aidan80

Congrats... Did the dealer arrange the financing for you?

Yes the dealer actually beat my banks offer which was 7.9% the dealer gave me 6.77%.. I'm sure he made cash on it but I saved a bit on it. Anyway in a few months I'll refinance it with my bank if I can get a better rate when I've more credit history under my belt. I'm happy because I walked in with a 98 Escort that basically took a giant $hit on me today. It sounded like something exploded inside the engine I had it looked at and was told I had something beating on the head on and off very random. My mechanic said it was on borrowed time so I said screw it and just traded it in to be done with it.

OMG! I think it's too expensive with no power windows. 2010 models are the same price as the 2009? Just looked it up.

Really.. did those prices include the tax, tag, title, dealer fees, finance charges.. etc? Because I had an employee discount code that took the initial invoice price and gave me another 3% off it then the added the discounts.. then added all the other fee's on top. They are sneaky the way they play the numbers but I still think I came away with a decent deal.

I'm very excited I can't believe I just bought a car! I got a 2009 Nissan Versa S 1.8 hatchback, manual transmission, manual everything else too lol but I only paid out the door including all the fee's even the hidden last minute we forgot to tell you about this $300 charge.. I paid about $13,500 everything all in I even got financed by Nissan for about 6.77%!

I haven't driven a manual in a while so I've gotten lazy to the gears and will have to get used to changing gears again but I'm shocked how much car that money bought. That wee car is massive inside, really big in there. It actually feels like half car half crossover if that makes any sense. It sits high up and has a ton of room inside but isn't a big car. Well next to the Ford Escort I just got rid of it feels like a limo!

So even with a limited credit file and with the credit crunch still in full swing I suppose it is possible to still get credit out there.

Looks like its time to call them and give them the balance transfer ultimatum. And keep the account open just to remind them if they don't want to keep my APR where it is (Citibank).

They want to play greedy, they will lose any interest on whatever balance I keep with them.

Same thing happened to me twice both shot up to 29.99%! That's what I get for always paying on time and more than the minimum.. luckily for me I've very little balance left and I'm paying off the rest. I've read online that the good customers you know the customers that always pay on time and never have late fees are going to be hit with an annual fee next! Time I cut up all but the oldest plastic.

Funny you mention CitiBank I was asked to apply for one of their cards and thought why not.. I got rejected! I applied for a car loan with my credit union and got approved? The banks are in a mess.. a good dose of end of year/Christmas bonus' for the CEO's will help them find new ways to hammer their customers for more cash in 2010.

This is what happens when companies are not regulated or just allowed to grow out of control! In many areas (at least those I've been in) the choices for TV are pay the cable company the rip off fee's or hope you don't have cloudy weather and get a dish.. Phone is the same is you want a land line, pay company X or you don't get anything and that's it. I really hate comcast just the organisation not the people with an absolute passion. They are just big, fat and lazy as a company they have so many bits of the market held hostage who's going to threaten them? They got too big not they'd steamroll the smaller operators. Personally I'd have them broken up into smaller operators get some competition going again.

I gave up all together on comcast and just got naked DSL that was after having to ask for it and getting the.. well we still charge the same price..etc ####### I got naked DSL and I got 10MB for what.. $55 a month and no stupid phone that I didn't need. It's an alright deal I'm not complaining and it's of course dedicated unlike crappy cable that was shared with every downloader on the street during the weekend bringing the bandwidth to a crawl. How am I to liberate the latest movie if everyone else is doing the same?

It's funny how anyone who has lived overseas gets it. I had 2 cable internet companies, 2 satellite internet companies and over 30 ADSL2+ (24mb) providers to choose from in Melb. I have concast here. My only choice is dialup. We don't even have dsl here as it was some sort of former GTE thing.

Comcast in this area is just unethical and basically no one of their staff gives a #######. They could basically tell me to f'off on the phone and I am sure the supervisors would laugh at it.

