What is your monthly payment? Please read.

You have to make them think you are going to finance it with them up until the point of paying. "I'll be financing with TFS, but want to get a price negotiated before we do a credit app"... You are far more likely to get a better deal if you bluff and little and don't reveal all of your cards too early.

 

I feel my wife and I did things right. Made $7/hr in the 90s and worked our way up in pay scale. Now at $50k each. At 40 years old our house and cars were paid for.

We always had a plan when it came to financing. Save as much $$ up at least 1/2 of the value of the car with the intent of getting the payment to 1/2 of the dollar amt we were saving. Then pay double payments.

Ex: $30k truck. Save $500 a month until the financed amount would equal $250/mth. Put down your savings. Finance and have $250 mth payments then pay $500/mth.

 

Low rates can be had from credit unions without even having a relationship with them. I called around when I got my loan. 2.25% over 72 months. Also could have had 1.95% over 60 months.

 

That's clever. I had not heard of that approach before. I like it.

 

Sounds nice.

Or he could only afford $X/month and doesn't care about financing a car for nearly a decade to get there.

Long terms with higher interest makes me disagree with the "he thought it was smart," idea.

 

Yep, about the same hear. I put the vast majority of day to day buying through credit cards and pay 'em off. So long as one has the discipline to do so it seems silly not to reap the benefits. Truck and mortgage could be paid off with cash in a few days if it were necessary.

 

Man this thread is getting to the point of painful.

 

Longer loan term often comes with a higher interest rate. Base rates at my credit union for 740+ credit score are 1.8% up to 48mo, 2.15% up to 63mo, 2.65% up to 75mo, and 3.75% up to 84mo.

 

We could go round and round. I agree. Tax is ridiculously high for what we get. My point was financing has its perks. Remember though, 600 billion a year goes into defense lol.

 

It's very easy to spend $600 billion when it's not your money that you're spending

That said, for those of us who actually have to spend less than we bring in, a budget makes sense though few will ever use it.

Probably 80+% of the Nice vehicles you see on the road are in hock or leased.

Some people are just resigned to the idea of a car payment in perpetuity and no explanation of why that's bad will sway them.

I would guess that the percentage of people who adhere to the 20/4/10 rule is woefully less than 10%.

Also, NEVER go by what the dealer says you can afford. They will stretch you to the limit.

And remember, at the end of the day it's just a vehicle.

It will never love you or return your kindness and appreciation, no matter how much you baby it.

Drive it and enjoy it.

 

If Americans stopped living the way they do, by racking up debt, then the world economy would collapse in a few hours. Food for thought. In all reality the entire world has gone to far and can't stop doing what it's doing. It's not a question of if things are to big to fail. It's more a question around are we willing to fight a world war again with modern weapons and consequences.

 

Even if you own the vehicle outright it's smart to be making a "car payment" into savings.

Vehicles are an asset that wears out and will need to be replaced. Not budgeting for and saving towards that future expense is short sighted and ends up being disruptive.

 

Interesting thoughts --but I don't believe them. Don't ask me to defend my beliefs, because I DO NOT have enough training/knowledge of economic policy to discuss these issues in a informed/intelligent manner. The thing I do know about is what has worked for the "boss" (wife) and I for almost 50 yrs of married life.

 

I'm not telling you how to live you life at all, nor am I suggesting that your beliefs are wrong. However, the truth is that debt is what the modern economy is based on.

Everyone should live within their means.

 

The trouble with such a doomsday claim is that it's nonsense. Not that the statement itself is incorrect, but that the premise condition is effectively meaningless. A transition away from a "gotta have it today, I'll pay for it later" culture isn't going to happen overnight. Not without some catastrophic cause, such as the world economy crashing super hard and staying down. In which case the statement remains meaningless since the cause/effect gets reversed.

Want to get really depressed in a hurry? Go look up the US national debt on a per-taxpayer basis and how it's changed over the past couple decades. Utterly unsustainable.

http://www.usdebtclock.org

 

I'm not here to argue good sir. I'm just going to leave it at that.

 

If everyone adhere to the 20/4/10 rule the auto industry would be in trouble.
Most Americans would only be able to buy Nissan Versa, Toyota Yaris, Kia Rios new and only afford to buy Camry's and Tacomas used if everyone followed that rule.
I bought my Tacoma with a $37k out the door price on a $60k salary which many finance gurus would say was a huge mistake and sell the truck like yesterday.

At the end of the day I have no regrets buying the truck and I have my savings rate every month and the balance in my savings account in the place it should be.

 

Lots of opinions on here. I put $11,500 down, $1000 trade in, and borrowed $22,292. My payment is $487.41/mo over 4 years at 2.34%. I'm now paying $600/mo and will be done with my loan about 8 months early. Don't tell the dealership how much you can pay each month. Focus on the bottom line. I wanted to borrow no more than $25k and secretly could afford $500/mo. I also did not want to pay any more than $30k for JUST the truck (not OTD, no warranty, etc). I negotiated to $30,498. My first goal was the price of the truck. My second goal was to get the shortest loan at the lowest APR that I could reasonably afford.

There's a fine line between being realistic and being reckless. Set your budget. Don't exceed it. Also... watch the finance person and paperwork like a hawk. I caught about $500 that should not have been on the price tag.

 

Exactly. Never get the payment amount to something you can barely afford because things absolutely WILL come up. If the payment is 250 but a person can afford to drop 500 one month and maybe even 1500 another thanks to a bonus or something then when something comes up and you have to miss a payment you're already 20 payments ahead and it doesn't matter.

 

I think it is safe to say that everyone's situation is different. There are more variables than income. Some people have unusually low or high living expenses, emergency funds, etc. which all factor in to large financial decisions. It is hard to paint everyone with one financial brush.