All my cars paid for.
12% are paying $1,000+ a month for car loans ...
- Thread starter odie
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If I weren't a car dealer, my only two cars would have been a red 1994 Toyota Camry coupe that I bought new in 1994 and a red 1st gen Miata which I bought for $3000 back in 2010.
The Camry is still on the road with 400,000 miles and I'm sure the Miata is still out there somewhere. I keep nothing but this idea of swallowing a $1000+ note strikes me as a fantastic case of wealth destruction.
The Camry is still on the road with 400,000 miles and I'm sure the Miata is still out there somewhere. I keep nothing but this idea of swallowing a $1000+ note strikes me as a fantastic case of wealth destruction.
You are making a lot of assumptions…
Just paid $1100, my first payment. Lexus
No surprise to see the "I'll never have a car loan" crew on one end of the spectrum in this post and then this craziness of >$1K payments on the other. I always used the basic idea of 20% down and a 5 year car loan at most and if possible pay it early. I remember always trying to keep my total debt payments so mortgage + car payment etc. at no more than ~30% of your gross income; some will say a lower % of their take-home...whatever makes you happy. The idea was that the 20% protected you from being upside down with the harsh depreciation on new vehicles and the 5 year or less kept you from having both 1) a car payment and 2) expensive out of warranty repair bills The most expensive vehicle I own is our '18 Altas which we bought new for ~$42K. I own 5 vehicles (listed in my signature) and all are paid for. There is no need to pay cash for a vehicle to be a "good financial noodle award winner" but I agree that it's nuts that middle class folks are buying $70K trucks with $1K+ payments that are likely over a 7-8 year time possibly having negative equity rolled in etc. Bad financial decisions aren't a new phenomenon however....just getting more shocking as prices go up. Life is about reasonableness. If I had to take an auto loan now I'd be looking at my income level of still keeping things in the $6-700 payment range at most. I remember the first vehicle I bought while in grad school in the late-'90s, a '92 Toyota 4x4 pickup. $10K and I put down $2K and took a 4 year loan if I recall with a whopping $170 payment...wow. The other concept that seems to be lost is that of...keeping your vehicle. I have not bought many vehicle sin my life and typically drive them as long as I can *reasonably*. Paying that car off then getting a few more years of paid off use is a huge positive that many now don't do - continuously trading in vehicles for many is a financial trap they don't get out of but I understand many lease and that's the cycle you get in. My favorite is someone that trades their car in b/c they need tires and don't want to pay the ~$1K for tires b/c they can just trade it in and maintain the same car payment.....but of course now they have a payment longer but they don't care...holy crap that's nuts to me....I know a guy who buys a new car every 6-12 mos., he is financially well off and doesn't pay cash, just basically accepts that I'll have XYZ car payment for the rest of my life and in the scope of his net worth and income, it's a drop in the bucket. He buys sporty cars that are roughly in the 30-40K range so nothing crazy. To each their own here. Final comment: keep in mind that a police officer and a school teacher in many areas easily clears $100K/year so people earn more as inflation raises prices so the $1000K/month isn't quite as nuts as it may seem for many that are earning well into the 6-figures (it's nuts to me!!!).
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That is you opinion but a whole lot of people in the NE would disagree, they are a very popular vehicle. For us they are a perfect winter vehicle, we both have summer cars.
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Toyota quality isn't what it used to be either, most of the Toyota crowd agrees. I have a 2019, its OK, but nothing special. In the meantime subaru seems to be getting better.
I looked at Subaru - none of them have space for a full size spare, just an undersized donut. If your flat is on the front your supposed to remove a rear tire for the front and put the undersized donut on the back so you don't ruin the AWD system or something. WT?????
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New cars are for suckers... like car payments... and anything that is not naturally aspirated, or which does not have a transmission fluid dipstick... have you not been reading these threads?
The only proper car for a BITOG reader is a 1998-2011 Panther or Toyota Camry paid for with cash and driven to 400,000 miles.
What would you drive if you had no mortgage, no debt, no kids and your wife and you made $324K last year?
Ah, I haven’t had a car payment in 20 years. I’ve never been unable to get anywhere I’ve ever been required to go.
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You described my DINK lifestyle almost to a "T"...
I drive a 4 cyl 2009 Toyota Camry and a 2006 Mercury Grand Marquis... both in excellent shape, reliable, easy to find parts for, and easy to work on... and most importantly paid for... I keep my cars until they reach 250K... so the 400K in my comment above was admittedly a bit of hyperbole.
A car gets me from point A to point B... I have no need to try to impress anyone, and better things to invest in than an asset that depreciates... I need a car in today's America, but I begrudge every penny I have to spend on them...
I subscribe to the Sam Walton theory of automotive excellence... he did "OK" for himself!
In a Midwest climate? A GS-F in the winter and a Carrera S in the summer. Cash for both and 3-4 years old.
GON
$150 Site Donor 2025
2022 Toyota Avalon.
How nice are those apartments ?
Some off roady editions had full size matching rim spares, and I think now most Subaru's have a full size spare. Ours does not full size spare, but I find if you max out the height of the jack on the front jacking point you can get both tires off the ground on that side, so its no big deal to swap the back to the front and put the spare on the back.
I guess if your out in the middle of no where, you will just glad you have any spare, even if its 5 min more work to put on...
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