I agree, in America we would expect the best? But no.. they are failing in letting these companies rule the roost and shaft the average man/woman on the street. I'm sure if you let comcast compete in Australia or Ireland, UK.. almost any other developed country they'd get hammered into the dirt if they acted the way they do here in the US. I'm not for over regulation or overly having the government in everything but a shakeup and some ground rules are always good. I mean we all drive and most of the time follow the rules we break them there are normally consequences. What comcast is doing is basically like running all the red lights in a tank without fear of being pulled over or any serious damage.

Back home god.. i had a choice of a few dozen ISP's on DSL.. and the same for phone service here it's Embarq or find one of the cell operators that all seem to offer the same type of plan at about around the same price tell me that isn't wrong and weird.. and maybe stinking of some price fixing lol

For over a week now, I have been trying to upgrade my plan to the 50 meg extreme plan with these fools but still no luck. Spoken to over 12 people and am still being given the run around. One department says it's already active, so talk to tech support (click). Tech supports says "sorry no such order in the system", so call back sales.

Yet, accordingly to some VJers, the market should fix this. We are being delayed with the FIOS rollout because of some other dispute with the HOA. Yes, another free-market failure to note. This sort of ####### is regulated against in Aus. Then again it does not even need to be since most companies in Aus would be tripping over themselves trying to connect me up to a $99 internet plan, required for working from home.

I have never spoken to staff (cs reps) who seriously don't give a #######. Comcast's call centers would be fired in any other industry..

This is what happens when companies are not regulated or just allowed to grow out of control! In many areas (at least those I've been in) the choices for TV are pay the cable company the rip off fee's or hope you don't have cloudy weather and get a dish.. Phone is the same is you want a land line, pay company X or you don't get anything and that's it. I really hate comcast just the organisation not the people with an absolute passion. They are just big, fat and lazy as a company they have so many bits of the market held hostage who's going to threaten them? They got too big not they'd steamroll the smaller operators. Personally I'd have them broken up into smaller operators get some competition going again.

I gave up all together on comcast and just got naked DSL that was after having to ask for it and getting the.. well we still charge the same price..etc ####### I got naked DSL and I got 10MB for what.. $55 a month and no stupid phone that I didn't need. It's an alright deal I'm not complaining and it's of course dedicated unlike crappy cable that was shared with every downloader on the street during the weekend bringing the bandwidth to a crawl. How am I to liberate the latest movie if everyone else is doing the same?

NI is the Northern 6 Counties.

Robinson is DUP and the stalling is all coming from the Unionist side.

Yes, it is the northern 6 counties of IRELAND.

Agreed, it isn't 6 counties of Britain is it lol... until fairly recently 6 contested counties of Ireland and contested by another sovereign state. Right now the issue of those counties is right in the hands of the people of Ireland where it belongs not in the hands of the British. Honestly I'm sure the British couldn't wait to get out the sheer amount of money saved that they could redirect to things their people need instead of wasting it trying to suppress people that don't want them there anyway.

Oh dear, we seem to be letting old issues surface once again

aye, it's hard to beat a good old fight! Sure we'll all be in the pub at the weekend having a laugh and drink or 2 over it!

It is true however, the majority of the people in the island of Ireland did not want the British in our country and have not wanted them there. Result is the British have all but pulled out leaving the people of both the South and North to fix the mess they started all those years ago. I think in the end all parites involved will come out on top.

Adain, at least he didnt call you Australian.

I've been called an Australian before.. I can understand if they mix up Irish and British.. I don't mind that they mix up Scottish and Irish quite close and the same in many ways but when the one guy at the SSA thought I was an Australian that was funny. The best one has to be the woman at the bank that thought I was Russian! But I'm in and around small town Florida I have to talk very, very slow just to get by but it's alrite lol

NI is the Northern 6 Counties.

Robinson is DUP and the stalling is all coming from the Unionist side.

Yes, it is the northern 6 counties of IRELAND.

Agreed, it isn't 6 counties of Britain is it lol... until fairly recently 6 contested counties of Ireland and contested by another sovereign state. Right now the issue of those counties is right in the hands of the people of Ireland where it belongs not in the hands of the British. Honestly I'm sure the British couldn't wait to get out the sheer amount of money saved that they could redirect to things their people need instead of wasting it trying to suppress people that don't want them there anyway.

