www.autodirectory.com/

http://www.theautochannel.com/

http://www.crashtest.com
http://wsf.carfax.com/

bucutie02 · #10 01-07-2007, 07:39 PM

update: about three weeks ago, I bought a 2007 honda accord.

I really wanted an infiniti g35, but I didnt want high car payments. I also wanted a toyota 4 runner but I really dont need a big SUV, and didnt want to pay so much on gas. So, I settled for a honda because ive had a honda and its never let me down, so I decided to go for an affordable car, just a little bigger than my old one.

thanks for everyone's advice...i did my research, and got them to sell it to me for less than invoice price and I did that all on my own! go me!

well my car is awesome because its fully loaded. i think the only thing it doesnt have it the navigation system!

love love it!

RU OX Alum · #11 01-08-2007, 01:57 PM

about three weeks ago I picked up my '07 Rabbit. A little trouble at first with first but the trick on rabbits is not to let the clutch out more than 1/4 of the way, rev, clutch, shift, realease clutch rev is how to get to second from a dead stop.

It's awesome I love it, one problem: not enough seceret stash places. Maybe one and that is kind of obvious.