Car Buying Woes

Buying a car here with a loan is going to be harder than I thought.  According to the bank, we have to have a South African drivers license.  We talked to a guy at a dealership and he said that obtaining that license might prove to be a bridge to far.  The daunting mission would take a day or more waiting in lines followed by a several month wait for the actual license.  I'm going to have to do some more research and find out if this is true.  Another option is to get an international driver's license, but my bank didn't say if that would suffice. 

Another hurdle is my three year Visa; our loan terms can not be longer than my Visa.  Since I have already been here a few months, I might be stuck with a 24 month loan.  I might not be able to afford a decent car that is less than five years old with loan terms that are this short.  Car prices, even used car prices, in South Africa are just silly.  For example, we saw a used Jeep Wrangler Sport at the Jeep Dealership in Claremont which sold today.  It was a four banger soft top bare bones Jeep, it was not a Rubicon, and it went for the equivalent of $43,000 used.  I'm feeling like the traditional financing option is not going to work and I'm feeling OK with that.  The last and only time I ever financed a vehicle it made me feel dirty and used.  I felt like I was getting screwed from every direction and swore I would never do that again.

Another option mentioned by my bank was to get a personal loan.  My bank will lend me three times my monthly gross pay.  This might turn out to be the best option and save me money for several reasons. With this type of loan I don't need a South African driver's license, I can buy the car from a private seller, and it can be older than five years old.   I may be able to avoid a 14% Value Added Tax (VAT) on a private sale.  I might also be able to afford a decent vehicle if it over five years old. The only setback with this loan is that I can't get one until my account is three months old.  This will make it impossible to buy the Defender 110 I mentioned in the previous post, since it will probably be sold today.  Another guy came with cash in hand.  I guess I will be keeping my eyes out for similar deals and hope the interest rate on this type of loan is decent.