Dealer keeps trying (to buy mine / sell theirs)

That’s a pretty fair way of looking at it.

 

Add a new frame to that equation

 

I know some people really enjoy having the latest and the greatest and the newest. That’s cool. However, I for one hate having car payments.

I went years without having one then suddenly I had two of them. Just sold my Corvette to pay off my wife’s 2019 Camry XSE. I put 21 down financed 15 through my credit union @1.99 percent on my current truck for five years. Bustin my onions to have that paid off in 2 1/2 or less.

While these trade in and buy offers seem enticing, I like to be debt-free I think just a little bit more.

Just me maybe ...

 

Payoff mod is the best mod

 

A wise man told me that “if you can’t afford to buy something, how can you afford to buy it and pay interest too?”
There are situations where a vehicle is required for transportation and a person does not have the capital to get a vehicle without a loan, but if one already has a reliable vehicle it does not make sense to add to your debt to get something newer or nicer. Not necessarily that most fun way to go when you are young but you will be glad you did when you turn 60

 

Wise indeed. But it’s not about having or not having the money. It’s about debating the value of moving to a new vehicle with the inherent benefits that come with that move. Granted, there are costs too. And as someone rightly points out, that cost is ~$8k. Or perhaps as low as $4k depending on model selection.

And at 1.9% or lower, I’ll borrow people’s money almost every time. I’ve concluded that the juice isn’t worth the squeeze for this particular go-‘round. An even swap would probably be my tipping point. But that’s crazy talk. . Actually, not so much of a stretch if you left off some of the goodies and got a decent discount on a manual. But that’s not a true apples to apples vehicle, but instead finance to finance.

Still, the ‘what if’ game is fun to play.

 

Borrowing other people's money at 2% and investing your money even conservatively has yielded a much greater return %.

The folks who like to tell people to pay cash up front will point out that the stock market can crash and you can lose a ton of money.

I point out that the vehicle can also crash and you can lose money and allot more.

 

These trucks just keep climbing in price. The more I look at them the less I want to buy one. Tacoma pricing actually has me wanting to buy a Ranger instead.

 

Remember the old and true adage.

"If it sounds too good to be true, ................."

 

Yep that is so true. I keep getting stuff in the mail from ford wanting to give me 29,000 for my 2017 OR 4x4 fully loaded with 99,000 miles here is the catch they want me to buy one of there 70,000 ford 150 No thank you

 

If someone would loan you money for 1.9% that would be a great deal, but not if you have to by a truck from them to get the loan.

 

Agreed. The premise is that I'm already buying something and the only decision then is to finance at 1.9% or lower or pay cash.

 

I think like houses, they have decided new versions are going to go up, up, up every year. People will pay it. They are. They do.

 

I started getting letters and emails from the dealer a year ago for my 2013. Started with up to 20k for mine plus 2k in incentives for new SR5 DCLB 4x4. Kept dropping all the way down to 16k in August. Last letter it was back up to 21k.
They must want pretty bad.

 

It's a guarantee (almost) that the dealer will make net positive on your trade-in. It's a guarantee (almost) that the dealer will net positive on the one they sell you. They could take a small loss that they make up in volume bonuses, but that's kind of rare. It's certainly a rare situation where the dealer doesn't net positive between the two transactions. It's then about how much is it worth "to you" to swap. With the current deals being offered it isn't worth enough to me.

I've toyed with the idea of paying off one of my vehicles and then doubling down payments for the other. That'll get me clear in a year on both. Sometimes even the pleasure of no bills wins out over 1.9% It's just really interesting to see how the market is right now for the Tacoma. Carvana was paying crazy money for a while. People were selling their (usually bought used) Tacomas for thousands more than they paid 3 years ago. That's a hard one to pass up: Pay me to drive a truck for 3 years? If you can find a replacement that makes financial sense, why not move into another one with 75k miles less?

 

I've been getting the same type of thing, and my hesitation is pretty much the same as yours except for color. At one point they called every day for about three days straight. And every time I go in for oil change or service somebody comes up while I'm waiting and asks if I'm willing to trade it right there.

 

Do it! And get a proper transmission this time

 

I hear ya there. But my Taco is still running like a champ, and I haven't any drastic life changes that would require me to have a different vehicle (DCSB for example)

 

If you were going to buy the truck anyway, then there is no mathematical difference that I can determine.

 

Man, you got that right!
When I bought my new rig a couple months ago (And I knew it was coming, which is why I'd rather get 4 root canals all at once, than deal with the dealership people) was the 'hard sell' on all the 'Extra Warranty' stuff. Had I 'agreed' to everything on the long list, I could have easily spent another $6k. I had to get a bit nasty with the 'Buy this extra stuff' guy. (The girl that I had been working with all along over the actual getting-me-what-I-wanted and the rest of the sale though, was an absolute sweetheart and busted her butt to make me happy..)
Before Mr. Hard Sell guy even got started, I told him 'Look, I'm not buying any extra warranty stuff, so save yer breath..'
He informed me that he HAD to tell me so if later on if something broke, I couldn't go back after them saying 'I didn't know about any extended warranty'. OK, fair enough, I get the 'legal' stuff, but what really pissed me off was when he gave me the big grin and informed me that he was a retired Marine DI and knew how to deal with 'guys like me ' ... I was close to just walking out right then and there. But the nice sales lady stepped in and told Mr. Hard Sell 'He doesn't want this ... Just check off all the 'no' boxes and let him sign at the bottom..'