said by sailor :

I know of a guy who ran a sleaze buy here - pay here operation in S. Florida. He would pick up cars from auction and then sell them. The down payment he would ask for is what he paid for the car at auction but he would price the car at 3x's what he paid....He would then require weekly payments and that way each weekly payment made would be pure profit to him and he would sit back and wait until someone would miss or be late on a weekly payment and then he would send his gorilla to repo the car. Many times he would re-sell the same car over and over due to people being late eventually on a weekly payment.

This same character also got into the loan for car title scheme and he got cars that way when those who borrowed only a couple of hundred dollars on their cars worth say $1k defaulted on the weekly payment.

said by sailor :

I'd say being in the position you are that sticking to that lot your mom had good experience is the way to go but if you are going to get into the near $5k range I would pass on that Taurus and look at the new stock they will be getting in. You are going to pay top dollar to get into a ride there but that is unfortunately the position your in but I would for that kind of money on payments look for something same size or even smaller and try to get under 100k miles and something with a as solid as possible carfax history. Does that lot provide you with a free car fax report on the cars you've looked at? If not, ask them for one.

said by wilbilt :

If you can come up with a $950 down payment, you should be able to buy a decent car outright from a PP for about the same amount.

$1,000-$1200 will buy a decent driver on craigslist around here. One price, no payments. You are not going to get any kind of warranty from that dealer anyway.

said by sailor :

I know of a guy who ran a sleaze buy here - pay here operation in S. Florida. He would pick up cars from auction and then sell them. The down payment he would ask for is what he paid for the car at auction but he would price the car at 3x's what he paid....He would then require weekly payments and that way each weekly payment made would be pure profit to him and he would sit back and wait until someone would miss or be late on a weekly payment and then he would send his gorilla to repo the car. Many times he would re-sell the same car over and over due to people being late eventually on a weekly payment.

said by dirtyjeffer :

said by MJimLay :

---

The place I am looking into is a very small family own lot which does their financing on lot. They usually don't sell for much more than the KBB value and have 0% interest. Like I said, my mom got a car there several years ago and didn't have any problems and they always treated her awesome. It's also just regular monthly payments like any car loan. They take regular checks

Attaching pictures of the Ford Taurus.

---

they do have "interest" charges, they are just built into the cost of the car or payment...$5k for that car is high, and i like my Taurus...that is the most basic model available (SE, cloth interior, Vulcan V6, etc)...it may have even been a fleet vehicle at one point...i know you don't have much in the way of options, and i am not familiar with what goes for what where you live, but to be honest with you, i would bet that guy paid $2000 for that car...not because Taurus' are crappy cars, but there are tons of them, and being a domestic, the resale value is low on them...have you checked out a basic model Hyundai Accent, new from the dealership??...up here, they are $9995, plus you can get 0% financing for 3 years...and they have a 5 year warranty...i know you said your credit isn't great, but it might be worth a shot...car companies want to sell new cars, so they might be able to help out a bit.

your options may be limited, but if you have had good experiences from this dealer before, it may be the best choice, even if those types of places aren't the best places to buy from (in terms of pricing).

said by dirtyjeffer :

blechh...those cars look horrible...and $3700 for an almost 20 year old caddie with that atrocious red interior??...that car should be $500 at most...there are tons of places around here where you can get "beaters" for under $1000...it looks like the places down there use those beaters as "bait" for people with bad credit and try and unload them for $950 down and $300/month for 2 years...that should be a crime.

said by MJimLay :

I also looked at a 1985 suburban today which had a disel engine for $1000, but it was complete trash inside and the dude never signed the title over to himself so it just seemed a little odd. Plus that would be a really bad gas hog.

said by MJimLay :

found a 1997 Nissan Altima with worn shocks/struts for $900.

said by Hall :

Not bad .... now, since you were planning on having a car payment, you really should set aside some amount every month (even a fraction of the $250+ you were planning to spend) for repairs, should they arise.

Regarding the speedo and the "CERTIFIED" label, what is that for ? I've seen cop cars that have "CALIBRATED", meaning they can 'tail' another car and use their speedo to write a speeding ticket. Is that the same ?