Post 7 discharge car buying experience

I know it’s a common question for filers/on-the-fence-filers, so I figured I would share my experience.

I surrendered my car in Nov 2024, since it was significantly underwater and not in good shape anyway. I decided to stop paying on it after I filed in early September 2024. Honestly I was surprised my lender was so quick to repo since it had such low resale value, but, whatevs.

So I saved what would be my car payment to be used for a down payment on the next car, and was fortunate to be able to borrow a car from my parents in the meantime.

My bankruptcy was discharged in early December, and I’ve been keeping an eye on local dealership’s pages to get an idea of what was available. I checked with capital one for pre approval, mostly because it’s the one that is built in to most local dealer’s sites, and I was not pre-approved by C1, but they gave me rates from several other subprime lenders—and they weren’t great (~25-30%). I finally took the plunge and went to a dealership today (Jan 4, 2025) expecting the worst.

I briefly explained my bk situation to the salesperson when asked about my credit score, and he went to speak with the sales manager/finance manager, and told me they seemed confident they could get me in to a new vehicle with a not-TERRIBLE (for being post 7) rate. They said I could go with a preowned vehicle, but due to the higher interest rates that would come with them, I’d end up paying a lot more for “less” car.

After some back and forth to get the monthly payment into a range I could deal with, I ended up with a 2025 Honda civic hybrid. Financed through, interestingly enough, Capital One. Rate ended up being 11%, which isn’t great, in normal circumstances, but I think for being post bk7 it’s not too bad. I also put down $1,000 for the down payment, which I think helped some—I didn’t ask about zero-down options.