Has anyone else used a CU to refi a car loan?
Never used one for a refi…but I use a CU as my bank. The banks charge fees for everything…where the CU’s usually don’t. CU’s are owned by it’s members.
Just a couple things here, did you ever report the accident to your insurance company and if you did, did you collect any money? If you have never collected for the repair, and you have not broken coverage on this car, you should still be able to file a claim and only pay the deductible. Note: I am not asking your situation and I do not expect you to publicly answer this question, just giving you options.
I much prefer doing business at a credit union than a bank. Banks always leave me with the feeling that my money is now their money and I don’t matter. I guess I just don’t have enough money to get them to listen to me. Credit Unions are far more customer friendly in my experience.
get a couple of bumpers from Rock Auto and bolt em on and keep the thing,go with the devil you know-Kevin
Just out of curiosity . . . why do you think the bumper skins actually need to be replaced
Skilled body shop guys may be able to get them looking good again, for a somewhat reasonable cost
I like the idea that @kmccune mentioned, with one concern. Cheap aftermarket bumper skins probably don’t fit as well as you’d like. And they’ll be unpainted. But unpainted and straight bumper skins might look better than bashed up bumper skins of the correct color
These will fit perfectly.
http://www.carid.com/2010-toyota-corolla-bumpers/
Db made a good point, however. Can you post photos of the damage?
They can be repaired but again it is labor intensive. If you do it yourself, the repair kit is only $20 plus painting. But if you have to pay someone $100 an hour, the new covers are only a couple hundred. I did a Lincoln bumper cover once and it was an after-market “The Colonel” brand. It fit very good. Like a lot of things if you can’t do work yourself, the process changes.
I know you said you’re keeping your car, but I figure I’d break your situation down for you if you decided to lease the Lancer. Just for reference, of course.
100k potential miles in 4 years minus current 47k miles equals 53k miles.
53k miles over 4 years is 13,250 miles per year
13,250 miles per year on a 12k mile per year lease equals 1,250 miles OVER your lease allotment per year
3 years typical lease equals 3,750 miles over at the end of the lease
15 cents per mile over at 3,750 equals $562.50 in fees you’d owe at lease return
edit:
Credit unions are generally among the best rates with the exception of manufacturer specials. 3% versus 1% maybe.
I dunno about that. I looked at just about every bank and credit union locally for my loan when I bought my car, and the CUs were in the mid to upper percentage rates(5~6%). My town has just about every possible national chain bank, and I only looked online for the bank’s rates; if they didn’t list a rate online, I didn’t bother calling them. There were 2 banks that had a 4% rate, and the one i DIDN’T check was the one that the dealership had managed to find me a better rate(4.19% vs 4.25%)
I think the OP is on the right track keeping the Corolla. Being in the car business means he might have to convince others to trade their cars in for now new ones but in this case the restricted miles on the lease seems to be the biggest downside of the deal for the OP. I think he should make some friends with the guys in the body shop of the place he works and when things are slow they might give him a good price on fixing the bumpers on his Corolla. Making the Corolla look decent will make it easier for him to keep driving it.