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Tim...

What about forfeitures? A good friend of mine (who also has connections with law enforcement ) has bought a vehicle or two that shall we say undesireables have had to relinquish due to circumstances beyond their control. Last time he came to visit he drove his Jaguar here. If I remember right he bought it for a few thousand dollars. A number of years ago we bought a Porsche doing the same thing. We didn't keep it though. We bought it and then turned around and sold it doubling our money.

Roughly speaking, if the car you want costs you $18,000 (low end of the estimate of cost you gave) and you take the loan out for 5 years, without even tacking on the interest (which for the first 2 years is what you would be paying) your payments are going to be $275.00 a month. NOW... figure into that insurance for someone your age (and gender) and that $275.00 a month (not counting the interest that will be tacked on) now takes the expense of that car to at least $350.00 a month. I'd say closer to $450.00 a month with the interest. Keep that in mind when figuring your budget. You don't know what direction your life is going to take over the next year or two let alone five years. $450.00 a month should not be anymore than 25% of your monthly wage for you to remain comfortable with that size of a payment.

I know you will probably go ahead and buy the Cobalt and congrats if you do. It looks like a cute car... for a girl.

I am just mentioning options for you to consider.

Good Luck...

I could do whatever i want to it, but to KEEP the warranty you gotta prove you did the maintainance.

i don't know about all warranty's but i've never had one that required the service be done by a licensed mechanic. now, if you were *leasing* the car, you would probably have this in your warranty, but i don't think they do that for when you own it outright.

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

in fact, you are *required* to maintain your car yourself unless you get some kind of deal on your car that they will do your maintenance for free.

Depending on the warranty, i haven't looked through it all yet, some require you to have maintanance performed on your vehicle by someone... and have a reciept or your warrant is chucked out the window. Hence, not performing it myself. I think it's crap, but hey, anyone can scrounge up a reciept for oil and a filter and say they changed it...

wow, you came out of nowhere on that one where you been??

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

that's all the warranty they give you?? even kia's get 100,000 mile warranty's for new cars

no, ONLY kia's give you a 100,000 mile warranty. Don't you watch Television?

These have the standard 3year/36000 mile warranty, plus the 5year/60000 mile powertrain warranty. Sure it's gonna suck not being able to do my own maintenance, but hey, a warranty is a warranty.

that's all the warranty they give you?? even kia's get 100,000 mile warranty's for new cars

also, you can still do your own maintenance if you have a warranty -- in fact, you are *required* to maintain your car yourself unless you get some kind of deal on your car that they will do your maintenance for free. but even then they only do that for 6 months or a year and then you have to do it yourself again. if something breaks that can be considered maintenance, you can bet that the dealer will refuse to cover it under warranty

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

1. Have the bank run your credit rating and give you a firm loan percentage. If they wont give you the low rate you want, go with the dealer financing, but tell the dealer that your bank will give you the low rate. Dealers will never offer you their lowest rate unless they have to to make the sale. Don't be afraid to lie to the salesman. How do you know when he is lying to you? His lips are moving!

2. Check with your bank / credit union for a list of bank repossesed cars. You might get lucky.

3. Reliability. That always questionable in the first year of a new model. Unless the car is made from parts bin parts, there will be problems.

4. Get the actual vehicle cost from an independant source such as Consumer Reports. For about 15 bucks they will send you a complete dealer cost pricing report on your car including options. Dealer cost is anywhere from 10% to 30% less than "dealer invoice". Go armed with this knowledge and bargain up from dealer price, never down from window sticker.

5. Check local dealers for an online site. Use the site to check for availability and to make an offer. By doing so you cut out the salesman and go directly to the fleet manager. This can save you the salesman's commision.

6. Don't talk finance with the dealer until you have a firm price on the car. A dealer will give you a lower price on the car if they know they can make it up with higher financing.

7. If you can do it yourself, then by all means, install your own sound system. Dealer accesories / upgrades are a rip-off.
Hope this helps

It looks like a cute car... for a girl.

and i can put a stereo in/on/under anything.. just gimme a little 'glass

These have the standard 3year/36000 mile warranty, plus the 5year/60000 mile powertrain warranty.

If you don't rip it apart putting in a better stereo !


^_^
[hr width='40%']"I'm alright, I'm alright
It only hurts when I breathe"

Aiite, as many of you know, i totally despise fords with a passion usually reserved only for those psychotic in nature...

Recent "events" have rendered my current blue oval devil-spawn out of comission, permanently

That leaves me with a Camaro Z28 SS... and a mongoose 21 speed mountain bike. It's winter, there's salt on the roads, it's snowy, it's icy, it's crappy out. The Camaro doesn't see that kind of torture, unless absolutely necessary. Hell, i probably couldn't even get it out of my driveway 'cuz there is some snow on it.

So the Camaro is out, unless it's an emergency. The mongoose is out, because i'm not riding my bike to work.


