My first car was a used Toyota Celica. My mom was a single mom and refused help from my dad and grandparents on buying a car for me. I get it and would be the same. She was proud to do it on her own. Unfortunately it was very unreliable and needed a jump start basically everytime. It lasted about 14 months and my mom then took the offers of help to buy me a new Civic. I kept it for 11 years and was so appreciative of it every day. So yeah my feelings of used cars aren’t the greatest and will go the hand me down method for DD. We never buy top of the line and keep them for a long time but occasionally we do have car payments. We are very, very reliant on cars here.
We have an expensive car. Could we have paid cash for it? Yes. But that money is earning an interest rate much higher than the 0% the car payment has so it was a no brainer to finance it.
Cars in general have become insanely pricey. I imagine it’s pretty hard for the majority of people in the US to buy one, even used, outright based on average income.
The idea of paying cash for a car is foreign to me. I didn't grow up around people who could afford it; they lived paycheck to paycheck. Now, the type of car is a whole different story. They weren't financing top-of-the-line vehicles; they were financing safe, reliable transportation. I'm another who has always bought new and then driven it as long as I can. I love not having a car payment.
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?
Because people don't always have enough money to afford a car but still need one to get to work or take their kids to school or whatever other normal daily activity? Why is this a question?
Both FI and I would rather pay for a car outright than make a couple hundred bucks in interest over the course of several years but have a monthly payemnt as some other posters have mentioned, even though in terms of pure numbers that's the wrong decision, but we also recognize we're lucky to be able to make that choice.
Post by thebreakfastclub on Feb 9, 2024 10:20:19 GMT -5
As always, there is nuance between buying a $75,000 truck with all of the bells and whistles courtesy of an 84-month loan vs taking out a loan on a used car that fits into the budget. I don't think lilafowler, is making a dig at everyone who takes out a car loan, sheesh.
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.
Us too. Single mom with no backup and a series of old unreliable cars that impacted work and school attendance (no school bus available) and that extra stress was awful.
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?
Lol 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 ::sigh::
I literally do not know one person that has paid cash for a car, new or used. Dear God.
Maybe this is a better discussion for when you are at tea at Downton Abbey.
I am unreasonably annoyed by the mass judgment of strangers financial decisions that are different from one's own.
You want to judge a SPECIFIC case where you have compelling reasons to believe someone is making a terrible financial decision? That's one thing. Just mass judging everyone is not a good look.
Like hermione, I grew up with unreliable, old cars and grew up too poor to really buy anything decent until I was out of college and living with my now husband.
DH and I, however, are more mid-line when buying cars, so they are always used and don't have all the bells and whistles that all the new ones have. We have a 2006 Rav4 and DH and DD complained that they couldn't play music from their phone. So I got one of those carplay touchscreens that is Apple and Android compatible. It works perfectly, and now it is a win-win. The Rav4 will likely be DD's car this summer and she'll be happy with that. She has expressed a bit of jealousy because her BFF will likely get a nice new or used car, but we talked it over, and she understands that all families are different when it comes to prioritizing spending.
Speaking of buying used, how's the market out there? Our car insurance agent mentioned it took her longer than usual to find what she wanted and now I'm paranoid we need to start looking now. DD turns 16 in June.
We have very solid credit, so interest rates are great for us- we've qualified for zero percent interest with the last 3 cars. No point in paying cash for that.
A few weeks ago with had a giant bolt go through a tire. It was about 4" long and had no point whatsoever (almost a carriage bolt, similar to what fence gates use in the hinges). It was so ridiculous, thunk thunk thunk, but it held air well and we were able to get it patched. A few years ago we picked up a huge screw driver bit the same way (at least the pointy end went through that time, though). Never anything normal like a nail, I feel like I'm driving around on katamari balls.
