Car Finance
 

Hi,

Just a quick one for anyone who has recently obtained car finance on a L1b...

When obtaining car finance to purchase from a dealer, do they look at 3 year or 5 years expiry of the visa?

Would we only get 3 years finance initially?

Many Thanks :-)

Re: Car Finance
 

We've been on visas (F-1 and H-1B) the couple of times we've bought cars and the length of the car loan was never determined by the length of the visa.

Re: Car Finance
 

L1B is only valid for 3 years initially so I expect they'll look at that. That's what happened when i took out a lease after moving here, they also wanted my employer to tell them how long i was here for.

Probably not the best idea to finance over 5 years should you not get accepted for a L1 renewal/green card on year 3 and then have a large payoff before you leave the country.

Re: Car Finance
 

I was thinking about this recently.

Lets say that the OP takes out a 3 year car lease and then the worst happens and after 1 year she loses her job or decides to go back to the UK. Obviously the car would be returned to the dealer, but how could they enforce any early return penalty? Presumably she would just return to the UK, close all US banks and transfer any money back into GBP. How could they chase for the payment? Do they have clauses in place that protect against this?

Re: Car Finance
 

Thanks for the comments, if we were to come back after 3 years we would have savings to pay off any outstanding balance. Just wanting to set my expectations for what would be on offer. :-)

Re: Car Finance
 

Leases are a terrible financial decision. It's depreciation, interest, profit, and everything else rolled into a payment where you get nothing.

If you're going to finance then seek out a credit union willing to. They'll probably give you a much better deal than the dealership. It then gives YOU the upper hand in negotiations as you're going to them with cash already.

Better than that is buy a car outright with savings.

Re: Car Finance
 

We would never get a lease either. We want to own the vehicle and just have finance to pay for it. We will have a 5k deposit and looking around $16-18k for a used car. When the visa ends we plan on going to Canada to live (Canadian Citizen), so the car will come with us too.

Thanks for the credit union tip, will look into it once we get there (visa pending though...)

Re: Car Finance
 

Just bear in mind that you can only import vehicles of a certain age in to Canada (I think it's 15 years or older?), so you might want to factor that in if your Plan B is to take it there. Have a hunt through the Canada forum for info on importing a vehicle.

Good luck.

Re: Car Finance
 

Oh, ok thanks for the heads up. Obviously I was being very presumptuous!

Re: Car Finance
 

.... Unless they were built to the same standards required and enforced in Canada. Vice versa also applies bringing vehicles into the US from Canada. So most main-stream vehicles can be moved relatively easily between the US and Canada because the standards applied to new vehicles have been nearly identical for several decades.

Just be wary about buying a vehicle that isn't sold on "the other side of the border", but the only examples I can think of are some Japanese/ Asian cars that were sold in Canada but not in the US.

Re: Car Finance
 

This is great news! Thank you.

Re: Car Finance
 

You're welcome. :)

Re: Car Finance
 

You might want to check with 'Jerseygirl', one of the BE moderators who posts on the US and Canadian boards.

She moved from New Jersey to Toronto and had a huge problem trying to register her Mercedes in Canada (and AFAIK it wasn't very old). In the end she went to CarMax in Rochester, New York and sold the car to them.

Incidentally I have just got home after a trip to CarMax in NJ but near the Philadelphia border, 70 miles from my home. Our very dear friends, expat Aussies have just relocated to Singapore at short notice after living in New Jersey for 15 years. I was given Power of Attorney - which he arranged at the American Embassy in Singapore - for me to get the title and registration certificate for the car at the DMV. I went there earlier this week as he had bought out the lease over the phone and the lien removed from the car.

It was a Dodge Durango....12 months old with 8270 miles on the odometer and had a factory package electronic seats, music system etc. The sticker price was more than $38,000. (I have no idea how much it cost to arrange the lease originally and then for the admin costs to buy it out).

The car was appraised at $22,000....we made a quick call to him in Singapore (12 hours ahead, he was in bed) and he accepted it....although in his loud Aussie accent shouted into the phone "Holy S**t"! :eek:

Re: Car Finance
 

Dealers aren't the ones giving you the finance. They typically have access to different finance companies - the dealership will attempt to find one that will work with you.

Are you actually here now? SSN? Do you have credit history/credit score?

Re: Car Finance
 

Here's a fairly clear summary of the process.

There are many steps, some of which need to be completed ahead of crossing into Canada. If you're buying a new vehicle then some of the steps will be easier to plan ahead for, such as getting the certificate that shows all recalls have been addressed if you have always had it serviced by a franchise dealer, and cheaper if you buy a car with a vehicle with a VIN starting with a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.