If your on the fence...buy your truck now!

Some people are forced to buy new vehicles. My 2nd gen was totaled back in June by an uninsured driver. It was my only vehicle and I work 52 miles away from home. Damn straight I had to buy a new vehicle. Used prices were insane in that a 3 year old Tacoma cost more than a new one, and I wasn’t gonna fork over a lot of money for a used Tacoma with an “unknown” history. Most dealers in my area were $5k-$10k markup, and if I didn’t find the place I did, I would have had to pay that markup.

So sometimes it’s not wanting to, but having to

 

I did almost the same thing… We refied the house in July 2020 for 15 yrs @ 2.5%. My montly payment only went up by $360 from the previous 30 yr @ 4.1% (which we were only 3 years into), so we cut off 12 years worth of future payments. Then I bought the truck in Nov. 2020 at 2.75%. My wife’s car, which she loves, is a ‘17 4runner Limited w/ 55K miles and it’s paid off, so I think we timed everything right, at least for our debt. After buying my pickup, I locked our credit down and hopefully we’re done buying anything big until this inflation starts deflating.

 

Yeah, Interest rates dropped low in mid / late 2020’s, especially for mortgages. It’s been straight up crazy high this year

 

And here I was mad about paying MSRP and 5% interest financing December 2020 for my 2021. Looks like I didn't too bad if you compare that to today's BS. Also lucked out and got 3.25% on my mortgage earlier on in the year. Kinda overpaid for the house, but there's definitely nothing comparable that isn't $400 more a month...

 

I drove my trade-in 600 miles to get the truck I wanted, sitting on a lot in Virginia. I found it online, called and negotiated my trade in over the phone, gave them a credit card deposit - all within a few hours of finding it. Drove out two days later. If you're looking for a specific truck, you need to work.

 

Just like STOP signs in New York

 

Glad I didn't wait for the Lunar Rock I had on order back in March and took delivery of the same tacoma in magnetic grey. 60 months at 2.49 in mid June when it arrived at the dealer. The LR would have been here right around now with rates upwards of 4.5%. Saved a little being impatient this time.

 

Me too man

 

Hmmm,

It is different dealing with South East Toyota? Or did they used to do it back in day 2014-15.

Reason I ask is I went to my local dealer in March of 2015 and asked about “ordering a truck.”

We went over the financials and I wanted a DCSB SR 4x4 they had on the lot but just couldn’t swing the payments.

I had been digging around and found since Toyota cancelled Reg Cabs in 2014 the flip side was in 2015 the Utility Package was being offered and at a credit of 1,440 off the MSRP (IIRC) I could be game.

I asked for silver or white, 4x4, manual trans but only wanted two options….
Utility Package and Convenience.

The upper manager told me sure, we will ask Toyota once we find that build type in our cue and we can ask but if your patient they will tell me no multiple times. Just be patient and eventually they’ll say yes.

After four month and 6-requests they said yea on the seventh try.

Crazy Hugh…..
I believe it’s just a great dealer doing whatever they can to get a customer into the vehicle they want.

Hell the majority dealer principle at the time called two months into my wait and asked if I wanted to take one of the 2015 DCSB 4x4s I wanted and drive it 6-months or 5K miles and if I wasn’t happy with it he would give me 2K over trade in on my 2013 RC 4x4.

Great way to have low mileage pre-owned vehicles in inventory! Lol…

 

I'm happy as a clam my wife's 2017 Forester we got at 0% and paid it off in 3 years then I got my 2021 SR5 at 1.9% and put a slew of money down on
it so I'll probably just pay it off mid next-year. The Forester has less than 40,000 miles on it and this Tacoma should last me the rest of my days.

Things will settle down get back to near-normal gonna take a bit longer but it will get there - interest rates will drop housing market will get back in line
and the supply chain will one day once again run smooth....

Us old-timers remember when mortgage rates were 15-18%... caused by no other than the Oil Embargo by OPEC... back in '81
My first house the rate was 8% and I managed - did alright on that house....

 

Good advice!

 

Sometimes if you catch an allocation at the right point in the build process the dealer can request options to be added or deleted, but they are still dealing with something that's been allocated to them. However, I don't believe you've ever been able to walk into a dealer and fill out an order for a non-existent truck and have them build it for you.

 

I had just started in the mortgage banking business. First conventional loan I closed was at 18%. Qualifying people wasn't easy. And we are not old, we are experienced

 

We just built our house last year moved in close to Xmas 1.94 percent for 5 years..I had a bank appt about a month ago they were close to 6.5

 

Bought mine a few weeks ago (almost 3) and 4.9% @ MSRP

 

@brian2sun

Good for you!

We bought our home in 2006 and initially had an 80/20 split mortgage. I can't remember when we did our first refi...I think it was 2013/14...stayed with another 30 year mortgage.

After we paid off C/C debt in Jan 2021, we were in a great position to review Home Equity--since we've paid into principal for 15 years.

Our mortgage payoff and difference in new home appraisal + 2.87% rate on 15yr mortgage gave us enough equity to remodel our kitchen and add new wood floors throughout our home.

With my wife in her happy place and my desire for a new vehicle, (Total loss accident in Oct/2018 and driving a 2010 Mazda CX-9) I had approved car loan at 1.8% for up to $50K.

I figured a threshold of $40K would get me a Skewp Tacoma...and it did!

Since then, we have locked down our credit too for any Big purchases!

 

Im glad I bought my 2nd gen at the start of the pandemmy. I was shopping for 3rd gens at the time too and that was the time to buy because now is just stupid. I know theres a tacoma tax but inflation and dealer markups, hard pass.

I'm set for a while now having done the paid off mod on both vehicles we own. We'll save x amount of money a month to put towards the next vehicle purchase

 

The average Toyota shopper at a dealership:

 

These midsize prices are out of control.