NI is the Northern 6 Counties.

Robinson is DUP and the stalling is all coming from the Unionist side.

Yes, it is the northern 6 counties of IRELAND.

I always find it somewhat fascinating when people who haven't lived in the shadow of tanks in the street, petrol bombs and snipers have a strong opinion about politics in the North.

Interesting, why would that fascinate you?

Are people who never lived in Iraq unable to form an educated and informed opinion on the Iraq war?

The troubles were very well covered for over 30 years and most people have a reasonable grasp of the situation.

Given the large Irish population in the US it is not surpising to me that many people here are better informed and more knowledgable than their counterparts in the UK.

I was born and raised in west Belfast and grew up during the height of the troubles until I was a teenager, so I tend to notice very quickly indeed when people do not have a grasp of the situation.

Well Iraq is easy in a way is it not.. it just happened it got 24-7 news reports. What's been going on back home all started 800 years ago. The past 30 years got what.. bits here and there on the news over here in the US. I'm sure the Irish community or the Irish American community has kept up to date with things but the average American at least down here in Florida it might as well be Iraq, they are for the most part clueless. I had one guy try and tell me that us and the brits are all but the same. I quickly and firmly reminded him we've very different we do have similar things in common but we're not the same people at all. I was offended and I've nothing at all in the world against the average british person.

Progress in NI is one of the few good things to have come out of the Blair years.

I agree, it was typical for us in the nationalist community in the north to be cautious or outright hostile to a british pm but Blair did change how we thought of the british. He couldn't have taken more of an opposite and more intelligent in my own opinion role to the north than compared to thatcher and her caveman approach. Inclusion instead of exclusion and criminalization won in the end! He thought out of the box, put aside a lot of things and talked to people he had a strong majority to make changes happen and he did make things happen. He was critical in breaking the deadlock the tory government before had failed to do for the best part of 25 years. To me at least they where just about keeping their head above water near the end of their term and needed the unionist votes in their parliament to stay afloat at times. It didn't do much for the policy of criminalization and containment they applied to the north. It was in my honest opinion a failed policy among many failed polices that if anything just threw fuel on the fire at times.

A lot has changed in a very short time in the grand scheme of things. At the end of all of this what has happened is unbelievable from what I've witnessed growing up. I'm sure older generations have seen even larger improvements on the ground.

Having been born and raised just a few miles on the northern side of the Irish border I have to say.. some days I'm still shocked at how far everything has come. Other days I'm annoyed that someone on one side or the other is stalling. Although I do try to keep in mind how difficult it is for both sides to hold their people together and push them towards the finish line. I try to put myself in the other sides shoes and think well if I was them how would I feel about this. People get scared, very scared of change they panic and like those two halfwits.. they run for "safety"of the exit and not the finish line. What those two did was wrong and disrespectful after everything the US has done to help the north. I think all in all the people in the north will hang on to what they've got and push onward and they will get it done in the end.

I think the british garrison in the north is now down to around an estimated 1,500 troops or there abouts from a high of around 30,000 - 35,000 during the conflict. That figure would exclude local people that join and serve in the TA or other british regiments in the north.

To me personally as republican and a nationalist the north is the 6 northeastern counties of Ireland and 6 of Ulsters 9 historical counties. No longer a contested area as the people of Ireland have finally had their say as to the status of the north.

Ah my first experience of Whiskey was when I was about 14.. ohhh that was some heavy stuff at that age! I think it was the black bush was the first I tried. I drink it straight, I've still a nice bottle of Jameson from back home sitting here hehehe.. Need to head back and bring over a couple more bottles with me. I don't normally mix it with anything but if I was to mix anything in with it I'd put some cool filtered water in there or toss in a couple of ice cubes if you wanted to take some of the bite out of it going down. Whiskey is great if your sick, heat some up (or not lol) and drink down. Typically I don't mind the odd wee beer here and there keep the good stuff for when it's needed! It's needed right now!! lol

####### is it with you Irishmen taking perfectly magnificent Irish Whiskey and pouring water into it?

