I Won My Car!

I got my 1st car here in US in 2008.  That was a year after I came to this country.  You can only imagine how hard it is to get a car without any credit history and/or driving history.  And since I don't have any credit history, I would need a co-signer too.  I got my first (used) car at 16.9% APR.  For a $15K loan amount, that's $375/month x 60 months.  That means I would pay roughly $7,500 or 50% interest.  I felt that I was at the mercy of the bank. But then I thought to myself, without any credit history, I wouldn't be able to get any good deal -- and this could be the best way to work my credit history.  So, I did took the car.

I paid my monthly due on time.  In one year, I was able to raise my credit score to Fair just by doing that.  And so, in 2009, I  was able to refinance my car loan with a different bank, and I was able to lower  my APR to 6.49%.  Here I learned the importance of paying on time.

3 years later, I was able to get a 0% interest 60 months new auto loan.  But does that really matter?  What the dealer did was just divide the MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) by 60 months.  If I didn't know any better, I would have taken the deal immediately.  Little did they know, I did my research before I went to them.  I learned that that the INVOICE PRICE is the one that you should look for.  I told them that the monthly payment they originally gave me was still high for me and I insisted on the price I want (based on the invoice price).  They won't budge -- and neither do I.

I told the salesperson that since we can't agree on the price, then it makes no sense to talk and deal. As I stood up and was about to walk out the door, the sales manager came to me and asked me if he could help me work out a deal.  I told him if he could give me the price I was asking for, then I'll get the car that day.  It took him at least 20 minutes to re-compute the numbers.  Finally, he came out and gave me the monthly payment that I asked for.  I left that facility a happy car owner.  I won my car!