About 5 weeks ago I got in an accident (thank god no one was hurt!). My 2002 Accord (i'm the original owner) slipped on black ice and hit the curb on an entrance ramp to the highway. I thought no biggie, I changed the tire on the spot and drove off.

Immedietly I noticed the tire rubbing onto the fender, so I brought the car to a local mechanic for service. After replacing the lower control arm, bending back the frame (list goes on forever, but since the guy is a friend the bill was just $600 total). The car still had vibrations at any speed above 50mph.

Last night, I was driving on a turn, and bam! My tire+ wheel shot off and flew 30ft into the trees (thank god again no one was hurt!). I had my car towed to the local pepboys. I can see that my frame is still busted up, the car does not feel safe, I have already 99% decided to purchase a new car as soon as I get my Accord out of the shop.

I have $3500 in GMcard points on my credit card (apparently only $2000 are elligable at one time towards the purchase of a CTS). If I can get a good deal going, my best friend said he is also interested in purchasing a new CTS 3.6 liter.

My dad is willing to help me to the best of his abbilities in dealing with this situation. My dad lives in Detroit, and I goto Rutgers Law School in NJ. My dad will probably be able to give me $5000 and be a co-signer on my new car loan. I currently owe $0 on the Accord :)

As I am a student I need to be prudent with my purchase. If I can't get the CTS price low enough, I will probably go for a Chevy Malibu (still a great car!).

I heard there is a "conquest" rebate of $1000 for current owners of competing brands, is that only towards a Pontiac or any GM vehicle?

I plan on trading in the Accord, and I also plan on disclosing that the car was in an accident (even though it was not reported to any insurance company.)

I am 23 years old, so I do not need a CTS, but I sure would love to be able to afford one (if it's possible)!

I have already waited 5 weeks to get my car back, and considering I have spring break coming up in 2 weeks, I would love to get into a new car (whichever car that may be) soon!

Any points/suggestions?

Thanks in Advance,
David Cappell

P.S.
I have a few thousand cash of my own, so between me and my dad I probably have $10k in cash + whatever equity my Accord is worth on a trade (73,000 miles, I4, 4speed auto, 6cd in dash, clean title except I plan to disclose the accident anyways).

My advice is to contact James Polack at Lindsay Cadillac in VA. They are a Forum vendor and really low prices.

It would be nice to see you get out from under that Honda rice burner.

Thanks for the post. Problem is the Honda runs so badly now I am afraid to drive it all the way to VA from NJ for a trade in. There is nothing wrong with engine/transmission etc, it's just the suspension is having problems after the original accident. It's probably something minor, but even so it will be a grand out of pocket to get running like new. I was hoping a dealer will just give me the auction/whosale value of my car. I would hate to put in the money before trading it in anyways.

Is GM still doing any friend/family discounts or any other hidden incentives?

I would really like to get out of this car and get into a new Caddy :) I just hope it could somehow be financially feasable.

I found an interesting thead on this same site about the price of a CTS via employee pricing. If I can get a new CTS for that price i'll definatly jump!

Here's the thread:
http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/cadillac-cts-forum/79476-employee-discount-cts.html?highlight=price+cts

$25k - $2k in gmcard - $trade in value of accord - $10k cash = I can throw the rest on my credit card and pay it off fast :)

One more question guys, I promise this is the last one ;-)

I technically have $3500+ saved in GMcard points (wow! never realized how much I spend on that card 70k+ in just a few years). When I log in to my account online it shows a max redemption allowance of $2000 for the CTS. Has GM ever allowed a person to utilize their whole GMcard points value when purchasing a new car?
I am so close to being able to afford this car!

DavidCL2,

I can tell you what I would do.
You can go to any Cadillac dealer in the country
right now and lease a 2007 3.6L & sunroof CTS for $299mo.
For that amount of money you could almost do a
single pay lease with your $10K and not have a payment
at all.:)

You get to drive a nice new car and when you get out of school
you can buy another car.

But again, I don't like to buy new GM cars because the depreciation
is absolutley awful.

That's why I lease. Both a '04 SRX and a '04 GTO.