Isn't that like - sacrilege or something?

It is but I don't personally do it.. I prefer into a glass then into my gut... repeat until everything goes dark!

Have you considered the Mazda 3 hatchback ? Definitely in your price range and I hear the 2.3 is a great car. Some have leather interior too.

The mazda 3 is almost exactly what I want but I like what the Versa has on offer. Although the styling for the 2010 mazda 3 does tempt me! I have been looking and if I found a base model down closer into my price range I'd be very tempted to jump ship. I think my asking $14,500 from a bank with little in the grand scheme of things credit history is about as good as I'll get for now. I could push for more from the bank but I don't think they'll go for it. I will have to test drive one of those cars though, it'd be wrong not to at least get behind the wheel.

I hope the beer didn't get split.. I still think that it should be a crime to waste beer! It isn't just morally wrong it should be criminally wrong as well.

On the other hand the guy that lost his job should have made a plan B.. plan A in life never always works. The way things are now I plan to keep a small stash available so I can stay afloat for a month, 3 months.. 6 months.. etc so if anything did happen I'd not be out on the street with repo man towing my car away. It has to be scary if you dont make a plan B and plan A pops when you feel safe and secure in your job I'm sure that would send anyone over the edge.

Ah my first experience of Whiskey was when I was about 14.. ohhh that was some heavy stuff at that age! I think it was the black bush was the first I tried. I drink it straight, I've still a nice bottle of Jameson from back home sitting here hehehe.. Need to head back and bring over a couple more bottles with me. I don't normally mix it with anything but if I was to mix anything in with it I'd put some cool filtered water in there or toss in a couple of ice cubes if you wanted to take some of the bite out of it going down. Whiskey is great if your sick, heat some up (or not lol) and drink down. Typically I don't mind the odd wee beer here and there keep the good stuff for when it's needed! It's needed right now!! lol

Sounds like you have done your homework and are doing all the necessary steps of a responsible buyer... At this point, I would sit and wait the dealers out. They know you are a buyer and like you said, by the end of the month (with the clunker program over and not too many buyers out there) they will come a callin. With your patience and persistance you will get your deal.

As far as the car, everyone will have opinions, but I am sure you have done the research on the models which interest you. Being realistic, a new car under $15,000 is a new car under $15,000 and has the issues that one would expect with a lower end model. The important thing is that you are happy and comfortable and it is in you price range and has the features and warranty you want. Gain, loss, doesent matter, just that it is the car for you!

Keep us posted (I would think by the end of the month) and congratulations!!!

I’m still doing home work lots of it and getting as many opinions, querying the “hive mind” of the internet always throws up things to think over. I agree I plan to let them sweat it out for now. I’ll talk to them on the phone and answer their emails just so they know I’m actually buying. End of last month they have been calling quite a bit they really seem to want to put me in a car and I want in one. I don’t want in one at any cost, I want in at my cost which I intend to get!

I researched what would work for me which may not work for the next person but for me it’s the Versa Hatchback. I’ve read the good points the bad, test driven one thought it though. Looked at the competition and over all I think the Versa is the best choice for what I want. What I really want is to further build my credit, buy a house then get a slightly bigger nicer car in maybe 5 years or so.

The issues seem to vary between the models they all have issues, even the next level up from budget has issues.. BMW even has issues. I’m aiming for upper level of budget which overall should be more than what I need right now.

Thanks I’ll keep everyone up to date and for those in Florida I’ll post the best prices I got from the dealers in Central Florida including the only dealer to actually ignore me as a customer not once, not twice.. but a total of four times! I mean a $14,000 - $16,000 customer shouldn’t just be ignored and shouldn’t be told what they will buy and at what price.

You get the best deals either by buying a year old pre-owned, or buying last year's model new at manufacturer stock clearances.

That is exactly what I'm aiming to do so I've got a month or two left yet to burn. I really want my cake and to eat it as well and if I play my cards right I just might pull it off!

the new models are out, so now is probably a good time to buy...before they don't have anymore 2009 models. You don't have to wait until the end of the month to buy either, that's a myth.