We bought a brand new car in June. Prior to that, I had a 12 year old BMW that we bought from the dealer in 2012 after it was a courtesy car. It had been paid off for years. We financed the new car because we had that money available in our budget to do so. The BMW was super expensive to fix when it broke, and it was about to start having some major issues. The new car has an extended warranty so we don't have to worry about repairs for 100,000 miles.
H has a car his mother gave him that's paid off. Once mine is paid off, we'll give H's car to DD and then he'll get to buy the car he wants. This way, we never have 2 car payments.
My grandfather was always a proponent of buying brand new because he didn't want to buy other people's problems. I think there is something to that.
I thought for sure the OP was being facetious but I guess not. In 2024 I’d have thought everyone on this board understood privilege and being able to save up and buy a car is absolutely that. It’s not even about status for some people, they just want a car they can go out and it will start so they can get to work. Unfortunately cars are insanely expensive now and most people can barely save let alone buy a car with savings outright. Jesus.
Post by donutsmakemegonuts on Feb 9, 2024 10:47:04 GMT -5
The more I think about the OPs original statements, the more annoyed I get. I didn't think I would ever have to defend the reason I didn't just spend thousands of dollars outright to buy a car "because I have the money" rather than finance it. Because I don't want to?? That's the reason.
Yeah, I can't afford to pay cash for cars, well especially nowadays with these insane prices. We try to keep it to one car payment though, hence why I'm still driving my grandmother's 2006 Toyota Corolla. I would love something newer and AWD (I'm talking something really reasonable like a Honda CRV or something), but I will hopefully wait until we pay off my H's SUV first.
Post by minniemouse on Feb 9, 2024 10:49:25 GMT -5
Decent used cars are not the deal they used to be. prices have gone up so much the past few years, as has the interest rate. My car was bought new with 0% financing in 2021. The payment is not low but it’s less than h’s used car (2022 model) he bought a few weeks ago.
Post by mrsukyankee on Feb 9, 2024 10:59:41 GMT -5
We are very fortunate that used cars are typically quite reliable in London - don't have to worry about issues around rusting due to not having snow/salt, usually low mileage as people don't drive as much. We've had luck with the last two cars we purchased together (and my H's car he had before). It makes sense to buy used over here. We did some financing on our last car as we had no other debt and it's actually useful for our credit rating to have a bit of debt. We've now paid it off but we won't get another 'new' car until the interest rates come down a lot.
We buy Toyotas. They hold their value and are expensive used. We'd rather not buy something with an unknown history. My husband traded in his 88 Caprice for cash for clunkers when we bought our first Rav 4. I think that was a leftover 2008 that we bought in 2009. It's still in great shape. I got rid of my 1998 Corolla when we bought our new car in 2021, so I don't worry about money I "lost" in financing. We put down hefty down payments and get a low rate. We also don't day "F it" and get something more expensive just because we're financing.
I guess it is odd. We are really debt-averse in every other way. We would never not pay a credit card in full but we don't mind financing a car.
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 😱😱😱😱
We buy new cars now, and we put down a significant downpayment but don't buy outright. We've had good interest rates so it makes sense for us not to pay for it outright. We then do pay more than the minimum for the monthly payment (usually double) to pay it off quickly. The reason we pick new cars over used is that in our experience, new cars do go longer without needing significant work. We also keep our cars for about 10 years. So we might buy new and pay on it for like 2-3 years, and then go many years without car payments. We also try to only have one car payment at a time (we are a 2 car household). So right now, dh has a 2017 Honda Civic and I have a 2020 Toyota Highlander. Both cars are still in great condition and haven't needed anything other than routine maintenance and new tires. Dh would like to get a new car now because he wants an electric, but we've decided to keep his Civic for when ds is driving (in 1.5 years). Since we won't have a trade in for the car he wants, and because electric cars are more expensive, we will definitely have a payment when he buys the new car, but we've been saving to have a significant downpayment for it (we're at about half now, but will hopefully have more like 2/3 when he's ready to buy).
