Basically, a lot of things happened and it ended up working out perfectly. I was in the right place at the right time and found the right people to work with.
At the beginning of May, I was starting to get really antsy about the car thing. I am not known for my patience, so I talked to my mom, and she agreed to loan me $250 to put with whatever I had for a down payment. I checked my credit and my score had actually improved a little since I last checked, so I was hoping that I might be able to find a car for around $5000 and do a 10% down payment. Well, after spending a lot of time on AutoTrader I realized that everything I liked was closer to $7k. And I came to the conclusion that this car is something I want to have for at least the next 6 or 7 years so something in better condition was probably the best. I also came to the conclusion that Las Vegas was going to be a better bet for car shopping purely for logistics; I figured I could hop on a Greyhound to Ktown and then my sister could take me to Vegas.
I started looking in Vegas and found a 2003 Ford Escape at one dealership and a 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe at another. I also found a 2004 Suzuki Grand Vitara in Kingman that kind of became my plan B. Both dealerships in Vegas said they'd work with me as far as credit and I decided to just take $500 from one paycheck (since I got paid 3 times in May) and just do it. So on Friday, the 17th, I took a bus to Kingman. It all felt kind of insane and rushed to be honest, and I felt like maybe I was just jumping the gun. But I figured that even if I didn't get a car and had to take the bus home, at the very least I got a visit with my family. By this time the 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe in Vegas had been removed from AutoTrader so I had crossed it off my list.
So Saturday I did a credit app for the dealership for the Ford Escape and they called me back within like 20 minutes and the guy was a total d-bag, and basically told me that I'd need at least $1500 down and my payments would still be around $300/month. I told him thanks but no thanks and he kind of laughed at me . . . it was so insulting. So that was a big, big let down and I almost just gave up.
But just for the hell of it I did a credit app for the dealership in Kingman. After about an hour they called me back and left a voicemail; when I returned their call I found out that they'd never gotten my online application and the call was just because of my inquiry into that Suzuki GV. So I did an app over the phone and the guy said he'd see what he could do. He called back a while later and asked a few more questions about my income and stuff. He said he might not have an answer til Monday and I told him I was in town for the weekend, but that I'd be willing to come back the following weekend if I had to. Then he called back a while after that and said that since the Suzuki had such high mileage (over 170k, which I hadn't known since it wasn't listed on the website) no bank was going to finance it (I didn't know this but apparently in general cars with over 100k won't get financing). He said he had an '05 Ford Escape that was a couple thousand more than the GV that they could try. I said I wasn't sure but he said they'd still try to get it into the price range for payments I'd said was OK. He again said he'd see what he could do and call me back. By now it was like 3 pm and I wasn't really holding my breath, so I took a nap with Saucy. My phone rang at around 3:30 but I ignored it cuz I was tired and I was expecting another no. But they called again at 4, and when I called back at like 4:20, the guy was like, you need to get over here because I have a couple cars I can get you in.
So my sister rushed me over to the dealership and my mom met us there, and the car that was waiting for me to test drive was a 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe identical to the one I'd been looking at in Vegas that had sold. I test drove it, I loved it, it only has 65k on it, it had just come in as a trade and was in fantastic condition and incredibly clean. This was all on Saturday and they'd just gotten the car in as a trade the day before, so it had to be detailed and put through their mechanical inspection before I could have it. Plus I needed to buy insurance as well and since it was like 4:45 at this point and they closed at 5, they offered to deliver it to Flagstaff for me on Monday after I faxed them the stuff they needed.
So I did the down payment, bought insurance on Monday and faxed them the info, and around 4:15 on Monday afternoon (the 20th) they delivered it right to my office! I have to say that I was and am seriously impressed with Martin Swanty Hyundai in Kingman; they really went above and beyond for me and I'm very, very grateful.
It's nice to have a car, and even more than that, it's amazing that I did this on my own. I mean, obviously my mom helped financially, but I took the initiative and I got financing; this is the first car I've owned that's been in just my name. I did this without Jerbs or Corey holding my hand and that truly feels like an accomplishment. And even after being laughed at by that dealership guy in Vegas I was able to get financing through a big lender (Capital One) and put down what ended up being less than 10%. Yes, I have a sadly high interest rate but I was pretty much expecting that. Not gonna lie, 3 years of unemployment or underemployment took a pretty big hit on my credit, and I know that I've generally made some bad decisions in that realm, so I'm willing to sort of do my time for it now, if that makes sense. And the finance guy at the dealership said that since Capital One is a big lender they'll report to all 3 credit agencies, so my plan is to make all my payments on time for a year and see how that improves my credit score and then refinance for a lower interest rate.
