starting to read and hear about credit getting supposedly harder to get, and wondering if anyone starting to have an issue or realizing it starting to potentially impact your buying the vehicle of your choice.......especially those just about to receive their cars in the coming days/weeks.....

 

was starting to think about this subject as well, as mine (hopefully) goes into production next week.

 

I've put a deposit on a 2009 cabrio and i've been wondering about this myself. Havent heard much but it's in the back of my mind as it gets closer to order submitting time.

 

I pay cash, bought my son a S2000 last week and my Apple is mine too, I do worry about other large purchases

 

Same worry on my mind since mine is on the boat on the way over...

 

I haven't applied for any loans, but I did notice that equity loan rates are starting to creep up.

 

Well - you have to have better credit to get a loan these days, but the best lending rates should be kind of low too. Does anyone have any insight into the range of rates coming out of Mini Financial lately? Capital One shows rates (as low as) about 5.5% on new auto loans.

 

Can you not go ahead and get pre-approved for a loan just to be sure your OK when your cars come in?

 

My car will be here in one week and this also concerns me. Anyone else have problems thus far?

 

Got pre-approved a couple of weeks ago at a Bellco credit union with no problems. Got 4.75%. So you best bet is to go with a CU if at all possible. No other bank or Mini Financial even come close to such rates and in most cases it is pretty easy to join a CU (donate some money to some organization usually and you are in).
Another thing to consider is that most pre approvals are only valid for 30 days. I did not relize that at first and now i just hope my car gets here sooner than the preapproval expires. There is however a way out of that situation as well: you can close on the car even before it gets to the dealer if the dealer lets you do so. The downside is that you will start accuing interest on your loan even before you get the car .

 

thats the way it should be done but not in this country.

 

Got a loan through USAA and did not experience any major problems.

 

"Any major problems"...? Does that mean you hit minor problems? I'm getting kind of freaked out now (unrelated to your post, though). Guess I shouldn't worry about something I can't do anything about...

 

I used my Costco membership and went through Capital One. We were approved in 30 seconds. Get a decent rate and the length that we wanted. It sre made the Mini dealer grumble because they couldn't get close! Look around and see. Solid financial institutions that did not get into the subprime mess are looking to loan money people.

 

I guess what I'm getting at is for the most part, my intent on getting the clubman is purely just a want, versus a need. Now, I'm making an assumption that for the most part, most of us are in the same boat.
I currently drive an 07 honda civic: for the most part, it does the job and does it well.... I was just bored with it and I WANTED something different and somewhat comparable to mpg, thus the MINI......
NOW, having said that, I've also noiced the rates starting to creep up, at the time I was looking at rates in the high 5% category, now I'm seeing it at low 6% category (I"m with USAA).......

My intent of this thread was just to see if we can gauge on how "WE" as consumers are starting to see the 'market' change, again, I'm making an assumption that most of us are spending $25-$30K+ for a car WE WANT versus a need (hopefully we all agree that if we all "just" needed a car, we could easily just spend $15K or so for a corolla) and just wondering if the economic conditions are making you want to reconsider your purchase, have the slight interest rate increases (which affect your monthly payment of course) have adversely affected your intent or at least striked a cautionary stance.....

 

I'm between a need and a want, certainly falling more on the want side. I currently only have my motorcycle for transportation, so in that sense, having four wheels and an enclosure is a need in some of this Colorado weather. That being said, you're right--I could just buy a Corolla. But I'm not gonna.

Regarding the slight interest rate increases, they really haven't affected my projected monthly payments that much, so that's not a particularly big deal to me.

 

I was in between need and want. I really wanted a Mini and my Sentra had been paid for 3 years. It is the most that I have paid for a car, but what a car!

Yes, credit is going to be tightened, but there are always banks/credit unions that have solid loan underwriting Their rates should be remaining consistent.

 

Did you get the Costco discount on your MINI purchase. We saved nearly a grand off of MSRP in August

 

how do you use the costco discount for a mini purchase?

 

I just went to the Costco site and you can enter a 2008 MINI, but for 2009 MINI is no longer a choice.

 

what rate did you get if dont mind me asking.

 

Was not a problem for me personally-although I needed only 6 grand of financing, cash + trade in for the rest.

 

Just got approved today in the mid to upper 5%'s depending on the length of term.

 

I just received a production number a week ago, don't know if it's too early to apply for car loans... 'coz my car is not even scheduled for production yet.

 

Guess I'm gonna try out the PenFed 4.75% car loan... that's so far the best rate I've heard.