Who has their truck Paid off?

Good luck finding that.

And when you buy a used vehicle, you are potentially buying the unwanted problems of previous owners which could cost you more in the long run (new transmission, anyone?) Been there, done that.

I don't entirely disagree with what you've said, though, because credit can get you in big trouble if you aren't careful.

Booya? Seriously?

 

Because the borrower is servant to the lender. No one "needs" a new vehicle. The average vehicle drops 40% of its value in the first 4 years. Therefore if you can't pay cash for a new one, you could pay cash for a used one and have cash left over for remodeling, etc. If you buy a 3-4 year old vehicle with low miles, chances are all the kinks are already worked out from the previous owner taking advantage of the original warranty. And as far as building credit goes, technically no one needs "great" credit. Why? Because if you pay cash for every vehicle and pay cash for everything else, you don't need credit. And as far as houses go, you just find a place that does their own underwriting, and credit is pointless. AND if you have an emergency fund of 3-6 months worth of living expenses, then you shouldn't ever need to take out a loan on unexpected things. Booya.

 

Where do you live? Have you seen a 3-4 yr old car in NY with low mileage that was less than $10k? Even if I had bought a used car I would have STILL had to finance it since I don't have $10k +TTL sitting around in liquid form. I actually have a car like you speak of. It costs me $300+ each year to make it legally pass inspection. I also needs new suspension on all 4 corners, new exhaust, and burns 3 quarts or more of oil between changes. hmmmmmm yes, lets buy ANOTHER used car that'll be like that in a couple of years as the second vehicle in the family instead of a new, reliable one to trust the wife a kids in. Brilliant idea!

And, no, the kinks are not worked out of cars by the time you buy them used. They are starting to rust, corrode, break down, and just plain wear out. So you're buying something that'll just eat up money on repairs unless it's a southern car at a decent price and still in good shape. I've watched friends and family go through used cars. Sometimes 2 a month because something broke and it was cheaper to buy another POS than fix it. So no, never another used car.

You contradict yourself. You say to buy something like a car with cash all at once instead of spreading the payments out, and yet talk about keeping 3-6 months worth of expenses saved up? How the hell do you do that if you blow all or most of your savings buying the vehicle or house with cash in the first place? Yeah, I suppose you can save again to build that back up, but isn't the point of having that money to not touch it unless absolutely necessary? So what do you do? Blow your safety net on a used car, and hope like hell nothing unexpected comes up?

The whole reason some people finance is to do exactly what you said: keep a stockpile of cash on hand to get through a few months of bad times. Paying a portion each month as more money is earned, keeping the safety net cash stashed away for a real time of need.

 

Wow, what kind of cars break down, corrode, and crap out after 4 years? I'd hate to see how you treat your vehicles. I have a 24 year old Tercel that I drive every single day. Well, enjoy your debt while I drive my 3 paid for Toyotas. Then if something goes wrong, I will just take it out of my emergency fund. That way my investments never get touched, and I never have to have a credit card.

 

My truck is paid off... kinda. My dad decided to pay it off, but hold the title til I pay him the rest of the amt owed (about $5k) so I dont have to worry about school and truck payments at the same time, or mess up his credit on the chance I missed a payment since he co-signed. Should be mine free and clear by the end of summer.

 

I paid for mine in one big check. it was my savings.

 

I LOVE PARENTS WHO MAKE A BIG DEAL OUT OF MY BIRTHDAY! sorry. im good now

 

Lets see, my 2006 Tacoma has frame rust already and the alloy rims bubble, peal, and have to be hammered on to get off each rotation. The washer fluid cap cracked from the extreme cold last winter. Minor really, but that was the same winter a door handle on my Corolla shattered when my buddy tried opening the door.

Again, you've made no hint as to what part of the country you live in so I'm gonna say you have no clue what winter snow, ice, and salt on the roads can do to a vehicle. For what it's worth my Corolla is a 1998, and probably should've had new suspension 2 yrs ago, 2 yrs after I replaced the rear. It's on it's second transmission, 3rd clutch, 2nd master and slave cylinders for the clutch, 4th catalytic converter, 2nd muffler..... Oh yeah, it spent the first couple of years in Virginia as a rental (company should have done all the warranty work right?), then a couple years in SC. All the recent shit happened in the last 3-4 yrs I've been back in NY. So yeah. NY is hell on cars.

I guess you just don't get how bad all the little moving parts of a car get once salt starts corroding them. The biggest problem isn't the part that's bad, it's removing the nuts and bolts needed to replace said part without fucking things up more. Or all the little plastic bits that crumble to dust after a few -25F winters and 100F+ summers.

 

Paid mine off in February. took 3yrs to pay it off and now i own it!!! Mine is an 07 and i have not one single major complaint. no rust problems...no engine troubles, no running gear problems etc... 45,000 miles and gonna last forever. if i out live the engine then i will just throw a new one in it and give it to my son and then get myself another Toy...screw that, he can just go get his own

 

I paid off most of it.. dad helped me tho. Thanx dad!

