do you have any credit history at all? credit cards and loans etc?
Will you consider a used car? If I were in your situation, I would, it will save me some on insurance. Heck, if you pay cash, you can easily forgo the collision coverage. I will look for 2002-2006 Lexus ES300/330 for around $7-8k.
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I have one credit card that I’ve had for about a year. No auto loans or leases yet. So yeah, still a pretty thin credit file overall.
I’ve considered a used car, but since I can’t pay cash, I’d have to finance it—and the interest rates on used car loans seem way too high, especially with a thin credit file. That’s why I was hoping lease might be a better option if I can find something reasonable.
- On top of that, I’m not really a car person, so I don’t feel super confident about picking the right used car or keeping up with maintenance.
Pay me $10K and I will give a lease LOL.
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- Used car loan - Open a penfed account and apply for their used car loan
- Picking the right used car - that’s the Pre-Purchase Inspection for.
- Keeping up maintenance - Which is why I recommend lexus 2002-2006 ES, as long as you did PPI to exclude any major issues, you may just need to do timing belt, replace suspension, get new tires. It will last you for a while, it’s toyota after all. The only downside, it’s a toyota, it will ride like a boat
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I bought my first car in the U.S. with lower credit score and ~2 months of credit history. It was a brand new CRV.
Granted, I had Verification of Employment and etc, but I wouldn’t just assume you will be denied on the lease.
As suggested, look for deals on less stricter brands and you should be fine.
I didn’t know about PenFed’s used car loans—will definitely look into that. Appreciate the detailed breakdown!
Appreciate you sharing that. I’ll keep looking into the more flexible brands for sure.
What have you found in the Marketplace
Get in touch with @Jeff_BeachCitiesAuto and see what he has in Subaru/Kia/Hyiundai deals, you’ll be close to the $300 on some of his cars give or take $30+/- and no broker fee on some brands he has
I’ve looked through the Marketplace, but a lot of the posted numbers seem based on Tier 1 credit with all possible rebates included, so it’s a bit hard for me to tell what’s realistic for my situation.
I’m still trying to get a feel for what kind of deal might actually apply to me without loyalty or big incentives.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll reach out to Jeff and see what he might have around my budget. Appreciate the tip!
They’re currently on stop sale
Well obviously the listings will advertise pricing based on tier one credit but what do you mean by all possible rebates included?
For example the first listing I clicked on, only the Ioniq was advertised with conquest. Everything else was shown a price applicable to everyone.
I think I might’ve been thinking a bit too narrowly after seeing rebates mentioned in other posts. I was actually looking into reaching out to that same person too. Thanks again for pointing it out!
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