[amitoj]

Originally Posted by Jomz

good point, you might have as well got a new ford focus for his listed price..
they start from what?? 16k for base??

Yup. 16K for the base, bare bones manual version.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

We have owned a whole host of Fords back in Europe as well. Mostly Fiesta's for the wife and I had a few Mondeo's a 'few decades ago'.

Anyway I've always found the Fords great cars. They drive really well, especially the Focus and we've had very few problems with it.

This will be our first ford and a second American car. Hoping for a smooth journey!!

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by Jomz

good point, you might have as well got a new ford focus for his listed price..
they start from what?? 16k for base??

Originally Posted by amitoj

Yup. 16K for the base, bare bones manual version.

Although, Kelly Blue Book suggests a price of 17.3K for a 2011 SEL Focus sedan with similar trim and mileage. Makes me doubt the reliability of KBB valuations.

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Although, Kelly Blue Book suggests a price of 17.3K for a 2011 SEL Focus sedan with similar trim and mileage. Makes me doubt the reliability of KBB valuations.

Well, it shows 16k in my zipcode (with nav too). Private party (excellent) is 13-14k , which I assume what you paid

http://www.kbb.com/ford/focus/2011-f...2f&anchor=true

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by Jomz

Well, it shows 16k in my zipcode (with nav too). Private party (excellent) is 13-14k , which I assume what you paid

http://www.kbb.com/ford/focus/2011-f...2f&anchor=true

Yup. Spot on. Although private seller still shows close to 14.7K for me (03060) with nav, bluetooth and moonroof.

Anyway, 14 is what i am paying for this car. OTD. Could have maybe saved a couple of hundred more but i am not too good at haggling

[Jomz]

Well, if you can get the dealer kbb prices to private party kbb prices, you've won. I don't think anybody can haggle much further down.

Good deal.

[ToroRosso]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Anyway, 14 is what i am paying for this car. OTD. Could have maybe saved a couple of hundred more but i am not too good at haggling

14K OTD is a Very Good Price... Great buy amitoj. Focus is a wonderful car.
I was in similar boat last week, and since i suck in haggling couldnt really do much on the pricing front.

[amitoj]

Hi

I just wanted to share this piece of information with all those looking to buy a beater car since they have no credit history, use it for an year or so and then get a better or new car at low interest rates.

When i bought my car 6 months back, i had no credit history and the loan i got from DCU was at an atrocious rate. Today, i can refinance the loan at a much lower rate of 1.99% (could probably get a loan at an even lower rate, now that my credit score is close to 700). If i had got my loan 6 months back at 1.99%, i would have saved roughly 420 USD in total. Had i gone for a beater car instead, used it for 6 months to an year and then sold it, would i have lost a lot less in resale than what i have lost now? Factor in things like using an out of warranty car with relatively less peace of mind etc.

And all this is for a car that cost upward of 30K. If I had bought a brand new car in the 20K price range, my loss would have been even smaller.

I am sharing this here for two reasons:
1. People coming to US without a credit history can consider this alternative.
2. To make myself feel I did not do anything stupid financially

Second important factor to consider is insurance. Again, you can take a 6 month policy initially and then switch to a much lower rate policy with companies like Geico etc. I am not sure though how much is the difference between insuring a 6-8 years old car with 60K+ miles on it vs a brand new car for a fresh driver in US.

Does it make sense?

Cheers
Amitoj

[Gandhi]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Does it make sense?

Cheers
Amitoj

Absolutely. I'm in the same boat . My credit history is just 4 months old, so waiting for few more months for refinancing. My current rate is 4.5% with TechCU.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Hi

I just wanted to share this piece of information with all those looking to buy a beater car since they have no credit history, use it for an year or so and then get a better or new car at low interest rates.

When i bought my car 6 months back, i had no credit history and the loan i got from DCU was at an atrocious rate. Today, i can refinance the loan at a much lower rate of 1.99% (could probably get a loan at an even lower rate, now that my credit score is close to 700). If i had got my loan 6 months back at 1.99%, i would have saved roughly 420 USD in total.

Second important factor to consider is insurance. Again, you can take a 6 month policy initially and then switch to a much lower rate policy with companies like Geico etc. I am not sure though how much is the difference between insuring a 6-8 years old car with 60K+ miles on it vs a brand new car for a fresh driver in US.

