Twenty percent of all used Mercedes last year were sold to people with less than prime credit.
This is a trend among dealerships (because they are more used to seeing credit-dinged customers nowadays).
A second factor in this trend of luxury cars for bad credit car loan customers is that cars are lasting longer than ever before. You can get the car of your dreams; it just might be a big older than you had planned. We've seen expert recommendations for a Lexus 15 years old!
The smallest cars on the new car lot are usually the cheapest. They are also the best for gas mileage, which is a good thing -- especially today.
• The Chevy Aveo, made in Korea by Daewoo, gets teased by auto writers. Hey, it's $10,000 new. What do you expect?
• On Toyota lots, the Yaris is so cheap ($11,500 stripped down) a lot of salesmen don't like messing with it.
• Critics have been impressed with small cars from Nissan (the Versa) and Honda (the Fit) because of their surprising roominess. The Versa and the Hyundai Accent are both available (stripped down) for under $10,000.
Here's a great way to find top-rated cars if you have bad credit.
Go to a top car research site, www.edmunds.com, and look for their list of Editor's Most Wanted. The farther back you go in years, the cheaper the vehicles.
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001
• 2000
To find the current prices, we suggest the easy interface at MSN Autos.
Sometimes the experts can surprise you.
• Both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal rated the 08 Chevy Malibu as better than the 08 Honda Accord.
Sometimes the experts can make you laugh.
• Dan Neil's take on the Worst 50 Cars of all Time.
Sometimes the expertise is long overdue.
• www.askpatty.com is a site by car-driving women for car-buying women.