Now, for the real purpose of the thread...

I'm looking at a brand spankin' new 2005 [link=Chevrolet Cobalt]http://www.chevy.com/cobalt" style="COLOR: #FFFF00[/link]. Either the LS Sedan with the sport package, or the SS. Approx $18,000 or $22,000 respectively, optioned the way i'd like them. I'd like to buy it, period. Not a lease.

Now, what would be better.. take a loan from the bank and waltz into the dealer with a fat check, or forget the bank and finance through the dealer???

The bank will charge me somewhere between 4.99% to 10.99%, depending on my credit score. knock 3/4 of a percent off for being a member of the bank and letting it auto-deduct from my checking account. No penalties for prepayment, and the loan can be up to 5 years.

GMAC for the Cobalt is 5.9% up to 5 years. I don't think there is a penalty for prepayment.

There is also the "smartbuy" opion through GM, where you basically make a slightly lower payment for 4 years, with the option to move to a different vehicle or purchase it for a final lump sum, around 10,000 for my particular model. Basically you lease it, then make a decision to walk away from it or buy it at the end of 4 years. Sure, it'd be less each month, but that's just dragging it out, i'd rather not. Plus, i have no idea where i'll be in 5 years.

The guy at the dealer said i'd be looking at payments of around 250 dollars a month for what i was looking for, i think that was a 5 year one. Pffft.... i'd definately put more on it to pay it off quicker, that's why the no penalty for prepayment is a big thing with me.

Generally, would it be better to take the loan from the bank or through the dealer?? I know that's a tough question because i don't know what the bank would actually charge w/o them running my credit. Grrrr.. i have the form for them to run my credit. I should just let them do it so i can know what tier i fall on and know what percentage it would be. I'd like to go through the bank if at all possible, but if they want to charge me 10.99%, show me the dealer!

Oh, down payment. Probably nothing big, like $2,000 if i get it now, or more if i decide to get it at the end of the year... big dilemma!!!

*pulls hair out*

Any thoughts??

Find me a 2002 cobalt

I paid for my Camaro with a check

I think loaning money for a car is the worst thing you could do. So far I have bought only 1 car and I paid for it because I had saved enough to do so.
I would really like a new car right now; the old Ford (sorry Tim) has gone some 175,000 miles and everything but the engine has broken on me over the last year.
But it'll have to hold out for another year untill I have saved enough to buy myself a new one.
And even then, it's going to be a used one; buying a 3-4 year old used car saves you half the money of a new one!

There are auctions around, but they're too far away for me to feasably attend regularly enough to get something decent.

I understand about saving money and getting something used, but it's tough to find exactly what i want. I figure this car is something i'm going to have for a long long time, i might as well get what i want, and something that has a warranty. These have the standard 3year/36000 mile warranty, plus the 5year/60000 mile powertrain warranty. Sure it's gonna suck not being able to do my own maintenance, but hey, a warranty is a warranty.

Plus, i'm making decent money and don't have kids to feed and pay for, mortgage or any other huge bills to pay, i might as well get something reliable now.

go with whoever has the lowest intrest rates.

It sucks that when you buy a $20,000 car and have to pay $27,000 for it because of intrest.

Tim...

If you can get away from paying interest for 5 years, do so.

Better yet, try and find a newer used car. I know buying a brand new car sounds great but the depreciation off the lot is enormous. If you look around you can find great deals on cars that are a year old.

Hve any car auctions in your area?

Moondog is right about the dealer; they are looking for credit scores of 750 or even 800 and higher. You do not have the credit history to get their best rates yet. (It took 2 houses and 2 car loans credit cards etc for me to make it to that point in life yeeeeesh- just keep everything paid current and pay off loans and you'll build up that score easily by 25). The bank will definately be the best option for you and if you have a credit union even better. Going to the dealer with money to spend gives you a lot more room in bargaining.

Goodluck

Koi

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

go with the bank unless you have perfect credit. the 5.9% that most car dealerships offer is only good if you have perfect, and i mean absolutely perfect spotless credit. if you are planning on making higher than normal payments to pay it off early, i would still recommend going with the bank loan. if you are getting a quote of 4.9-10.9% from the bank, the dealership will give you 5.9-13.9% i'm sure.

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

Tim, tim tim.....
Go with the bank, they're local .

However if they're only going to give you a 10% interest rate it's not going to be worth it. Go for whoever has the lowest interest rate that won't go up after any given time. Also go with whoever will allow for prepayment without penalty.

^_^
[hr width='40%']"I'm alright, I'm alright
It only hurts when I breathe"

From what I've seen, one can usually get the lowest rates from a credit union if your a member of one. Thats the route I would go.

If you came in with a fat check, you'll have a little more leeway as well...like "I'll give you $19.5k for it right now" and hand them a check. Even if they want $20.5k they will probably consider the check. But, they do make a lot of their money through the loan....