Dominique's Guide to Purchasing an Automobile...Volume Twenty.

[sink_or_swim]

Okay, I've actually been thinking about doing this for a while now, between my parents being ridiculous and it seems like lots of people are going to either be buying a car soon or in the future or whatever.

Presenting...The Dominique Brooks Guide to Car Buying and Pancake Making*

The individual parts will be placed behind cuts.

Comments

[djinubito]

I NEED a gold plated McLaren F1, I swear.

[sink_or_swim]

Well God, who DOESN'T?

[hikaru_9]

Never buy a used car without looking under the hood. You want to inspect it and make sure it's right for you. And omg yes, TEST DRIVE the mother. That was what made me settle on the car I did buy.

[sink_or_swim]

That's a good point. I'll add a note about that to the do/don't list.

[auturgist]

Excellent guide, D! Now, how go your attempts to hook me up with Little J? = P

[inugrlrayn]

A lot of this is stuff I already had hammered into me when my dad was selling cars, but it was a great brush up. I've never owned anything but Hondas myself, and I love them, so I will happily drink Honda koolaid. XD

[leilia]

I'd make a point to mention on the financing that it is going to make a difference who your finance company is as to how you are treated in the long run. Considering I work on the Repo end of this I can vouch for a few things. You are better off getting financing through a reputable financier. Many mom and pop financing places don't follow fair debt collection practices and will often give worse rates.

NEVER MISS YOUR FIRST PAYMENT. You will immediately be put out for repo and likely every time you are late on a payment there after.

Pay attention to your contract on financing many times there are clauses built in that raise your rate if you are late (like a credit card) another thing to watch are things that can allow others to buy your loan, change your contract, or call due your loan at any time.

This is a great guide - I wish more people would read it.

[sink_or_swim]

Well that's true, but I'm mostly speaking about true dealerships here. A real dealership isn't going to do that, they're going to use people lenders like Bank of America or Chase.

And actually, all of the loans we get here are a) simple interest and b) fixed. And actually, I technically missed my first payment on Rizacar and I didn't get it repossessed. I think repossession laws vary from state to state.

But I will make an addendum about paying your bills because it affects your ability to get other loans later.

[leilia]

BoA and Chase are both clients of my company...

The first payment default, how late were you? Because we get cars out for repo by companies within 10 days of the missed first payment. We get this all the time. However that doesn't mean that the driver runs the area right away. It's just been sent out.

CAC & Drive will send you out for repo 30days if you miss your first payment. Whereas in general they won't send most accounts out until they pass the 60 days past due mark.

Repo laws do vary from state to state. I know some of them (the ones affecting my areas/drivers) however most states follow what is stated in the contract. The contract with the finance company will state somewhere in it the circumstances that the lender can repossess the unit.

Paying bills is so important. Also if you pay on time you are more likely to get help from your bank if you need it later in the form of deferrals or adjustments. ^_^

It's interesting being on the other side of auto world.

[sink_or_swim]

The car loan is through Suntrust and I can't remember how late I was, but I do remember it was almost time for the second payment.

I think they waived it because I literally bought the car the day before I lost my previous job and didn't get a job until the forty-five days where the first payment lay. I don't know that for a fact or anything though.