I don't know if it is a myth or not you could well be right.. I've had my phone ringing off the hook the end of last month have 2 dealers that seem desperate to get a customer in the door. They have called every other day just to "check up" those are the two dealers if they are desperate then I have a bigger advantage if they really want my cash they might keep those prices coming down. I will keep checking the other dealers too and the online companies that are quoting and delivering cars right to your door. I've a 3rd dealer that's kept good contact via email and kept their prices in line with the other two. I've found a 4th that just might get me a customer they claim they can get my anything I want and will ship it right to my door from their lot if needed. They are offering a Versa 1.8 hatchback, power option and the accent cabin lighting for $14,500 plus $50 to my door charge. I'm very tempted at that offer.

Buy used.

If you have faith in the former owner....I don't. People are lazy at most levels and therefore I buy new. I would rather pay up front for asset depreciation, rather than break down on the highway due to some dumb azz not taking care of the vehicle...to each, his own...

I agree, I'm actually a good owner I take pride in my car I like it (well most of the time lol) and I like to ensure it's always going to get me from A to B without any issues and it always has. I have the oil done every 3 months or 3,000 miles (on my now 11 yr car) I have the tries rotated, balanced and aligned when needed, filters are changed on time, car is clean inside and out.. it's washed every other month depending on how dusty or how many insects are out lol. I even wax it now and then to help protect it from the sun here in Florida.

On the other hand there are plenty of people that do nothing to their car until it either makes some very funky noises, that check engine light stays on for a long time or till it dies on the side of the road.

It's a 50/50 at best with used.. perfect example my former wife bought a used 98 saturn 82k on the clock from a small dealer for $2,500 runs perfect only thing it ever wanted was tires and oil.. now at 150k and still running strong! I bought a used Mercury 75k on it from the same dealer ran perfect.. till the A/C went out, then the motor mounts, timing belt went not long after that.. then the battery died!!.. I found a vacuum leak which i fixed with a $2 bit of rubber hose.. then I had an issue with the brakes, had a tire get a hole in the sidewall.. i just put 4 new tires on the thing and had the tie rods replaced.. it runs perfect, smooth but but I've easily spent as much on fixing it as I did to buy it.

For me at least it's time to buy a new car and at the prices new vs slightly used.. I don't mind spending the extra $2,000 or $3,000 on new.. plus there's so much competition out there right now to get business and at the end of the year/month I could come away with a really nice deal.

no kidding, my score is over 800. The reason is a BK 14 years ago they're saying no. I used to issue credit...everything has changed!

I have no ads, I don't sell anything, no spamming here!

easy to discount unless you've been on the receiving end. I have no reason to mislead. I posted cause it baffled me.

BK 14 years ago.. what's that? my soon to be former wife has a score of 720 and one default for a sizable sum on a credit card she couldn't repay about 4 or 5 years ago and she can still get credit? What knocks me out is my limited credit history not really my rating so much. At least that's from the research I've done trying to figure our how they figure us out lol

I fully agree with the below statements. A dealership is best postured to get you financed at competitive rates. Let them run with you application and know that your credit will be hit with several hard pulls, given the multiple lenders they will persue. Future lenders realize that you were shopping for the best loan rate at the time and will not penalize you for it.

You could also limit the companies that the dealership makes contact with, for example Nissan Finance only.....

In my case, I got a better rate with American Honda than my CU could offer....In fact, much better... A down payment is a huge advantage with the manufacturers Bank.

If your credit score is 700 and the dealership can't get you into a new car with 25% down #######. I sold new and used vehicles for 8 years at one of the biggest Chevy/Honda Dealerships in the country. I gotta say if the dealership can't get you financed you need to go to a different dealership, these guys have pacts with different banks and they can shop your info to 6 or 8 different lenders, they GOTTA be able to get it done or else THEY SUCK at their job. There is no way in the world that they should not be able to get a bank to do the loan with that kind of a down payment, did you ask your credit union what if you put 25% down?

