Neorion

Hi all,

I am here in Houston on an L-1B visa. I am currently going through the change of status via my company to get a green card. I am moving across to our US payroll system as a local hire April 1st.

My wife is a TUSC so she had great credit. She put her name on the house (I am on the title) then she bought her car before I arrived.

I have a bank account open with a credit union through our company however this has only been a few days.

Long story short we were screwed over by a kitchen contractor so our cash has been tied up getting a big name company in to fix his mess.

I need to get my own car soon, I am going to go get my TX drivers license asap (been in th country 3 weeks).

My question is this

I want to finance a car I will keep for a good number of years. I am looking at a new car (I know it loses XXX when you drive it off the lot).

I am looking at VW, BMW and Audi.

Now

considering I dont have credit yet and will only have save $1000 to put down, can anyone tell me there experiences getting a car on finance?

We cant use my wifes name as a co signer as her credit has taken a beating since arriving so she is concentrating on getting that back in line so I will be going solo.

I have a good job paying good money I am just not cash rich right now but a car is a must soon.

Thoughts?

Thanks

Bob

It's easy. For a car, either at the lot, though better if you pre arrange it.

$1K down though and no credit history of your own, your rates are going to be shit.

Her, with bad credit will be infinitely better than you, with no credit history.

If all you've got is $1K down, you're probably better off considering a cheaper car, or a second hand one for a couple of years, to build up credit.

Get some 5 year old car for a year and that 12 months worth of financing will do the world of good for credit history, gives you time to save up too. Not to mention the insurance will be a hell of a lot better than a new car for johnny foreigner with no US driving history and no credit history.

vikingsail

Rates are going to be bad on any car dealer lot and whatever you think of your negotiation skills they have seen it all before . Prearranging something with your existing credit union ( you did say you have one) would probably be the best bet.

Alternatively, and let me say I am not a lover of leases but if a vehicle is a must for commuting etc..a cheap short term lease, say 24 month, on something like a small Nissan - think Sentra or below for model. Will imho be potentially cheaper than a second hand car that comes with, again imho, more risk relating to reliability and unknown additional costs. You can usually get for 0 down or no more than your $1000 limit. My reasoning is this you buy a second hand car for $1000 or between 1000-5000 any problems could easily run 2000 in repairs. You won't even spend $2000 on a 24 month lease term, or barely more than? And all the while the lease term is building your credit worth for future purchases. Just saying....

cranston

First place to start is your credit union. Although the lease idea is pretty good.

N1cky

Try their International Plan, we got a offered a good rate though this, but for various reasons didn't go ahead with it. I did recently see on here someone who has done this and said they got a good rate.

http://www.vw.com/en/financial-servi...-programs.html

Weeze

I have been told that the BMW and Audi garages in Houston do offer reasonable deals for expats. Possibly best just to go ask what you can get.