Please Help choosing between Mirage and Versa Note! (UPDATE: got a Mirage)

[newtomit]

Not accepting loan applications?!? Is this related to the Covid shutdown? Normally I would tell you to run away from commercial banks and get to a credit union for better customer service, but they may be shut down, too. I would at least call or hit a couple of credit union websites and find out.

Despite the seller's best intentions, you can't hand anyone $6K in a situation like this and rely on the seller to deliver. There's too much that can go wrong. I've been in situations where the seller (a dealer) literally lost the title for a vehicle they sold me. I eventually got it, but it took almost 2 months to straighten that out.

I got some mixed responses. I called Chase again and this time they said no loan in the branch but I can apply online. Couple weeks ago I read somewhere that WellsFargo was temporarily stopping loan relationships with car dealerships. So yea, all covid related.

Just gonna let this one passed because just too complicated and risky. Oh well.

[Mark]

I got some mixed responses. I called Chase again and this time they said no loan in the branch but I can apply online. Couple weeks ago I read somewhere that WellsFargo was temporarily stopping loan relationships with car dealerships. So yea, all covid related.

Just gonna let this one passed because just too complicated and risky. Oh well.

You are not using a car dealership. If you have a credit union nearby, I would share this with them. Ask them how they would help someone buy a car under this situation?

I financed my Mirage on-line with the dealership to receive the $500 financing rebate from Ally at the time. My rate was 4%/60 months. Keep in mind - I met my salesman in my driveway when he delivered the car, & we did the paperwork in my kitchen. He just happened to be the guy assigned to deliver the car that day.

My local credit union rate would have been 2.49%/60 months. I took the $500 Ally rebate, and 3 months later refinanced my Mirage as a used car for 2.79%/60 months. I did that on line, too! It cost me $30 to refinance with my local credit union. I paid off my Mirage in a little over a year, & I received my clean Wisconsin title a couple weeks later.

My point it is Ally had my original title and the credit union took care of that when I refinanced with them. I would ask your local credit union to do the same for you. My local credit union told me to take the financing rebate & re-finance as a used car a couple months later. I didn't come up with that. The manager of White Bear Mitsubishi had suggested the same & my credit union agreed. I wanted the best deal possible, & I felt that I was given good advice.

I will admit, however, that I live in a small town area. My credit union loan officer was one of my former students in school. I did everything over the phone & on line with her. We weren't worried about COVID-19 in 2017, however.

A good local credit union would help you buy that car without any risk.

[Top_Fuel]

A good local credit union would help you buy that car without any risk.

Exactly. 99% of the loan process isn't done in person anyway, so Covid is a strange excuse for a bank to use.

...gonna let this one passed because just too complicated and risky.

Keep in mind this situation is not unusual. I bet that 90% of private owner 2-3 year old Mirages you come across will involve a seller who has a loan on it. And if the seller didn't have a significant down payment when they bought the car, they probably owe more on the loan than the car is worth.

You can always keep looking. I doubt this car is going to get scooped up anytime soon. If the seller is almost upside down in the loan and can't easily produce a title, it won't be easy for anyone to by this car from her.

[newtomit]

Update: I decided to pass on the Mirage. I went to see the Yaris instead. It's a cute little car. It has a few scratches on front and back bumpers, and a small dent (not too noticeable) on the passenger side (she said she accidentally hit a pole). I didn't hate it. I also wasn't in love, but I think when you're shopping on a budget, it's hard to fall in love Got the price down to $6500 and would've gotten it if the windows were not hand cranks (there wasn't close-up photo of the doors on the listing and for some reason I assumed it had power windows). I don't have to have power windows, but now I'm like, $6500 is too much for a car with hand cranks, even if it's a Toyota. $6000 would've sealed the deal for me, but the seller wouldn't go lower than $6500 (she didn't even want any lower than $6750 in the beginning).

[newtomit]

Exactly. 99% of the loan process isn't done in person anyway, so Covid is a strange excuse for a bank to use.



Keep in mind this situation is not unusual. I bet that 90% of private owner 2-3 year old Mirages you come across will involve a seller who has a loan on it. And if the seller didn't have a significant down payment when they bought the car, they probably owe more on the loan than the car is worth.

You can always keep looking. I doubt this car is going to get scooped up anytime soon. If the seller is almost upside down in the loan and can't easily produce a title, it won't be easy for anyone to by this car from her.

