mrken30

hertzcarsales have a no haggle price. You rent the car for 3 days for $100, then if you like it, they refund the $100. The prices are generally quite good. The paper work is mostly done online.

malch

We spent a lot of time looking at used economy cars for our daughter. We considered many of the models mentioned here as well as the Hertz (and other rental company) car sales programs.

Ultimately, we were able to negotiate such a good deal on a new Hyundai Elantra it was way more attractive than of the used cars we'd seen. And that came with a full warranty and attractive (4%) financing. We put nearly half down and paid off the loan in around 4 months so we only paid $100 total interest. It was easily worth it to make everything fit our cash flow goals and constraints.

mrken30

If you are car shopping,I would certainly recommend renting a car of the same model you are intending to buy. That is if you have not driven the car before. I find test drives too short to know if I like a car or not.

petitefrancaise

and how long have you been in the USA?

Pulaski

That can be easier said than done when typically you sign up for "a Nissan Altima, or similar, "a Chevy Cruze, or similar", etc.

mrken30

I have leased from the dealerships in the past. Also sometimes you are able to lease the higher end models not found at car rental companies.

tom169

Extended test drives have also been offered to me while shopping. Typically can borrow the car for 24 hrs or so at no charge.

petitefrancaise

Going back to the original OP and credit....

A new arrival in the USA with no credit history or a very low score ( which is what you will have for about a year) is unlikely ( not going to get) a nice interest free deal or a low interest deal on a new car from a dealer of their choice in the USA. Malch has been in the USA since 1992 and obviously has a good long credit history and a good credit score.

VW has an Expat business program and Mazda self-finance so both of these companies will help you to buy a car. Most dealers will not be able to secure financing for a new arrival through the finance companies they use normally.

mrken30

You'd be surprised who they are willing to lend money to on a secured loan. You can always refinance at a later date for a better rate. They are fairly desperate to lend money to people these days.

MidAtlantic

No surprise at all with a secured loan, but that is not what most people are talking about here.

Pulaski

I think he's talking about a car loan being a secured loan. ..... In other words you can often get a car loan even with junk credit rating. The rate will be high though.

LouisB

As everyone says, UK score means nothing in the US.

Can attest to that, a perfect long history 999 in the UK and nothing here, not a bean.

You have to be wise and build it up from scratch. Which is a matter of being patient and being careful.

Even after 6m or a year you'll have something. Quite easy to monitor too 🙂

ChrisK

Credit scores in the US are a scam - in the UK they essentially reflect how god you are at paying your bills/loans on time - in the US they are set to see how much more money the banks can squeeze out of you.


My wife and I had perfect UK scores - moving to the US, for some reason my wife had a better score than me, even though I had had a US bank account (and SSN ++) for over 20 years with no missed bills - and she had nothing - and of course there are lots of different credit scores out there anyway... .


A couple of annoying examples is that they look at the CC balance - even if you pay it off in full each month; another one was when we were refinancing our house last year with WF - for some mysterious reason our credit rating fell for that particular quarter that we applied for the loan (thereby making it more expensive).

Pulaski

You clearly don't understand how credit scores work in the US; they certainly aren't a "scam". Your credit score reflects the likelihood of you defaulting on a loan, and so credit card balances are part of that equation. However credit card balances are quite a small part of the equation, such that the difference between a zero balance and having say, a 10% balance which you pay off every month, is truely [u]negligible[/].

Unfortunately, a few years ago, my wife and I had a period of having several credit cards (at least six, maybe seven) between us that were as near to maxed out as makes no difference - like 95%-99.5% balances ..... but we still had credit scores in the 700-730 range. .... In short, don't obsess about your credit card balance, it is only a very small part of the overall picture.

By far the largest part of the picture is paying your bills on time every month, almost a third of your score is driven by your payment history.

veryfunny

To get a high FICO score when you live in the states depends on many factors but i would suggest you open a bank account first and then ask your bank for a secure credit card, which works like a credit card but is based on how much you have in your account.

Secondly, you have to own some debt in order to build your credit, so if you can get one of those store credit cards and pay it of every month on time will help.

Banks want to see if you are financially responsible, this usually takes about five years after the great recession to get at least a high FICO score.

There are so companies that help do this but cost a pretty penny and it all depends on your circumstances, such employment, debt to income ration, stable address etc.