dragon4609

Hi everyone,

I need to buy a car for my own sanity, as I am stuck at home and it's very hot here in Charlotte. I am on a K1 visa and will be getting married in just over 6 weeks. The problem is I do not have a credit score and have maybe 2000 USD to buy a car. The question is where should I look?

Pulaski

You think this is hot? This isn't hot. 100°+ is hot, and we get a few 100°-105° days every couple of years.

You're heading into shark infested waters trying to buy a drivable car for $2,000, because that is at the very roughest end of the market. .... And to your point about the weather being "hot", a $2,000 car is unlikely to have effective AC, if any at all! .... You're likely to find yourself driving a toaster oven around until late in September!

And what about insurance? Do you have a budget for insurance? Also, do you have your NC license yet?

Sue

Does your OH have a car? If so maybe share the car? I didn't have my own car for the first 3 years in Charlotte. But I used to drive my OH to work when I needed the car and then just picked him up again at the end of the day. He never used the car during the day; it just sat in the car park at work.

Uncle_Bob

At that price point, craigslist

Pontiac for $1300 OBO

Guindalf

Does your OH have good credit? If so, you can get something a little better using their credit score, provided you can afford the payments.

There are also the 'buy here, pay here' dealers, where you'll get horrible rate, but could get a slightly better set of wheels without a credit check. Personally, I wouldn't even think about buying from one of these places, bearing in mind that there will almost certainly be zero warranty. If you do, get it checked out thoroughly and insist on a Carfax report before you part with a dime.

dragon4609

Yes, she has a good credit score but how will it effect her credit score if she adds me to her credit card.

Pulaski

It's entirely neutral, no negative consequences, ..... it's not the case that adding you would "dilute" her rating.

Guindalf

Yup. She is entirely responsible for you being on her card, so if you screw up, you hit HER rating.

Of course, you're not building your own credit history, but it'll handle the inconvenience.

Same with a car loan. The car will be in her name on the loan and the registration document.

cluedweasel

I would avoid these places like the plague. One of the favourite tricks is to front-load the interest on the loan. For example, you buy a $12,000 car and put $2,000 down and finance the rest at 20% over 5 years. The total interest you'd pay over the period of the loan is around $7,900. They'll take that and add it to your loan up front, making the total you own on the loan $17,900 from day 1.
In some states, this is illegal, but buy here, pay here places can avoid the regulations in some cases because they're not classed as financial institutions.

Pulaski

I would too, but when you're trying to buy a car and only have $2,000 of liquid funds available, you don't have a lot of choices.

dragon4609

Hi everyone, thanks for all your help so far.

I am going to think about the car for a while.