Thank you very much for sharing this with me. I will talk to the dealer and try to get my estimated apr. If I cannot get one or I cannot take the result, would that be a good idea: I rent a car from Turo or something for few months for my current need, go to work to have monthly income(compared to full time student at this time with 0 income), apply for a new credit card to thicken my record, and then consider finance/lease a car? Or how do people get their first car and don’t want to pay a huge amount of cash upfront?
As of now the lease payments on EVs are so low that your best strategy is successive leases and never buying, until this situation changes.
1 Like
They get a loan on a much cheaper car like something around 10k. That then thickens your file. A Credit Card will help Score but not thicken the file as they look for previous auto history.
The Bolt EV sells for about 15k (+4k rebate) and you can drive that around…though an EV is something that you have to be ready for.
1 Like
Yes, very much so.
Your least painful route from finance charges perspective: used car with the smallest loan that the CU issues, often $5,000 or $7,500.
This will build up your auto credit score/history very nicely over the next 3 years, while paying the smallest dollar amount of finance charges.
1 Like
What about taking over a lease? If there are less than 12 monthly payment a higher APR seems to be acceptable. Will the record of car lease help with my file?
EV is not really in my consideration since I am living in a rental townhouse and I could be complex to charge my car.
If you can take over a lease then yes, however I don’t think they would allow a swap to a thin file.
1 Like
Typically taking over a lease requires a “stronger” credit file then initially leasing a new vehicle.
The reason being is that from the bank’s perspective, they already have a highly qualified payer, so they really have little incentive to allow a transfer to someone with a “smaller or less strong” credit file.
1 Like
People are doing it to get the lease incentives and then immediately buying it out. If the MF on the lease is low, it could make sense to wait and buy towards the end of the lease.
Like other mentioned, there are a lot of vehicle (mostly EVs) that make for better/cheaper successive leases.
You shouldn’t provide your SSN until the numbers are finalized and you are ready to buy.
Sales people are often not the finance guy and they often lie or are ignorant of the situation.
How limited are we talking here? I know someone move to US 2 years ago, Only have one credit card during that time so 2 years credit history. And then finance an accord with top tier rate. You might be underestimating your credit history?
Thank you but that’s exactly me. Seems like it cannot be worse. I talked to finance guys but they were tougher not to ‘disclose’ the number.
Keep in mind that the price of the car is the first profit making opportunity for a dealership. The next is the Finance guy. Last is the Service guy. Each wants to make as big a profit at your expense as possible. You should really find a bank or Credit union that will pre-approve you for a given amount at a known APR. you can then use this to leverage the dealership finance guy to give you a better rate if he wants your business.
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.