Good decision to buy?

Thanks!


Probably way more information than anyone needs but FWIW: Do’s & don’ts of buying a Tacoma;

-Set your sights on the truck you want & don’t settle for anything less.

- If you cannot afford the truck you want wait until you can. Determine what sacrifices you need to make to get there and get it done.

-If you do not have an excellent credit rating, find out what you need to do to get there. Your credit score should be near 800/> for the lowest possible rates. Lenders want/need your business; so you can negotiate interest rates until the cows come home.

-This sounds obvious but too many of us look past this; the higher the interest rate & the longer the term, the more you will end up paying for that truck. Look up interest calculators online for a reality check…I wouldn’t go past 48 month’s @ < 3%. If a 70 month loan is necessary, then double as many payments as you can to hammer away at the principle.

-Shop around for the best possible interest rate. Again,several lenders are looking for your business at that higher credit score.

-Save up for a healthy down payment. 1/3 would be great.

-Know your bottom line lending price ahead of time & don’t go above that. This is the term as well as your monthly payments.

-Do not purchase from a dealership unless you’ve done your homework. There is only one dealership here in New Mexico I would trust and it is a dealership out of Farmington. The two largest Toyota dealership out of Albuquerque & Santa Fe; were out to screw me. This same truck would have been sold to me by them for 34 to 35K. And not because of the package, because of the color. If you can believe that.

-I found the best Toyota dealership overall (other than the one in Farmington) is Camelback out of Phoenix. These folks were honest & had the best “dealership” prices.

-Be persistent in reviewing Craig’s list. This is where I found this truck. The owner was only asking $28,500.00. It was valued at 32k. Again, do your home work on the truck.

-Do not let a FSBO play the “I have another buyer” game with you. Make him/her an offer and stick to it. This guy tried playing that game after he accepted my offer. I asked him if this sale was between him and me, or me him and this other guy. That was the end of that.

-Once the FSBO “commits” to your offer verify it by having a friend call about the same truck. If the owner states the truck is sold…you have him exactly were you need him to be.

-Have your lender pay off the loan for the truck (if it applies). If the owner pays it off it will take much longer to get the title. You cannot finalize a loan w/o the title. Too many bad things can happen while waiting for the title.

-If you find a good deal do not advertise it on the web. Too many lazy folks waiting to snatch up your find. Including dealerships.

-CarGurus is another good source.

Hope this helps.

 

I may be in the minority here, but I think this isn't necessarily sound advice when buying a Tacoma. Buying a car? Possibly, but there are advantages to buy high resale value vehicles like the Tacoma.

1st) if you have a good credit score, then negotiating an interest rate is easy. I paid right around 32k for my 2013 out the door (that was with 1,300 under invoice). Because my credit allowed me to get 0.9% and the value of the truck was well under the "the carry," or the amount a lender is willing to allow over the price of the car, putting money down seemed like a waste when the value of the Taco was going to hold.

2nd) Financing for 4 years is also great advice when you're credit sucks and you've put your proper amount down from the 20-4-10 rule. 20% down, no more than 4 years finance, and (most importantly) no more than 10% of your gross income INCLUDING insurance.

Again with a 0.9% rate, the 4 year loan was $685.40 a month and the 6 year loan was $461.03 with only $295.09 more paid in interest over the life of the loan.

Throwing that extra $225 a month into 401k and paying the extra $300 in interest when the retirement fund was going to benefit better than the savings from the note seemed like a good idea.

Finances can be a tricky bitch, and great advice for one person might lose the next guy money. Make sure you evaluate your entire situation.

 

Yes. I got my wife's Prius the same way, 0.9% financing over 60 months. Even keeping the cash in a regular savings account offsets the interest, and my conservative investments will earn many times that.

Mike

 

You might want to punch in your numbers one more time & did you have a down payment?

http://www.statefarm.com/learning/calc/carloan.asp

 

I'm not sure I follow...

 

How are you arriving at a difference of only $295.09 between a 48 & 72 month loan based on a principle amount of 32k?

 

The difference in total interest is 892.00 - 596.80 = 295.20.

There's some difference based on the rounding of the amortization table. I used an app for the original numbers but your link to state farm for the uploaded snip.

 

Robert - I should have used this one.
http://www.calcxml.com/calculators/loan-payment-calculator?skn=#calcoutput

Thanks.