Downside of a lease is its like renting, you walk away with nothing at the end for a desposit for the next car. I've done it both ways. My '04 is paid for.:)

About 5 weeks ago I got in an accident (thank god no one was hurt!). My 2002 Accord (i'm the original owner) slipped on black ice and hit the curb on an entrance ramp to the highway. I thought no biggie, I changed the tire on the spot and drove off.

Immedietly I noticed the tire rubbing onto the fender, so I brought the car to a local mechanic for service. After replacing the lower control arm, bending back the frame (list goes on forever, but since the guy is a friend the bill was just $600 total). The car still had vibrations at any speed above 50mph.

Last night, I was driving on a turn, and bam! My tire+ wheel shot off and flew 30ft into the trees (thank god again no one was hurt!). I had my car towed to the local pepboys. I can see that my frame is still busted up, the car does not feel safe, I have already 99% decided to purchase a new car as soon as I get my Accord out of the shop.

I have $3500 in GMcard points on my credit card (apparently only $2000 are elligable at one time towards the purchase of a CTS). If I can get a good deal going, my best friend said he is also interested in purchasing a new CTS 3.6 liter.

My dad is willing to help me to the best of his abbilities in dealing with this situation. My dad lives in Detroit, and I goto Rutgers Law School in NJ. My dad will probably be able to give me $5000 and be a co-signer on my new car loan. I currently owe $0 on the Accord :)

As I am a student I need to be prudent with my purchase. If I can't get the CTS price low enough, I will probably go for a Chevy Malibu (still a great car!).

I heard there is a "conquest" rebate of $1000 for current owners of competing brands, is that only towards a Pontiac or any GM vehicle?

I plan on trading in the Accord, and I also plan on disclosing that the car was in an accident (even though it was not reported to any insurance company.)

I am 23 years old, so I do not need a CTS, but I sure would love to be able to afford one (if it's possible)!

I have already waited 5 weeks to get my car back, and considering I have spring break coming up in 2 weeks, I would love to get into a new car (whichever car that may be) soon!

Any points/suggestions?

Thanks in Advance,
David Cappell

P.S.
I have a few thousand cash of my own, so between me and my dad I probably have $10k in cash + whatever equity my Accord is worth on a trade (73,000 miles, I4, 4speed auto, 6cd in dash, clean title except I plan to disclose the accident anyways).

Fix your Accord and drive it until you finish school.:)

Downside of a lease is its like renting, you walk away with nothing at the end for a desposit for the next car. I've done it both ways. My '04 is paid for.:)

I get to drive my CTS for ~$13.5K for 39 months. Find me a CTS which didn't lose that much in value in 39 months.

I get to drive my CTS for ~$13.5K for 39 months. Find me a CTS which didn't lose that much in value in 39 months.ill drive mine for roughly 11.300 for 39 months :-)... very happy i leased after i saw what the repair bill would have been for my differential

Fix your Accord and drive it until you finish school.:)great advice

I greatly apprechiate all the advice guys. I am goint to take part of your advice and not spend too much, and wait until I graduate for my CTS (the newer model is gorgeous, these next few years the wait is going to be HARD). Truth is, if the STS drives well I will probably keep it until it dies.

The problem with those $299 lease deals is I currently drive about 18k miles a year, plus insurance for me is quite expensive, so I skip out on comprehensive, and just get liability. If I lease I would be paying another $100 a month in insurance rates.

I currently have a deal pending where I would end up with a 2001 STS with 60k miles.

The plan is this lady is looking for a new GM car, the model is elligable for $2000 of my GMcard points. I will add her as a cousin to my card, allowing her to purchase the car with $2k of my points. Also, she is going to purchase my car and trade it in (hopefully for $7,500 or so). In the end I will only have to add in about $1500 cash.

The Seville STS ain't no CTS, but I will still be overjoyed to own it :)

The best part of this deal is my dad is going to help me out of this jam, and pay all these out of pocket expenses (I know he's great!). Also the STS has, traction control, stability control and ABS, my old Honda had none of that stuff. I am under the belief this accident was easily preventable if I had some of those basic safety gadgets (specifically ABS).

Whadda you guys think? I don't value the GMcard dollars as a 1to1 ratio as I will still have $1500 remaining for when I do get my CTS, plus whenever that time arrives I will probably have a lot more, i'm so bad with overspending ;-)

-David