I agree. I know she's having a hard time selling it. It's also because she isn't very flexible. The car is listed on a third party platform that handles everything, from payment to registration and title transfer. She was so confused and I asked the company to call her and explained how they work, which is basically they take payment from me, and use that payment to pay her lien holder. If the loan is more, they will charge her account for the difference, if the loan is less, they will reimburse the difference. They even said they will send her tracking information of their payment to the lien holder. She said she's worried what if they don't pay the lien holder and I have the car and she still owes the money, which is understandable but this third-party service is a legit service that has excellent reviews on Consumer Affairs. Anyway, long story short, she doesn't want to go through them (even tho she has to pay them a fee for listing her car anyway). And that's why we had to figure out different ways to make it work. She suggested that a) I give her a $250 deposit and she will borrow someone for the money to pay off the car and when she receives the title, she will sign it over or b) I pay the lien holder directly and then have the title mailed to my address, then we meet and she signs it over. It just turned into a messy situation while it can be just so simple if she goes through with the third party listing service.

[Dirk Diggler]

Update: I decided to pass on the Mirage. I went to see the Yaris instead. It's a cute little car. It has a few scratches on front and back bumpers, and a small dent (not too noticeable) on the passenger side (she said she accidentally hit a pole). I didn't hate it. I also wasn't in love, but I think when you're shopping on a budget, it's hard to fall in love Got the price down to $6500 and would've gotten it if the windows were not hand cranks (there wasn't close-up photo of the doors on the listing and for some reason I assumed it had power windows). I don't have to have power windows, but now I'm like, $6500 is too much for a car with hand cranks, even if it's a Toyota. $6000 would've sealed the deal for me, but the seller wouldn't go lower than $6500 (she didn't even want any lower than $6750 in the beginning).

On the bright side hand cranked windows are way more durable than power windows. My power windows went out on both my old Hondas and it was hundreds of dollars to fix.

[newtomit]

On the bright side hand cranked windows are way more durable than power windows. My power windows went out on both my old Hondas and it was hundreds of dollars to fix.

True. Cost me $300 to fix one before. Do you think $6500 is a fair price for a 2013 Yaris with 35,000 miles?

[Top_Fuel]

The car is listed on a third party platform that handles everything, from payment to registration and title transfer.

OK...that's a (not so) minor detail you left out.

I'm starting to understand. So she listed her car with TRED, is that right? But now she's confused about how it works?

TRED actually sounds like good/safe deal for both of you.

You pay TRED $6K for the car.
TRED pays off the loan for $6500 and gets the title.
TRED bills her $500 to make up the difference between the loan amount and sale price.
TRED sends you the title to the car.

It's too bad she's freaked out about the process. Vroom and Carvanna work in a similar way.

Why don't you get a loan through TRED and then pay it off after she is out of the picture? Or is she so freaked out by TRED she doesn't want to use them any more?

[Mark]

Update: I decided to pass on the Mirage. I went to see the Yaris instead. It's a cute little car. It has a few scratches on front and back bumpers, and a small dent (not too noticeable) on the passenger side (she said she accidentally hit a pole). I didn't hate it. I also wasn't in love, but I think when you're shopping on a budget, it's hard to fall in love Got the price down to $6500 and would've gotten it if the windows were not hand cranks (there wasn't close-up photo of the doors on the listing and for some reason I assumed it had power windows). I don't have to have power windows, but now I'm like, $6500 is too much for a car with hand cranks, even if it's a Toyota. $6000 would've sealed the deal for me, but the seller wouldn't go lower than $6500 (she didn't even want any lower than $6750 in the beginning).

I don't know why anyone would need electric windows on a two-door? When I get to the point where I can't crank a window, I should probably stop driving. Replacing a broken electric window is costly & sucks. Of everything you mentioned, crank windows would be my last concern. Given a choice I would take crank windows on a two-door over electric. I hate having to turn the key on to put up the windows if the car parked outside & starts to rain or something. I am old school, however. Eggman reminds me of that quite often!

[newtomit]

OK...that's a (not so) minor detail you left out.

I'm starting to understand. So she listed her car with TRED, is that right? But now she's confused about how it works?

TRED actually sounds like good/safe deal for both of you.

You pay TRED $6K for the car.
TRED pays off the loan for $6500 and gets the title.
TRED bills her $500 to make up the difference between the loan amount and sale price.
TRED sends you the title to the car.

It's too bad she's freaked out about the process. Vroom and Carvanna work in a similar way.

Why don't you get a loan through TRED and then pay it off after she is out of the picture? Or is she so freaked out by TRED she doesn't want to use them any more?

YES. I didn't wanna get in too deep about the detail of this situation because it's messy. Doesn't matter if I get a loan through TRED or pay in cash through TRED, she is concerned that what if TRED doesn't pay her bank and I end up with the car while she still owes money on it. I then suggested she can keep the car until payment is cleared with her bank, but how TRED works is they don't release payment until the buyer confirms that the car is in his/her possession, which I understand for security purposes... so that option didn't work either.

I don't know why she listed with TRED in the first place if she doesn't trust the service. She's going to have to pay them a seller fee of $99 anyway. TRED charges $99 when the car is sold through TRED or even when the seller deactivates the listing but has been contacted by a potential buyer from TRED. What a mess.