Inspecting Car from Private Seller + Getting Loan

When I was shopping around for my first car with my mother, she took me to a private seller who was selling a '69 convertible mustang. It looked slick and I really wanted it. My mother left her car as collateral along with all her contact info with the seller and we took the mustang for the weekend. We took it to our mechanic and he shot me down. He said it was a nice car, abet a bit pigeon wheeled, but classic cars require a lot of maintenance and I didn't even know how to change the oil.

So reluctantly we drove it all the way back, filled the tank up with gas and told the owner that it was a very lovely car but not good for a mechanically disinclined 17 year olds first vehicle, then drove home in our old brown Thunderbird.

I don't know if this is the normal or legal way to do it, but it's the way we did it. As for the loan, when we did finally find a car to buy, I bought from another private seller and got a car loan directly from wells fargo bank. My parents co-signed and they deposited $5000 directly into my checking account. I wrote the check to the person selling the car. The bank gave me a statement book with little tear out payment slips for every payment till the last, to mail in every month with a payment. Since I did not get a statement every month to remind me to pay, I had to remember to send the payment in by the fifth of each month on my own.

If the private seller refuses to let you have a mechanic check it out, run away. Some mechanics are willing to go mobile to check out a car if the private owner refuses to let you take the car for a check. One of my husband's "friends" bought a car and the owner went with him to the mechanic to check it out. For the bank, you might be able to talk to a loan officer for an auto loan and get a range for approval based on the type of car you want to get. Then when you find the car, ask the owner to give you 24 or 48 hours to finalize.

Mobile mechanic to come inspect the car is another option. Maybe you can think of the highest priced make and model car you would like and use that car for the pre-approval app. Then if you end up finding a cheaper car it shouldn't be a problem getting a loan for a lower amount than originally pre-approved for. Deals fall through all the time so bank staff have procedures for when the seller decides not to sell car after all or buyer changes their mind.

You can speak with bank loan staff to go over restrictions for used car loan process i.e. no salvage titles, obtain auto insurance w/ bank as title holder before receive funding....