i just sold my bubble and with Xmas rolling around and i recently just got a raise, i think its time to get a newer, nicer car. my choice is a 2002-04 RSX-S preferably black or blue. unfortantly, selling the bubble has left me carless and my mother (haha) is driving me to and from work for now. i would love if someone could break down how financing works. i plan on going to the dealership with 3-4k cash in hand. and im looking to spend around 12-13k on the car itself. i dont know how APR and all that stuff works so some help would be awesome!

 

talk to a credit union they have the best rates when it comes to buying a car. Try to avoid getting financed at the dealer because they will try and get you the highest interest. if you are putting 3-4k down it will definately help.

 

im 18 years old for the record and im pretty sure i dont have a co signer.. am i Fked?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pliskin679 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im 18 years old for the record and im pretty sure i dont have a co signer.. am i Fked? </TD></TR></TABLE>

You can probably do it by yourself depending on how your credit is..... if you qualify for honda's first time buyer program you can do it but i don't think that a dealer is gonna have an rsx-s on the lot for 12-13K dollars

 

well that car for 12-13k. minus apr which might bring it to around 17ish? im willing to drive off the lot with a 17k rsx.

 

you probably don't have any established credit so it will be hard to get a car loan. You might need a co-signer it's just the luck of the draw. APR = annual percentage rate http://www.learnmoney.co.uk/cr....html

You can get an rsx-s for 12-14k off the lot but those are usually the younger 1st gen models like the 02-03's.

 

yea im looking for a 02-03 one with ~50k-70k miles. i just want a car that looks good is quick enough to push through traffic when need be. and something the ladies will like. if you make them look good, im most times they will make you look good.

 

I paid 13k for mine and my interest rate is at 6% roughly. It was my first loan without a co-sign. So I did pretty good. I'm paying $272/mo on a 5 yr plan. The loan is through Bank of America. All in all, if I decide to not pay it off prematurely, I will have paid in the $15-16k range. You should have no problem with a dealership, though you may get stuck with a higher interest rate, but that's to be expected.

 

You will also be paying more for insurance, because with a loan on the car, you are going to need full coverage. On my accord I have gap insurance, but on my Rsx I declined because I owe less than KBB on it. That's also something you should look into.

 

My suggestion to you is to try and build credit! I would shoot for something a little cheaper depending on your pay and how steady your current job is. You can find a nice car for around $8000 and finance through a credit union, as stated above, with a low payment but probably not a good interest rate. Then apply for a small credit card and USE IT WISELY. Buy anything like gas and maybe a part offline here and there and pay it off at the end of the month! Pay the loan and credit card for about a year and this will give you limited but strong credit. This is the route I took but now after three vehicles and other misc. things I have awesome credit. This is just some friendly financial advice...

 

thats true and good advice. seriously reconsidering it. but idk its teh rsex =[!

 

Otherwise, you may get one of those 17% APR loans. (Makes a 18K car around 35K)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyte-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You will also be paying more for insurance, because with a loan on the car, you are going to need full coverage. On my accord I have gap insurance, but on my Rsx I declined because I owe less than KBB on it. That's also something you should look into.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not having GAP is the worse mistake a person can make. Don't go off of KBB that's the worse thing to do. Insurance don't even go off of KBB actually no company i know of goes off of KBB. Your better "idea" of the cars worth is looking at NADA.com. so you declined GAP which is like $300 maybe $400. Worse mistake i can say. GAP is like a must it's only 300-400 or so.

 

I used to work for a dealership doing finance and I actually got to finance my own rsx-s. Building credit is a great option but it doesn't happen over night. That will take at least a year. You will need a co-signer. Their credit score will determine the interest rate on the car. When you go there let them know what your goals are...meaning how much do you want to pay per month. They will try and get you in that ballpark range or tell you to look for a different car.

 

NADA states that I owe $1500 less than what the car is worth. But, you're absolutely right, you should always have gap insurance on your car. I'm in school for Honda Automotive and Collision Repair so I can really get anything done for cheap if something happens, but not everyone's in that situation. I will probably pick gap insurance back up when I start making cashflow again in the summer, I just needed the extra help while in school right now and didn't want any extra expenses.

 

Why does a person need gap insurance on a used car if they got a fair deal? I thought gap was only for brand new cars.

 

Well if you owe more than the car is worth, then you need gap regardless. Because if you total that car the insurance company is only going to pay out what the car is worth, and if you owe more than that and don't have gap insurance, then you're stuck with the bill. Happened to my friend with his used sentra..
P.S. Wish you had a set of 20 for those red lugs, sure would look nice on my FPR RSX

 

i dont even know what gap insurance is.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pliskin679 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i dont even know what gap insurance is.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Now you do.. and i would get it to save yo *** later down the road for a "What if..". A lot of people don't know about GAP insurance.

 

If you get your car from a good dealership, they won't let you walk out the door with out gap insurance. Some places just don't care though.