Buying a car with cash

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Buying car with cash is crazy unless you have milions. Take a loan, when in need of money dip into savings.

Having car payments is crazy from my perspective. I have never, ever paid anything but cash for any of my cars. And I never will. Stupid to pay monthly on anything but a home and utilities.

This is ridiculous. Some people just aren't good with bills or figuring out what is affordable for them, and so it makes sense to save and pay cash. Otherwise they would over spend on a car.

Through my bank, I get 0% auto financing and take advantage of it so I can keep my money working for me. No way on earth would I have handed over $130k for my new car when I could finance it at 0%.

Great financial advice from someone who spent $130k on a car. I'm sure you can relate to the OP who doesn't have $200/month for car payments.

There was a time when I couldn't even afford to pay my utilities. I also remember when I couldn't afford to fix a tooth that had broken off for 3 years. I've been poor. So yeah, I can relate.

Only someone previously poor would brag about spending $130k on a CAR. You know what they say about a fool and his money...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Buying car with cash is crazy unless you have milions. Take a loan, when in need of money dip into savings.

Having car payments is crazy from my perspective. I have never, ever paid anything but cash for any of my cars. And I never will. Stupid to pay monthly on anything but a home and utilities.

This is ridiculous. Some people just aren't good with bills or figuring out what is affordable for them, and so it makes sense to save and pay cash. Otherwise they would over spend on a car.

Through my bank, I get 0% auto financing and take advantage of it so I can keep my money working for me. No way on earth would I have handed over $130k for my new car when I could finance it at 0%.

Great financial advice from someone who spent $130k on a car. I'm sure you can relate to the OP who doesn't have $200/month for car payments.

There was a time when I couldn't even afford to pay my utilities. I also remember when I couldn't afford to fix a tooth that had broken off for 3 years. I've been poor. So yeah, I can relate.

Only someone previously poor would brag about spending $130k on a CAR. You know what they say about a fool and his money...

Seeing as how I keep making it, I'm not worried. $130k isn't nothing but from my POV it's nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Buy a new car NOT a used one. You don't know what kind of problems you will get with a used car.

Go to EDMUNDS.COM and read about how to buy a new car.

I would recommend you write up a list of what you NEED, not want. (Color is a want, excellent safety ratings is a NEED). Edmunds has the links to IIHS and the other one.

Then contact dealers via EMAIL and tell them what you want. Have them do the work and contact you.

I would also get a loan with someone other than the dealership so you don't have to deal with their financing (they can pull all kinds of crap with you there.)

I had dealerships competing against each other for three days before I made a purchase. You can also verify the price is a good one by using Edmunds.com and put in all the bells and whistles. Get their FINAL, out the door price (tax tag title etc all included) via email. Then do the test drive. IF you love the car, then it's a done deal for you.

Don't tell them you're going to trade until you decide to purchase it after the test drive. Look up the kelly blue book of your vehicle and expect a much lower offer. You can negotiate a little with this, but not too much. Be fair and reasonable.

I did this and it was a breeze. Most sales people don't know the vehicles the way a mechanic would, so don't expect them to know much. Some of them don't even know the safety features.

I'm a female and did it all by myself. Got a much better deal than my DH who purchased a brand new vehicle a year before mine. (He went with their financing and they were playing games with him-not wanting to give him the rate but wanting him to sign the paperwork accepting the loan. WTF? I would have walked out, but he yelled at them and eventually got the rate he would have gotten with a competing bank (we already had the loan preapproved.)

Do you also open your own doors, pull out your own chairs, and work outside the home? You renegade.

What woman refers to themselves as FEMALE? I've only ever heard men say that, and neanderthals at that. I'm betting this person isn't actually a woman, and it just trying to make a stupid point, ie even a "girl" could do it. Yuck. (My point, PP, is that don't let this "female" give women a bad name)

Actually I am FEMALE and so what if I choose to write FEMALE instead of WOMAN? I wrote that because when I contacted some dealerships saying what I wanted (safety wise), a few of them actually contacted me asking what color I wanted. Yes, because they think I'm a woman, I'm a moron and only care about the "pretty color" instead of car safety ratings. If you think car salesmen don't treat women differently, you are sadly mistaken. I actually knew more about the cars than the salesmen did, after only a few hours of research.

My DH used to be a mechanic and he told me stories about how his shop used to scare/manipulate women into doing unnecessary repairs to their cars. They never tried that with the men, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks PP 7:37. I think one thing I'm wrestling with is that I don't really have any slack in my budget for car payments, now that I'm paying for day care. I just started using YNAB so I should have a better view of my finances in another month or two, once I get used to its system. But right now, things really are tight.

I have been continuing my contributions to a Roth IRA and I put some money in a 401K (far less than the fully funding it, though)…I could stop making those contributions for a few years, but that strikes me as more financially unwise than using my "down payment money." But maybe I'm wrong about that?

Another thought: maybe I get a car loan, and just use part of my savings to pay it off over time. Maybe there'll be some month here or there over the course of the car loan where I would have enough money to cover the payment without tapping savings.

Based on my experience with YNAB, if you can hold out (meaning if you can keep the car going without any major repairs), I would give it 6 mo to a year. You'll understand your finances better then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Buying car with cash is crazy unless you have milions. Take a loan, when in need of money dip into savings.

Having car payments is crazy from my perspective. I have never, ever paid anything but cash for any of my cars. And I never will. Stupid to pay monthly on anything but a home and utilities.

Stupid or smart investment? Let's say you have 20k in cash. If the dealership is offering 0% financing, or your local credit union is offering car loans at 1-3% interest AND you have invest options with a 6+% return, then you're just throwing away 3-6%*20k by putting all the cash down now on a car, rather than investing it. It's not chump change. Now OP doesn't have the liquidity for an extra $200-300/month for car payments, so not an option really, but if you do have the wiggle room, why not give up the short term wiggle room in your budget for the long term return on investment? I mean, all you have to do is give up the equivalent of a weekly take out for the family to come up with the difference.

I agree, PP. But many people here are penny wise and pound foolish.