Auto loan for an FD
 

Hi guys.

I've come to the understanding that getting a loan for an 18-year-old sports car is not all-together easy.

It seems that there are lenders out there who specialize in this sort of thing. Does anybody have experience with this?

I used a credit union used car loan plus a personal loan to cover the gap between blue book and my purchase price. Because I don't drive my car many miles, I was able to pay off the loans without going upside-down.

I wouldn't buy one if I had to take out a loan to do so... never know when something expensive might pop up

1.play lottery
2.win
3???
4.buy Rx7

Just save up the money, itll be hard. Or join the Army, get deployed, dont have rent or other bills, save 30k and buy a rx7. Thats what I did.

If you need a loan for an RX-7, you will not be keeping it long and be forced to sell it for 1/3 of what you paid for it when you blow up the engine.

I got my FD for a great price. I got my car loan from my credit union and it had to be 80% of the wholesale value on KBB which was around 9k. Also the car had to have less then 100k milse and they wanted to have the owner there to sign the papers.

I am a 21 year old with little credit but I got a decent rate on the loan and I am paying for the car on my own. It is a small enough payment where I can but mods that I may need.

I have spent about 5 grand on repairs so far. I will spend another 4-5 in the next 6 months hopefully it will be done by then. (new paint and misc parts).

Credit union. Make sure you can swing it. These cars are not good dd's, usually.

saving up would be the best choice, loans can be a real hassle cause it can get really expensive and if the car breaks down then you won't have any money to fix it...but I would just save up and wait. I got mine for $7000 and some are selling pretty cheap right now under $10,000

eloan.com but trust me,you want to have a sizable down payment to make the ltv worthwhile for the bank.

Thanks for the opinions. A few things to note:

I'm buying a DD in the next few weeks. If/when the FD breaks, there will be no need to rush fixing it. That includes "blowing up the engine."

I'm looking to buy a near-stock FD with < 30,000 miles, which means financing is obviously preferable. I plan to have the car for a very long time, so starting as close to 0 miles as possible is also preferred.

Really what this comes down to is: I want the FD now, not 2 years from now. I won't be relying on it as a DD. I can afford it.

The problem with run-of-the-mill credit union auto loans is that they don't usually do auto loans for cars more than about ten years old. A personal loan might work, but they're more expensive and harder to get.

Wow, listen to all of you. Don't get one if you need to take out a loan... Really.

Kbb does not reflect what actual worth is, true. But you can still get a loan fot the car if you need one. You might just have to fill the gap with other sources of $.

I took out a loan, rebuilt the engine, and paid it off in a year. Guess that throws previous statements out the window. I went through usaa.

As long as you have a dd, you'll be fine.

Good luck.

I just joined a credit union today in hopes of getting a loan for an FD, I hope they will :/

Dude, post back please!

I'm going to open an account with my local credit union tomorrow for the same reason. :beerchug:

Emotionally I wish you guys the best. Financially you could be making an awful decision.

I don't think taking a loan out for an FD is necessarily a bad thing.

Two caveats to that statement:

1) make sure you buy one that doesn't require too much work
2) don't buy one to be your DD. Really, it is a 20 year old hi-tech (for the time) sports car. Figure on significant downtime unless you find one that is really in excellent condition.

I bought mine running for 8.3k and got a loan for it, but I just use my FD for fun. :D

I'll keep you updated man, you got an insurance quote on it yet? That's next on my list.


Are they that much more of a money pit than the FC? I've got maybe 8k in my FC since 2006 so and it runs pretty damn good besides a few things I've neglected, but I figured that wasn't all that bad :scratch:.

You can also try JJ best banc, they have good rates and do specialty cars.

I had no trouble getting a loan through USAA.

just save up as much as you can while you find the right FD for you. then take out a loan for however much you need to close the price gap.

i bought my FD for $16k, i had $6k saved up, and i got a hellova loan at 2% for the remaining 10k through USAA.... my monthly payments with full coverage insurance is $250.

im 26 with a 650 credit score with only one credit card and a $3k personal loan that was paid off in a year

Got my insurance quote thru Geico yesterday, looks like I'll be saving $10 off my premium with an additional FD, with liability that is.

If you've got decent credit, you can make the CUs and banks work FOR you to get the loan, just be aware you'll rarely find any lending institution that will go more than about 65% of the 'book value' on this old of a car. You'll need some money down no matter what you do, is the point.
Back in 2000 I was able to get $12,500 of the $14,400 purchase price for my car, going thru my bank, for example.

lies, if you're smart that is.

If you buy a good condition car, and maintain it well, you will be fine.
Goto a good local credit union for your loan, they are much more flexible with their loan approval for older cars. If your credit is not quite good enough, increase your downpayment or get a co-signer.

I bought my 2owner FD with 60k on it about 3 years ago, for $16k. (would be less now i think)
At the time, it had been converter to non-seq, upgraded intercooler, midpipe/exhaust, intake, and a PFC.

I got a loan from GTE-Federal Credit Union for $12k at 4.5%, and I put down the rest in cash.

I've been daily driving it for the past 3 years with no other backup car, and have just reached 109k. I added a pettit AST and koyo radiator, for added reliability. I keep the boost set around 11lbs.

My maintenance consists of: change the oil and filter every 3k with valvoline VR1 20w50 and add ZDDP additives, clean my air filters regularly, change the plugs every 10k or so, fuel filter as scheduled, and add 2stroke oil 0.5oz per gallon of gas on big fillups.


If you're gonna bother taking out a loan, just make sure you take your time and hunt down a really good condition car, and have it independently inspected before purchase (compression check, etc). Don't be afraid to walk away from a car if the deal isnt right, there will be another one.

Good luck and good hunting.

Ya, had to rebuild mine after buying it =(
but I guess if you were able to find one in good condition and you can do most of the work yourself you could probably swing it.