Why do people buy new cars with car payments? If you can’t afford it outright why are you going into debt for something that you will NEVER be able to sell at a profit or borrow against (like a home)? And if it’s not putting you in debt why aren’t you paying the total amount at once?
We only buy used cars outright so I’ve never had a car payment and I can’t fathom having another bill for a car….but I hate driving and cars, so…
Just thinking how the people downstairs HAVE to be paying WAY more than their rent every month for their brand new giant vehicles.
I can’t imagine not having all that money in my monthly budget. They have bad credit (they’ve had cars repossessed and their gas shut off while we’ve lived here) so their interest rate has to be 😱😱😱😱
And we are not awesome with money either-I just see them all with their cars (4 people live downstairs and now both of the daughters have their own cars so they all have a car and they’re all new). $$$$. I know it’s not my business but it got me thinking about why people who do have the money do this?
Post by lavenderblue on Feb 9, 2024 8:39:19 GMT -5
Some of us suck as saving money LOL That said, I currently own two paid off cars (I drive a 2006 Honda Accord that only has 85k miles and DD drives my 2013 Acura MDX). I bought both used, I financed the Acura at the time and the other that I paid for outright. Come November when my son gets his drivers license, I will likely need to finance a 3rd car, but I only ever buy used and I'm hoping to put at least half down on anything I can get.
My sister's car payment is over $1k a month and I can't fathom. I also couldn't care less about cars and will drive my (fully paid for) CR-V into the ground.
I went out Wednesday night with friends and tied one on and I'm still hungover. Being middle aged is fun.
Sometimes we’ll finance something if the interest rate is lower than the rate of return we’d get investing. Like right now, H just bought a new car and instead of paying full cash, he financed it (it’s not a ton if money, bc he got a high trade in) bc he didn’t want to remove the cash from a high performing Vanguard account at this moment. We don’t have any other debt at all so he can play these types of games short term - he’ll reevaluate when he gets his bonus in the spring. He’s a bond analyst so he loves this type of thing 🙄
Like gummybear said, we have financed when it made sense to pay like 0.9% financing and keep our money in the market. We had 2 car payments until last last year, when we needed to lower our monthly payments and we had some free cash. Then we just paid them off so that we didn't have to worry about them anymore.
You will be assaulted by an ad for something on Insta that you JUST DON’T WANT OR NEED. It will be relentless and obsessive and basically stalk your whole life. A week or so later you might have a situation pop up where you think, you know what would really help? That thing I saw on Insta 865336x last week! It would be perfect.
But you can’t remember the name and when you go back on Insta to look thinking surely I will see it bc it was spamming me all last week, it’s up and vanished like a fart in the wind.
Cars are absolutely a sign of status, especially for people who maybe have a lower economic status.
Also I am not going to shame financing. You can still be smart with your finances and have a reason you finance a car. We just financed a 1/3 of our new car we purchased in January. Used cars are so incredibly inflated. We got a brand new car for 5K more than a car with 60K miles on it. This time it was much smarter financially to buy new. We also drive our cars until the bitter end.
DD has been complaining about her wrist since Sunday (she fell skiing, then went to a trampoline park, so who knows what she did). Anyway. She prides herself on being tough and it is highly unusual for her to be making a big deal over this unless it really hurts. She claims that she cannot bend it more than a small amount.
We took her to the pediatric urgent care last night. X-ray showed it wasn't broken, and I was surprised at how dismissive the doctor was once she saw there wasn't a break. She kept insisting that DD could bend it (even though she couldn't) and just told us to give her Motrin.
I was surprised they didn't at least wrap it or something?
Idk. I'm sure they see all kinds of things but I was surprised they didn't take it more seriously. I know they have no way of knowing if a kid/family is generally dramatic about injuries or not, but the whole visit was weird.
I always buy new and drive them into the ground. I bought my first car in 2004 when my car from college kept breaking, I drove it until I replaced it in 2019 with a new car. My exh bought his first car in 1996 or 1997, it was a used 1995, he drove it until 2015, we replaced it with a new car.
Everytime I look at used cars they are nearly as expensive as new, have a bunch of miles and you pay more for financing. My payments have always been under $400 and the total cost of my 2019 Chevy was under 25,000. It's now paid off and I'll give it to DD when she starts driving.
I slept on my neck weird and now have a stiff neck and lovely tension headache. Hopefully the ibuprofen will kick in soon.
I need to decide what I'm making for the Super Bowl. We're going to just do lots of appetizers for dinner, which always sounds good, but turns out to be a lot of work. I'm trying to think of a couple things I can prep early along with a store bought thing or 2.
I finance cars. The last used car I could afford to buy cash turned into a massive money pit and died within two years after pouring far more money into it than a car payment would have been in the same time. We have had better luck financing new then driving for 10+ years knowing that we kept up in maintenance. I’ve had too many used cars that had major issues way too early due to prior owners abuse that wasn’t detected before selling (we also no longer know a trustworthy mechanic to have evaluate for us).
DD1’s 14th birthday is today. Yesterday I took her for contacts, something she desperately has wanted. Well, 3.5 hours later we left the doctor, with the contacts still in her eye and a prescription for a sedative and instructions to come back today because she was incapable of putting her fingers in her eye or letting any of the 4 other people - including the doctor - from doing so. So now today, in addition to a full day of meetings and cooking dinner for 13 people (birthday dinner with grandparents, aunts, cousins etc) I need to pick up the prescription, bring her to the eye doctor, convince her to take the sedative (which she has anxiety about) and then get those contacts out. I barely slept because MY anxiety about the whole thing is so high. Any words of encouragement or hair pats would be much appreciated.