Post by basilosaurus on Feb 9, 2024 11:11:51 GMT -5
Well happy fucking cny. That Chinese new year because they refuse to call it lunar here even though that's what it is.
Fireworks are going off all around.I wish you far more peace than I have right now. My poor cats and my poor roof and porch as I run around thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I'm so damn tired. I've been awake far too long for this
I don't think there's any reason to pile on the OP. She mentions these people have their vehicles repossessed and utilities shut off and keep financing large, expensive vehicles.
No one needs a lesson in privilege from people who have 40k+ on hand but take advantage of 0% financing that's not available to most poor people, or from people whose parents didn't buy them nice enough cars when they got their licenses. Let's all just check ourselves a bit.
dochas we are also extremely debt adverse - despite what I said about financing cars and interest rates etc. we’ve made the “bad” decision to pay off mortgages even with low interest rates for peace of mind. We also Toyota enthusiasts and bc of high trade in value and the minimal cost between used and new prefer to buy new.
dochas we are also extremely debt adverse - despite what I said about financing cars and interest rates etc. we’ve made the “bad” decision to pay off mortgages even with low interest rates for peace of mind. We also Toyota enthusiasts and bc of high trade in value and the minimal cost between used and new prefer to buy new.
When I bought that 98 Corolla my BIL liked it and he bought the better model and 0% financing was available for that. Savings interest rates were high so he was making money on the deal. He couldn't live with it and ended up paying it off after a few months. He just couldn't live with owing. Money and the lack of it affects us in so many different ways!
Post by SusanBAnthony on Feb 9, 2024 11:21:41 GMT -5
I don't judge financing cars, but I judge financing expensive cars for reasons other than a low interest loan so you can leave money in investments that make more.
You can buy a new car that will be super reliable and hold 4 people and a normal amount of stuff for under 25k. Go buy that and squeeze in and skip the giant suv that is also killing the environment! And you will have a reasonable payment that is paid off well before the car needs a lot of repairs.
I appreciate the real thoughts! I hope I wasn’t being too combative-I know my thoughts on this are influenced by my dislike of the neighbors lol. My H told me to stop wasting mental energy on them and said that maybe financing nice cars are the only good/nice things they CAN actually obtain since they don’t really have anything going on otherwise. He told me I should have forgiveness in my heart and that’s when I walked away 🤣
I cannot even buy a used car outright with cash, so financing is the only option. And I live where there is shit public transportation, shit weather and jobs are regularly 30-45 minutes away so two cars is critical.
Post by midwestmama on Feb 9, 2024 12:24:48 GMT -5
I (manager level) have to work with someone (director level) who does not understand that they can't get everything they want, in the timing they want it. For example, we are conducting a global project this year, which was aligned with the global leadership team for our function. She wants my team to do a project for her market/region, and what she wants us to look at is covered by the global project, so I told her that it would be covered by the global project, as that is what was approved by the global leadership team. She basically said that she would go around me then to implement what she wanted. So I'm going to bring this forward to my boss (director level) when we have our weekly meeting on Monday. To me, her behavior and approach is not acceptable, in addition to her insisting to go outside of what was agreed upon at the level above her. I am so glad it's Friday!
After we had a wheel come off of a used car while the car was being driven (bolts sheared right off), we were pretty much done with used cars. This was after we had taken it in multiple times to have it looked at, and each time were told it was fine. Thankfully DH was only going about 10 mph (he was in a parking lot at work) and our babies were not in the car at the time (he had dropped them off at daycare that day on his way to work). We feel very blessed to be able to afford a new car.
It is sunny and warm out this afternoon (atypical for an early February day in MI), so I think I'm going to go for a walk outside.
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.
Our urgent care sucks so we've started going to the children's hospital ER for X-rays. They have drilled into our heads that sometimes breaks don't show up immediately on X-rays with kids, sometimes not at all. They tend to go by symptoms and both times my kids ended up with a cast (one was a splint actually because it was a broken thumb). I'd go for a second opinion somewhere else.