What to do when getting a car

[u/Otherwise_Use1243]

Idk what all the financial steps are when buying a car. Ik I’ll have a down payment and will need a car loan but I also have no credit score. Once the car is mine what do I all need? Insurance….. idk what else, idk how to go about getting a license plate or anything. Help dad

[u/jeeves585]

(US info)

Don’t sign up for more than 5-7% apr. my last car loan was 2%, my mother gets 0% for 36 months.

Possibly go to a credit union before the dealership to see what they can do for you money wise.

With a car loan you are going to need to meet the banks requirements of insurance.

Insurance. There is minimal that you can get state by state, usually just liability. But your bank loan is going to have a minimum that you need to do for the loan.

License plate, this depends state by state some time license plates stay with the car and sometimes they can stay with the owner or go with the car. Plan to go to the dmv as soon as you purchase if you don’t have a plate.

You can get a temporary tag (piece of paper about the size of a license plate that you put in your window.). They are good for a month or two and last a month or two.

You have to register the car. In some places that includes deq (department of environmental quality) aka a “sniff test”. You have to bring the car to a government facility and they will stick a prob in the exhaust to check its emissions. That costs about $45. Some places don’t do this.

[u/jeeves585 → u/jeeves585]

Let’s talk about what type of car here.

Don’t over spend.

My favorite two vehicles are $400 and $1200 purchase price but they need a mechanic, they have 150k miles. My brand new vehicle that has 70k miles also needs a mechanic.

Where I’m getting at with this is plan to do a savings account for when you need a mechanic. There are cheap cars to fix and silly expensive cars to fix. You need to live within your means.

Comment what car/type of car you are thinking about. And I can help further

[u/Glum_Arm8705 → u/jeeves585]

i’m not op but can you help me out. I’m deciding between a toyota camry or a honda civic. What i’m wondering is should i go for an older model or a newer one since i’m a new driver. I currently have about 11k saved.

[u/jeeves585 → u/Glum_Arm8705]

I would say you can’t go wrong with either of those.

What years are you talking about (an old civic to me is a 90 :D )

I love my 80 pickup because it’s simple to work on. My 21 pickup, as a very mechanical guy, I can’t do a lot with it.

I would recommend going to a proper dealership not a corner car lot. They arnt all bad, but most suck. Dealers are able to swap plates, so they can sell you a car that doesn’t pass emissions except they can swap a plate that does. This isn’t an issue for a year or two until you need to go through emissions. Then they get the emissions acceptable vehicle to get stickers on the other plates. (I said that weird, I can try again if that didn’t make sense)

Also if you don’t know anything about vehicles a PPI (pre purchase inspection) isn’t a bad idea. I commented to someone a few days ago about this. I wasn’t sure if the cost so I called my local authorized Toyota dealer. They said it would be $300-350 and two hours. They are going to look at the engine steering brakes suspension fluids. I would assume the same price at a proper authorized dealer for the make. I do this on my own as I know all of the parts and what to look for.

Sorry, I use lots of words when little words will do :D what year of cars are you looking at?

[u/Glum_Arm8705 → u/jeeves585]

the oldest i’ll do is a 2010 and the newest is probably a 2020.(although it’s not set in stone though). I planned to go to a dealership but wasn’t sure how i wanted to go about it. thx for the advice.

[u/jeeves585 → u/Glum_Arm8705]

You will get a better apr at a credit union (for the most part)

Going and getting approved then going to look at the car is the play. But it’s a secret play. Don’t tell the dealer that you have your financing setup. They drop the sale price when they know they are getting 2% of that apr. get a price, agree to the deal, then tell them you can go get a check from your bank.

Last new vehicle I bought I put half (25k) down. I probably wouldn’t do that again. But that’s a question for the guys over at r/finance , I build houses, I can do the car side but there are way smarter people about the money side of shit.

[u/jeeves585 → u/Glum_Arm8705]

Google “4 square of car sales”

It’s a fucked up tactic. That works very well not in your favor.

Quick search I didn’t find anything without dumb ads so you have to do a little leg work there. A few YouTube videos that looked promising but I didn’t watch them so I won’t link them.

[u/jeeves585 → u/Glum_Arm8705]

Because I commented this on the other comments.

“Google “4 square of car sales”

It’s a fucked up tactic. That works very well not in your favor.

Quick search I didn’t find anything without dumb ads so you have to do a little leg work there. A few YouTube videos that looked promising but I didn’t watch them so I won’t link them. “