If I finance a car through a used car stealership, it'* for a year right? He said $800 down and $256 a month. I'll have to talk him down on both before I can get the car, but I'm just curious as to how much it would be. I would stop back by and ask him but lately I don't have time.

you dont know the price of the car, but you know what payments are?

if its the 96 olds 88 you mentioned earlier, I think I would keep looking, ~$3800 is a lot for that. you need to find out the interest rate

you better ask, some places will hook you up short for-ever.

Usually a used car is financed for 3 years to 5 years. Usually 3 if it is older, 5 if it is a late model. Unless it is a buy here pay here, than that is usually a year.

It depends on how they write it up. You want to know the following:
length of loan
monthly payment
annual percentage rate (APR)
downpayment
and any late fees if you have a late payment.

Just watch what they write up. Don't sign anything until they show you the terms first. I had a friend who signed the bill of sale and then the loan was denied and they tried to hold him to the purchase of the vehicle.

And a fast math lesson.

800+

6 months worth of payments at 256 a month....

Is 2336. Cash.

What kinda bargaining power would you have with that?

I have seen a few serviceable Bonne'* here for about that


These lessons are REALLY hard to learn when you live them. Been there done that, financed the T-shirt too. :( Just hate to see a young man jump into car debt so soon

Grrr, I'm just gonna ditch this car, I get a bad feeling about it. Good strong car, extremely clean, guy that owns the dealer bought it new, but it has been repainted which leads me to believe it was wrecked, but whoever fixed it I give them props, they did a good job.

It sounds like a buy-here-pay-here place. STAY AWAY! They have HUGE interest fees and are just plain insane. You can do better. Stick with private sellers or go to the used car section of a new car dealership. That'* your best bet.

When you find a car you like, go to www.bankrate.com. They have financial calculators where you can figure out what the payment would be based on the interest rate and length of the loan. For a rough estimate, you can usually figure on paying 20% of the car price in interest. So if a car is $5k, you would pay about $6k total. So if you are looking at a two year loan, it would come out to around $250 a month.