Well Marv, I took a drive down to the Hillsboro place this afternoon. I was expecting them to have ton's of 3 series BMW's to choose from. So the salesman hands me a list of all the current cars on the lot. There's only three that matched what I was looking for, and two of them were already out of my price range. The third one was sold earlier in the day.

Then they point out a new addition to the lot. A silver 2002 330ci. Absolutely beautiful. Took it for a spin and decided I had to have it. They have it listed at just under $25k. I knew it was right on the borderline for my situation, but I filled out the app anyway.

Long story short... the salesman said my down payment of $3000 was good, my established credit was good (didn't mention my negative credit), and my 4 years on the job was good. But since I never had a car loan before, the credit union didn't want to finance +$20k. I had a look at the screen when he was explaining everything. Looks like it would have been a 72 month deal, I think I saw 7.95% and about $440/month, which I could have handled.

But there maybe a light at the end of the tunnel. There is a 2001 330i on the lot for $19k. The only thing I didn't like was the amount of miles it had. By the time I decided to try for it, it was after 5pm and the banks were closed. They said they will submit it on Monday and let me know.

I figure even if I do get the car with more miles, it would be good to have a loan in my name, keep the payments current for one year, then maybe refinance or go shopping again.

Your thoughts Marv... or anyone else?

Thanks,
Rob

the late hour can sometimes not work to your benefit.

At that time of the day, I may withhold applications if I don't have a good relationship with the weekend staff that decides approvals or not.

Usually the weekend analysts may not be high level enough to approve a loan that might be considered borderline. So if I am not sure who will be working on Sat & Sun then I withhold apps till monday A.M. till I know my regular analyst will get to look at the application, that way I have my best chance for an approval.

I'm about to buy the same car. 2002 330ci Titanium silver on black.
I hope for that price the car is CPO. I would recomend 2002 and up. 2001's had complaints about their power steering.

good luck!