And poor DD1 who has to spend her birthday this way. She hates doctors and everything medical and was so proud of herself for being brave enough to try contacts. Last night she cried that she is a failure. I was so proud of myself that for those 3.5 hours I stayed calm and kind. It was not easy. She also cried that she “doesn’t want to be high on her birthday” which made me chuckle.
And I just don’t know when to take her to be honest. She wanted to go after school with her friend who has the same birthday to a new candy store that opened, and I want that for her but also…we need the contacts out.
On the car topic, I absolutely have childhood something (trauma seems like to strong a word but I can't think of another one) related to cars breaking down and sharing one car for everyone to get to school and work and what it would mean for all of us if the car didn't start that morning. Etc. Etc. It's silly but I don't every really see my self driving an older car because of that. I currently drive a 2019 and will likely get something newer by the end of this year. I am happy to pay for peace of mind even if it's not a financially sound decision.
Oh, nancybotwin, that sounds awful. Poor thing! I also chuckled that she didn’t want to be high on her birthday, lol.
My dog has a UTI. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in soon because she is clearly uncomfortable.
I’m doing a feature length set tomorrow! In Northern Illinois if anyone wants to come, lol. I’m a little nervous about it but I get paid either way, so if I bomb it’s a learning experience. My last (and first) went well so I’m kind of curious to know if that was a fluke. This is the weirdest hobby.
I think there's a lot of entitlement when it comes to cars that people feel they deserve fancy car.
As for the car debt, with both of my cars I COULD have paid outright, but either got 0% financing or low enough that I felt more comfortable paying over time instead of lower my cash. I prefer to buy new because I drive my cars into the ground.
I also feel like every time I shop used cars the price isn't enough of a discount to justify not just getting used.
I have been trying to plan an event for work and reached out to two comedians to see if they would be available/their rates. These are not high profile people, but I think they would be great for our community. They cost $50,000-$60,000 for one night. So keep doing what you’re doing! I am definitely in the wrong line of work 🤣
It's supposed to be warmish today and tomorrow, which is weird for Feb but I'm definitely taking the opportunity to air the house out and probably rinse my car off tomorrow.
Now I'm thinking about how we've bought cars over the years, and the first one we financed at a relatively low rate because we needed a second/more reliable car when DD was born. We had also just bought a house and were low on cash. Drove that car until it wasn't worth the repair bills. Second new one we financed at 0%, ended up paying it off a little early when we got a windfall so we could free up monthly cash flow. Last car we did buy outright; rates were ridiculously high, used cars were expensive too, and again we had some unexpected cash available that made the decision easier.
On the car topic, I absolutely have childhood something (trauma seems like to strong a word but I can't think of another one) related to cars breaking down and sharing one car for everyone to get to school and work and what it would mean for all of us if the car didn't start that morning. Etc. Etc.
Both H and I have this as well from our childhoods. Cheap cars that were never reliable. You held your breath a bit each morning. Having a reliable car is SUCH a sign of status for me.
On the car topic, I absolutely have childhood something (trauma seems like to strong a word but I can't think of another one) related to cars breaking down and sharing one car for everyone to get to school and work and what it would mean for all of us if the car didn't start that morning. Etc. Etc.
Both H and I have this as well from our childhoods. Cheap cars that were never reliable. You held your breath a bit each morning. Having a reliable car is SUCH a sign of status for me.
I don't even think of it as status. It's more in the self care realm.
On the topic of cars I have a screw in my tire so I get to spend the afternoon figuring that out.
I just had this happen myself. I was super anxious about it because tires are expensive and I didn't want to have to get new ones (because getting one means getting at least two, right?) But thankfully the screw was near the middle of the tire so it was able to be patched for around $40. So I hope that is the solution for you too.
I have been trying to plan an event for work and reached out to two comedians to see if they would be available/their rates. These are not high profile people, but I think they would be great for our community. They cost $50,000-$60,000 for one night. So keep doing what you’re doing! I am definitely in the wrong line of work 🤣
On the topic of cars I have a screw in my tire so I get to spend the afternoon figuring that out.
I just had this happen myself. I was super anxious about it because tires are expensive and I didn't want to have to get new ones (because getting one means getting at least two, right?) But thankfully the screw was near the middle of the tire so it was able to be patched for around $40. So I hope that is the solution for you too.
You are coming off as really judgey and priviledged lilafowler . Not everyone can afford to save up to buy cars so in our car focused society without good access to alternate transportation they have to take out a loan.
Post by donutsmakemegonuts on Feb 9, 2024 9:59:29 GMT -5
I have never paid for a car outright, I have always financed. Years ago I wouldn't have been able to pay for one outright, but I guess now I could? But I just don't? We bought a new car during COVID and VW was running a 0% interest rate for the entire loan so we jumped on it. We also refinanced our mortgage during COVID because of the lower interest rates.
I absolutely finance my cars. Usually it’s bc I get such a low rate (current car was at a 0.9% rate) that it makes sense. But also, i don’t want all my cash tied up in a car. Even though i usually have enough saved to cover the cost, id rather keep it there for emergencies.
I spilled my wine last night all over my phone, charging cord, and other odds and ends. Now phone is being finicky about charging. Did I fry the cord? Did I kill phone charging port? The works fine other than the finicky charging, so I’m hoping the cord is just dead. I’m flying home today where I have plenty of other chargers so hopefully my battery lasts and it’s just a charging cord issue. I am not ready to buy a new phone. Ugh.