Well I'm giving the credit union another go I offered them 25% up front of the current price of the car which I believe I can further reduce before putting ink to paper. If I get the ok from the credit union I'll let the dealer run a check and give me some rates. If I get a better deal through Nissan I may take that but in all honesty at the minute I'd be happy if the credit union said yes! With some luck I'll know next week and that'll give me a month to sell the car I'm driving now. I'm planing on holding out on buying until right near the end of November... well that's the plan right now anyway

Actually the Ford Focus is overpriced(and gets less mpg) in relation to the Chevrolet Aveo or the Toyota Yaris, which are basically same type of car. I do know for fact Aveo can be bought for under $15,000 and they do get 40-45 mpg highway and 35-37 mpg in city, come with 5 yr or 100,000 powertrain warranty along with this new 60 day free look period, my neighbors own them, let me drive them once and have road in them, they are good solid quality cars for the price, and roomy.

The new Focus is decent for a compact, drove one in CA when we were out there last. Worth it for the gas economy alone. Think that starts around $15K.

If you can spend a little more the 2-door Altima is worth a look too - but that's edging up to $20K.

As an owner of a 2006 Pontiac Wave (aka Chevy Aveo/Suzuki Swift) I will NEVER recommend this car to anyone else. We have had quite a few problems with ours - speakers dying 6 months after we bought the car, they're notorious for increased wear on the front tires due to improper design, obnoxiously hard to find tire size (it's a very uncommon size), our CD player skips on the first two songs - even on brand new CDs, we only get about 400km to the tank (this is all city driving and straight after an oil change), the trim on the inside of the door has rubbed off, and there are more that I cannot think of.

Do a google on the car and you'll come across a ton of postings about problems occurring after 50k miles.

Also - they are a Daewoo built car - shipped straight from South Korea.

I've seen the Aveo, it looks like a nice car but I've also read not so great reviews about it too. I like the Versa for it's added size, protection and weight vs the smaller cars in this range. I also like that the 1.8 Versa has 122hp vs the standard 105 - 110 and I found a few manual Versa's as well so I should have a bit of extra power! My Tracer is great but lacks power, then again it's an 11 year old entry level car not a race car! Really good first car if I was a teenager it'd be perfect I've been getting close around 28mpg - 29mpg just going back and forth to work.

Thanks for all the responses and advice I do appreciate it!

I think I’ve almost got all the slippery dealers corners nailed down. I’m more or less set on a Nissan Versa 1.8 air, manual transmission, manual locks, windows..etc I’ve been talking to a number of dealers. The best price I’ve got right now is $13,760 out the door and it’s in print. If they try to go back on that at the showroom I’ll call the next dealer on my list and have them pick me up from the showroom.

I’ve made this as impersonal to me as I can and ignoring the dealers attempts to be my friend lol I keep in mind they are out to make money, I’m out to save it friendship is not included in the price! I’ve been thinking about the financing and your right Danno.. if I go into dealership all set on saving money on the car they will sideswipe me with the loan then all that’s been gained is lost without even seeing it. They always try to sell on the “low payments”. I got bitten with that scam before back home when I bought a new computer paid near twice the price with “low monthly payments”.

My plan right now is to wait for approval for my loan from the credit union, assuming I’m approved when buying I’ll let the dealership try to beat the credit unions rates. I’m putting 25% down up front that should take a bit of bite out of the payments and ease any concerns the credit union has about my limited credit history! If all my calculations are right I’m out the door and in a new car with around 48 payments of about $250 a month which isn’t bad for buying a new car.

Is something wrong with the board or is some of my posts not posting? Thats the second time I've noticed a post I've made that went up has vanished? Either I'm going insane or something is badly wrong here?

I agree a few years ago with my credit rating they'd have threw the money at me.. now they are so tight I can hear their arses squeak as they walk. I might just borrow against the 401k if I can. From those pictures it looks like the pizza shop is doing well.. I actually wouldn't mind one of those (can't be good for you lol) stuff crust pizzas!