People who make under $300k hhi: do you really have over $1000+ per mo in car payments?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No bc I bought my car new from the dealer for $28K in 2017 and paid it off in 3 years. Only 60K miles so far.

Our HHI is under $300K and this is similar to what we did.

I bought a new Rav4 for $28K in 2018. I put $5K down, traded in a car for about $10K, and financed the rest. I think the monthly amount due was around $250, but I paid it off in 1.5 years.

I know Rav4s are pricier nowadays but never in a million years would I pay $1000/mo for multiple years to own a car!

[Anonymous]

OMG no. We buy our cars for cash (used). I am not stupid.

However, we do know some people who live in much more rural, lower cost of living areas who likely do this or close to it. The thing is that when your housing is dirt cheap, and you spend all your time in your car (and may have a job or lifestyle that requires hauling a lot of stuff or people around) it's easier to justify.

DH has some high school friends who probably have an HHI of around 100-140k? Neither of them has a college education. Their house cost 50k at most (4 bedroom split level in the middle of nowhere). They have 3 cars (one for each parent plus another their kids share), all financed, and they trade their cars in every 5 years or so to get the newest everything. Their car payments could easily exceed $1000/mo. But their house payment is like $400. So there you go.

Our mortgage is $2700 per month, we still have some student loans we're paying off (another $400/mo), and we want to be able to send our kid to a private university. So we don't carry credit balances and we don't finance cars.

I'd still rather be us.

[Anonymous]

WTF, no?! What kind of cars are these people driving?

I'm poor. Not DCUM poor but actual poor. I make $35k/year.

I had to get a new car last November after an unfortunate accident with a deer. My credit at the time was 727 and I put $7k down, which is what I received from the insurance for my totaled car. My payment each month for a 2023 Kia suv is $311/mo. The lowest interest rate I could get was 7.59%. I've been paying $500/mo to pay it off faster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never read or heard of 1000 dollar car payments.
This is a troll post.

LMAO

My ex has two, one is $1,200 and one is $1,500

And he only makes $400k

And those dumb cars aren't even his stupidest financial decision.

[Anonymous]

All the admins at my job lease $$$$ card.

[Anonymous]

I just assume that folks with less than $300,000 HHI live in their vehicle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make just over $300k. Unfortunately, both our cars are falling apart at the same time (one is 13 years old, the other 15). If we can’t get one to last, we will probably have close to $1k in car payments (though realistically we’d probably buy one with cash and then “only” have $5-700/month.)

Still a lot to swallow after 10 years of no car payments at all.

Why weren’t you saving $500 a month for the past 10 years?

+1

:Applause:

The number of women (yes, women, because most men I know could not care less) who are and who go completely stupid cross eyed, trying to look like something they are not, is insane. Look around. Y'all are wasting money on private school, cars you can't afford, and God knows what - then you actually have the cajones to come here and complain about money on the college and other forums?? For real?? Y'all married a bankbook, and wonder why y'all are disappointed. GTFOH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never read or heard of 1000 dollar car payments.
This is a troll post.

LMAO

My ex has two, one is $1,200 and one is $1,500

And he only makes $400k

And those dumb cars aren't even his stupidest financial decision.

But. It. Is. Just. So. Obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WTF, no?! What kind of cars are these people driving?

I'm poor. Not DCUM poor but actual poor. I make $35k/year.

I had to get a new car last November after an unfortunate accident with a deer. My credit at the time was 727 and I put $7k down, which is what I received from the insurance for my totaled car. My payment each month for a 2023 Kia suv is $311/mo. The lowest interest rate I could get was 7.59%. I've been paying $500/mo to pay it off faster.

When I made $35k I did not own a car, and could not fathom paying for one.

[Anonymous]

I pay cash. However things have gone up so much, that would be hard if anything happened to the cars we have. We can get by with one car so we’d probably do that for awhile. I’m also willing to pay more to fix cars than most, but something like a transmission wouldn’t be worth it.

Family of 5 at about $130 K. Haven’t had a car payment in 20 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I don't have a car at all.

Who cares. Why are you bothering to post?

DP here. Because if you earn under a certain amount - you don't actually purchase a vehicle, you make do.

[Anonymous]

hahaha no. I make $90K and my car note was $250/mo, paid off this yr. Also paid $1000 cash for a classic Miata that no teenager can or would want to steal with its manual transmission, roll up windows and tape deck. I'm perfectly happy without a $1000/mo car!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been a trial attorney for a long time. One of the issues that I investigate during discovery relates to finances. I have met more people than I can count who have a $52k net HHI and pay more than $1k per month for their vehicle loan. First time I saw it was around 2010. I don’t get it.

So, you're assuming poor judgment. I'll counter with (especially now) that it is expensive to be poor. When I bought a car when I made 30K, and I was required to have a car for work, I didn't have $15K out of pocket for the used car I needed to buy. That meant financing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been a trial attorney for a long time. One of the issues that I investigate during discovery relates to finances. I have met more people than I can count who have a $52k net HHI and pay more than $1k per month for their vehicle loan. First time I saw it was around 2010. I don’t get it.

So, you're assuming poor judgment. I'll counter with (especially now) that it is expensive to be poor. When I bought a car when I made 30K, and I was required to have a car for work, I didn't have $15K out of pocket for the used car I needed to buy. That meant financing.

It was Jimmy Baldwin who said you have NO IDEA how expensive it is to be poor.

When I made 30K, my boss impressed upon me that if you can't pay for a car in three years, you can't afford the car. Good advice, even now.

[Anonymous]

HHI $275k, no car. If we ever get one we'll probably spend about $15K cash for a used car.