Does it make sense?

Cheers
Amitoj

The current auto market is very flexible regarding financing even if you are new to USA or new to Autos.

I was told by most financial institutions to wait for 13 months before refinancing. This assure you of the lowest rate since credit history has improved a lot by then. I have experienced something very similar but in my case it was 11 months and i saw unbelievable rise in credit score (Think a jump of 126 credit number)

As for a beater car, i had a camry that was used more(25k in 1.3 yrs) because it was older and had no lien on the title (paid cash), i also got back good amount in resale so i am not too worried about it losing the value. Also the amount spent on repairs was not much.

Originally Posted by Gandhi

Absolutely. I'm in the same boat . My credit history is just 4 months old, so waiting for few more months for refinancing. My current rate is 4.5% with TechCU.

You can wait for 2 more months and do refinance. I am sure you will get 2.99% or 1.99% at any CU banks.

[ToroRosso]

Originally Posted by chevelle

You can wait for 2 more months and do refinance. I am sure you will get 2.99% or 1.99% at any CU banks.

Even my autoloan is from DCU at a very high APR, I was told by a couple of CUs that you have to wait atleast an year before Refinancing ? Is there any ground to this?

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by ToroRosso

Even my autoloan is from DCU at a very high APR, I was told by a couple of CUs that you have to wait atleast an year before Refinancing ? Is there any ground to this?

As i mentioned before, many banks (BofA, WF, SCU, Golden1, Chase) told me the same. It is better to refinance in a year. If you can do that, you can get lowest rate if your initial APR is high. In 12 months, i saw a rise in my auto credit score. In september 2011, it was around 670. In Nov 2012, it was around 796 from Experian which most dealers will use. I am not sure if i had get such a score in 6 months. So i would indeed suggest you wait 11-12 months if you would like to get lowest APR (1.99%-2.99% on used and 0.99%-1.99% on new).

Keep in mind, most CU banks don't finance cars with mileage of 100k or more. If they do, its at higher rate.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by ToroRosso

Even my autoloan is from DCU at a very high APR, I was told by a couple of CUs that you have to wait atleast an year before Refinancing ? Is there any ground to this?

I am refinancing mine after 6 months at 1.99% from DCU itself. It may vary from CU to CU but at DCU, you can refinance it by paying a 50 USD fee. Right now they have a scheme going at 1.99% APR for maximum 65 months.
In another 6 months, I will see if i can get it dropper further. You need to make regular loan payments for 6 months to build up a credit score. Getting a credit card and using it also help.

Originally Posted by chevelle

As i mentioned before, many banks (BofA, WF, SCU, Golden1, Chase) told me the same. It is better to refinance in a year.

BofA rejected my application because i am neither a US citizen nor a permanent resident and cost me a useless enquiry on my credit score. Maybe if i walked into one of their branches they may have given me a loan, although i dont think they would have beaten DCU rates.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by amitoj

I am refinancing mine after 6 months at 1.99% from DCU itself. It may vary from CU to CU but at DCU, you can refinance it by paying a 50 USD fee. Right now they have a scheme going at 1.99% APR for maximum 65 months.

I also plan to refinance my car late next year when it would be around a year from when I bought it. I'm paying a high rate because I wanted to add my wife on the loan. On my own, my rates would have been much better.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil

I also plan to refinance my car late next year when it would be around a year from when I bought it. I'm paying a high rate because I wanted to add my wife on the loan. On my own, my rates would have been much better.

Hmmmm. I think DCU is pretty liberal with such stuff. I am getting a loan for my wife's car that will have her name too and she does not have any credit history.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Hmmmm. I think DCU is pretty liberal with such stuff. I am getting a loan for my wife's car that will have her name too and she does not have any credit history.

Same situation here. When I applied for the loan with her, they could not even retrieve a credit score for her as the reported history has to be at least 4 months to get any auto credit information. I guess the next 1 year of regular payments on the car and the secure credit card in her name will be good for her score too.

2 cars, 2 apartments, 3-4 utility companies and 3 credit card companies have all gang banged my credit report in the last one year, am going to take it cool for a while now