Here's the car! His name is Watson.
I absolutely love it. It's so weird to be driving again, though. And in a weird way I miss the bus a little bit but the way everything fell into the place with this car, I feel like it was how things were supposed to go.
I started looking in Vegas and found a 2003 Ford Escape at one dealership and a 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe at another. I also found a 2004 Suzuki Grand Vitara in Kingman that kind of became my plan B. Both dealerships in Vegas said they'd work with me as far as credit and I decided to just take $500 from one paycheck (since I got paid 3 times in May) and just do it. So on Friday, the 17th, I took a bus to Kingman. It all felt kind of insane and rushed to be honest, and I felt like maybe I was just jumping the gun. But I figured that even if I didn't get a car and had to take the bus home, at the very least I got a visit with my family. By this time the 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe in Vegas had been removed from AutoTrader so I had crossed it off my list.
So Saturday I did a credit app for the dealership for the Ford Escape and they called me back within like 20 minutes and the guy was a total d-bag, and basically told me that I'd need at least $1500 down and my payments would still be around $300/month. I told him thanks but no thanks and he kind of laughed at me . . . it was so insulting. So that was a big, big let down and I almost just gave up.
But just for the hell of it I did a credit app for the dealership in Kingman. After about an hour they called me back and left a voicemail; when I returned their call I found out that they'd never gotten my online application and the call was just because of my inquiry into that Suzuki GV. So I did an app over the phone and the guy said he'd see what he could do. He called back a while later and asked a few more questions about my income and stuff. He said he might not have an answer til Monday and I told him I was in town for the weekend, but that I'd be willing to come back the following weekend if I had to. Then he called back a while after that and said that since the Suzuki had such high mileage (over 170k, which I hadn't known since it wasn't listed on the website) no bank was going to finance it (I didn't know this but apparently in general cars with over 100k won't get financing). He said he had an '05 Ford Escape that was a couple thousand more than the GV that they could try. I said I wasn't sure but he said they'd still try to get it into the price range for payments I'd said was OK. He again said he'd see what he could do and call me back. By now it was like 3 pm and I wasn't really holding my breath, so I took a nap with Saucy. My phone rang at around 3:30 but I ignored it cuz I was tired and I was expecting another no. But they called again at 4, and when I called back at like 4:20, the guy was like, you need to get over here because I have a couple cars I can get you in.
So my sister rushed me over to the dealership and my mom met us there, and the car that was waiting for me to test drive was a 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe identical to the one I'd been looking at in Vegas that had sold. I test drove it, I loved it, it only has 65k on it, it had just come in as a trade and was in fantastic condition and incredibly clean. This was all on Saturday and they'd just gotten the car in as a trade the day before, so it had to be detailed and put through their mechanical inspection before I could have it. Plus I needed to buy insurance as well and since it was like 4:45 at this point and they closed at 5, they offered to deliver it to Flagstaff for me on Monday after I faxed them the stuff they needed.
So I did the down payment, bought insurance on Monday and faxed them the info, and around 4:15 on Monday afternoon (the 20th) they delivered it right to my office! I have to say that I was and am seriously impressed with Martin Swanty Hyundai in Kingman; they really went above and beyond for me and I'm very, very grateful.
It's nice to have a car, and even more than that, it's amazing that I did this on my own. I mean, obviously my mom helped financially, but I took the initiative and I got financing; this is the first car I've owned that's been in just my name. I did this without Jerbs or Corey holding my hand and that truly feels like an accomplishment. And even after being laughed at by that dealership guy in Vegas I was able to get financing through a big lender (Capital One) and put down what ended up being less than 10%. Yes, I have a sadly high interest rate but I was pretty much expecting that. Not gonna lie, 3 years of unemployment or underemployment took a pretty big hit on my credit, and I know that I've generally made some bad decisions in that realm, so I'm willing to sort of do my time for it now, if that makes sense. And the finance guy at the dealership said that since Capital One is a big lender they'll report to all 3 credit agencies, so my plan is to make all my payments on time for a year and see how that improves my credit score and then refinance for a lower interest rate.
Here's the car! His name is Watson.
I absolutely love it. It's so weird to be driving again, though. And in a weird way I miss the bus a little bit but the way everything fell into the place with this car, I feel like it was how things were supposed to go.
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