 

I paid $$$ for my truck...it was paid off before it even left the stealership...

 

mine

 

It's all about choices. If you can invest $25,000 cash instead of throwing it down on a truck and earn interest at a higher rate than your truck loan is. Not only are you coming out ahead on money, you're also improving your credit score which can also save you money down the road. For the folks that got loans at 0% or 2.9%, it would not be that hard to invest and earn interest at a higher rate than that. If you also factor in compounding, you are earning interest on more than just the $25,000 you would have initially invested.

That being said, one can never predict the economy or stock market but over the long haul, you will make money.

 

Well, I've made two payments on a 3 year 0% loan. I was going to pay cash, but figured I'd beat Toyota up on their free financing and hold onto my money, so I could pay it off easily. Does that count?

 

I can earn a higher rate on my cash than I'm paying for financing, so why pay it off early in my case? Earning a 2% spread on $22,000 is a lot more money for me than earning 2% on $2,000.

 

intrest rate is a factor for sure.

i could go borrow agaist my truck and invest it, but i like not having debt.

gf's car is paid off as well.

only debt we have is the house and her student loans.

 

There is some level of comfort knowing you don't have debt, that's for sure. Once I get down into the $8k - $10k range I'll probably go ahead and pay it off so I can have that same feeling of relief.

 

That's another thing.... Thanks for reminding me. lol All these people that "only pay cash".... I'm guessing were born wealthy, mom and dad pay for everything, or really mean "only pay cash now that I can...."

I can't imagine anyone getting to the point they can afford to pay cash for large purchases like houses and trucks without an education. And unless their family is independently wealthy and willing to share there's no way an education can be gotten without student loans.

So I wanna know how many of the people that only pay cash for everything managed to buy their truck and house without needing student loans to get an education. Or how they managed to get such a high paying job without an education if that's what they did. (Aside from the obviously illegal ones like drug dealing.)

 

Yeah, I can see you worked hard for it. You have an education though. First the 1 year college which may not be much, but it's more than a HS diploma or worse a HS drop out. Then you had the Air Force. Which educated and trained you. So you're qualified to do more than flip burgers, and have documentation to back that up. Unlike, say, someone right out of HS or older with no college or military experience. You also have/had Air Force income above and beyond anything else you made from the sounds of it. Same amount each month so you could budget and plan on that while being smart with your money.

I can respect that. You also didn't say "I only pay cash for things" and leave it at that coming across as a rich SOB just rubbing it in peoples faces that may not make 6 figures, have had hardships, or have other obligations to deal with.

Just seems like a lot of people have the world handed to them, and act like it. No appreciation for what they have or how hard others work to get the same or less. There was too much shit like that over on TN and that's why I left. Hate to see the same mentality here.

Beyond that, I was actually curious how people manage to pay cash for their vehicle or everything in general. I mean, I have a wife, 3 kids, house, and the truck. I'd *love* to pay cash for everything, be debt free, and close out my credit cards. Unfortunately, circumstances in my life prevent that. Short of a higher paying job, or my wife getting a better job once she's out of school I'm out of ideas. Closest solution I see is a new job opening at my hospital with the exact same description as my current job only with 2-3x the pay! (Yes, I applied for that sucker!! ) So explanations of HOW people pay cash for everything not just that they do would be nice.

 

Yeah, wife is doing school during the day and working nights now. Which means daycare for 2 during the day. One of those will be in school soon so that will help after the summer.

I've also had a few lapses in employment. Between losing my school job when I graduated, not finding another for a couple months, and then getting fired from that one for a BS reason due to a bitch I worked with savings have been drained. Job after that paid less, and we decided it was best my wife didn't work since her money would only go to daycare so she could work. It finally wasn't an option when she started school and the kids HAD to be in daycare anyway. At that point she started picking up hours at night to cover gas and part of the bills. She'll be out soon and able to get more than minimum wage in fast food or retail, but that's another 2 months off. And it'll still be a while to catch up. I probably had a month or 2 worth of income saved when we met, but that's been eaten away over the last 3-4 years. So yeah, the keeping 3-6 months of living expenses saved is nice in theory, but doesn't always go as planned. I've basically had to hide money from the Mrs. in a 401k as soon as I was eligible, and in a savings account with only my name on it when taxes came in.

As for making things to sell on the side.... Yeah, I've thought about it. Never can find the time though. As soon as I get home from work I'm taking care of 3 kids while she's at work, trying unwind from my day, and do whatever chores she didn't. I get about an hour or two after the kids go to bed to do anything that doesn't require keeping an eye on them. At which point I'm exhausted, it's dark out, and I can't think clearly enough to get into any sort of project.

Not to mention the house repairs. lol Man I wished I'd had $50k in the bank for that. Mortgage is $700/mo which I'm betting is the same or less than most people's rent. So yeah, that's financed but how is that different than rent? lol At least in the end I'll own it instead of paying the landlord's mortgage so he owns it.