Posted on 03/18/2008 9:56:02 AM PDT by Incorrigible
I'm not a good customer. I've owned American and Japanese cars and just took car of them for 10 years. Four years was the maximum loan I've ever taken though.
My current stable:
1997 Honda Accord
1999 Toyota Sienna
2002 Toyota Camry
Cars last 6 years now. I paid off my 1986 T-Bird after 6 years and drove it 13 years.
I read that that Americans drive their cars for an average of 10 years. The reason being is cars are just built better these days.
I buy cars that are 3-4 years old but still have a few miles left on the warranty so I can get them fixed if there is a major issue. I pay cash then drive them until they fall apart.
I suppose the government will just have to bail out the consumers on this too? Too much greed isn't good for the economy so I suppose Bush will have to come up with something for that too. LOL!
No one forces anyone to purchase things they can't afford.
***The trend toward longer-term loans didn’t start last year or even in the last decade. Since at least 1975, when the Fed began tracking auto loan data, the length of car notes has steadily gone up.***
Fourty to fifty years ago you could only get car loans at the bank.
The rules were..If it was a NEW CAR you could get a 24 month loan. If it was a USED CAR you could only get 18 month loan. State tax included in both loans..
And that was AFTER a down payment of about 20% that came out of your pocket.
Previous to the Camrys, we had a Tercel from it's birth in 1980 right up until 1997
**We kept the Japanese manufactured Camry and sold the Americanese, as it turns out the one made in the Land of the Rising Sun was much superior in several respects.
The government should just pass out 1 mil to every family. That way we can all afford to buy a home and 1-2 new cars, ipods, plasma tv’s, computers, etc.\ (sarcasm alert needed?)
That's true. Remember -- back in the day -- when you used to see cars trailing blue smoke all the time ... and, lusting for a ring and valve job, I owned a few of them. Now, you almost never do.
I’m not a good customer either: We paid off our SUV and write a check to ourselves each month instead. We bought our family luxury car used (with a warranty) and saved a bundle over brand new.
I love cars, but I don’t love throwing money away.
This 72-84 month financing is to the auto industry what sub-prime mortgages was to the homeonwer undustry.
I well remember what Mitsubishi’s zero zero zero financing plan did to Mitsubishi. And even if you paid cash for a Mitsubishi the value was less than half of a comparable Honda or Nissan.
Why not finance over, say, 5 years? Assuming you plan to keep the car at least that long, and the interest rates are (as they have been) negligible. I financed my current car (less the $10,000 in cash I put down on it) over 5 years at 1.9% APR - the financing is costing me very little, and my monthly payment is minimal. And I got incentives and discounts on the car when I bought it, too.
I’ve already decided, though - my next new car will be a used car. Let some other pay the 20-40% depreciation that occurs over the first couple of years, leaving me with a practically new car for a bunch less money. I must admit I’m not super thrifty, though - I’ve developed a taste for nice cars, not just basic transportation. I’ve had enough of those over the years.
As someone said, “I buy a car every 15 years whether I need one or not.”
I celebrated 200,000 miles and my 9 year anniversary last month with the old Jeep Cherokee.
Yep! I'm currently driving a Ford p/u that I bought for $1000. I was going to keep it long enough to find something a little nicer but it just won't die! I finally put new tires on it because it still starts every morning.
I'm loath to get rid of it. There's a lot to be said for driving an eyesore. I never lock the doors. Nobody's going to steal it. If it gets dings and scratches, I'm not going to cry. Insurance is $35/month.
I'm in the market for something a little newer and nicer but I still plan on paying cash for it. I've gotten spoiled by not having a car payment and paying next to nothing for insurance. It is a practice I'll maintain.
We bought a Toyota Highlander that was one year old and had only 14K miles on it and paid $5000 less than the people who bought it new just one year ago. The thing is so clean you would swear it was brand new.
1998 Toyota Camry
1999 Toyota Camry
2007 Toyota Corolla
2007 Toyota Highlander.
We have a mini-dealership in our driveway at suppertime every night!!
Same here. I get either a 2 or 3 year old off-lease car. They're usually half of MSRP.
Instead of driving until they die, I go to about 75,000 or 80,000 miles and then trade-in and pay the difference with cash.
I will make an exception when a plug-in hybrid comes out by a major manufacturer. I will buy one of those brand new and then buy a solar panel for my roof and battery bank for storage. Then I can shove it in the faces of my faux-green co-workers who want to do stupid things like ban plastic bags at the grocery stores in order to "save the planet".
I had to bite the bullet and get a loan for a little over 9K for the balance to buy my wife a car last August. The loan officer said just go ahead and get the 5 year term because there’s no penalty for paying the loan off early. I paid it off a week ago today. Grand total of $155 in interest paid on the life of the loan.
It took me eight years to pay off my truck that I bought in 1995. Five years initially with a balloon payment, then I had to refinance the balloon payment for three more. I wasn’t real bright.
Fortunately, I’ve sort of made up for it by keeping the beast on the road for five years after paying it off. 161,500 miles, looks like hell, but she’s still going.
}:-)4
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