Rockgurl

Just wanted to ask if any of you have obtained a new car by having your partner co-sign for the loan. How easy is this, and are there any pitfalls I should know about? Is the income your partner earns an issue and are there any benefits from getting a second car loan from the place that your partner got their car from? Just trying to figure out if it's worth going with Autosource or if it's feasible to go the co-sign route. Any experiences or stories would be most appreciated.

Stumpyguy

From day one I have bought all my vehicles from a car broker. Just tell 'em what you want and they will go and find one for you.

I am far too cheap to ever buy a new car, I buy old Benzes and keep them for 3 or 4 years before trading them back to the same broker for a slightly newer one. I generally spend anywhere from $4000 to $7000 on each car, and they maintain their value very well provided one performs the requisite maintenance. I did a TCO calculation a couple of years ago, and my average annual car expenditure (not counting gas / diesel and oil) worked out to be about $1200 a year. Another big bonus is that I don't have a car payment.

A good way to go if you are able to purchase the first car for cash...

Pulaski

If you get a USC to cosign it isn't going to help build your credit history as well as having your own loan in your own name would, (... or even at all??? )

Rockgurl

I don't care! I just need a car! I can't afford to buy one for cash (even second hand), and I can't get credit on my own, so I either go with Autosource (which is looking likely) or I go with co-signing with my partner. I just don't want to get out to the States and find that I can't get a co-sign and it's too late to do Autosource. I would have to start work pretty much straight away so I really need a car.

Liquid

I think I may have posted something along these lines before, but I will do it again since it is relevant...

I was going to get a used car but the interest rate they were offereing me on the loan was around 10% and I refuse to pay that in addition to what I wanted to pay for the car. I asked the dealer what would happen if someone co-signed on the car and he informed me that it may be a way to get the interest rate down. He checked and it did.

My girlfriend agreed to co-sign, but that is all she had to do. They took her credit history which is exceedingly good and he informed me that the interest rate would be reduced to about 5% over the 3 years that I wanted to pay.

I ended up going for a new car since her credit allowed me to get the 0% option. They took a copy of my UK credit history, my US and UK driver's licences, 7 referees (so if I default someone knows where I am!!) which were people from work, a copy of my Degree certificate, my proof of income and my employment agreement from work and my first pay slip (and maybe some other stuff that I can't remember!).

If I couldn't have got the 0% I would've bought what I could afford for cash. They didn't ask for her proof of income. The car is in both of our names, so if I don't pay then it goes against both of our credit histories and she gets a black mark (as well as me!).

She has to be on the insurance too for the Toyota finance people and that brought my insurance quotes down - they used her credit history too. I advise that before you actually buy that you get a couple of insurance quotes to find out how extortionate the rates are

I hope this helps. If your gf has a good credit rating then you can probably get the same deal as I did. I ended up with a brand new Rav4, paying the amount I wanted to pay each month.

Englishmum

Did anyone see the NBC news last Friday night?

I was astonished to see a report where one lady's insurance rate had more than doubled. She had recently become a single parent (through divorce) and discovered that her insurance had rocketed in price because her credit rating had dropped. She mentioned that she had been slightly late in paying one or two bills. However, she has a clean driving record and has never been involved in an accident.

An insurance 'expert' was basically saying that the insurance industry feels that people with a low credit score were less likely to be of sound character and therefore a higher risk!!!

The reporter said that this seemed unfair to those who might be going through a costly divorce or had unforseen large medical bills to pay for example. Why should someone's credit rating have any effect on their ability to be a safe driver?

Anyway, this lady is so annoyed that she's now compiling a 'class action' lawsuit against the insurance organisations.

I hope she wins.

Rockgurl

Thanks for all your replies. I think the thing that would concern me would be arriving in the US needing a car, attempting to get my girlfriend to co-sign with me and discovering there is some kind of problem that prevents us from doing so. That would be a major hitch that I wouldn't have time or money to deal with, so it looks as if I will go with Autosource, as at least I know I can organize it while still in England.