Auto Loans in March Averaged 70.6 Months, the Longest Ever

www.caranddriver.com ^ | APR 3, 2020 | BY COLIN BERESFORD APR 3, 2020

[jttpwalsh]

I did tell my kids we could save the cost of a casket, and bury me in the car...... Thanks.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I remember the “Good old Days” when if you wanted a car, you had to come up with a down payment, then go to a bank and get a loan for the rest plus taxes.
If a used car you could only get 18 month loan.
If a new car, you could get a 24 month loan.

But then, back at that time a soda pop cost 10 cents, not $1.50.
Same for cars. A new one could run you a whole two thousand dollars!

[Bommer]

My hhr is 12 years old, still runs like a top. Will be damned to spend $60k on any vehical that doesnt have a gun on top

[zeugma]

It’s not really “free money.” If you take one of those 0% financing deals you’re usually giving up some kind of discount that you could negotiate for yourself if you paid cash for the vehicle.

A friend of mine bought a new pickup a few months ago. The sales guy was all excited about it, until he told them he was paying cash. He said you could almost see extreme disappointment on the guy's face. They weren't interested in discounting anything at all. It was both interesting and a bit strange IMO.

[trebb]

Yep - and they can probably be had for about 55% of original cost...

[sheana]

We always pay cash for our cars. We negotiate the price first and then when they start talking about financing we say cash. Apparently that doesn’t happen very often because they always act a little surprised.