Average new car payment $554

[SevenBizzos]

Originally Posted by AuthorEditor
Quote
As a result, the average monthly payment for a new vehicle continued to climb to a new high of $554 and to a record $391 for used vehicles, according to Experian.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/06/auto-loans-hit-record-high-sending-borrowers-to-the-used-market.html



Not surprising. Loans keeps getting longer and longer too.

My 12th overall car purchase last year was my first new car and now I have a shiny payment to go with it. I figured we're putting back quite a bit for retirement and real estate around here is a bad investment, so let's go ahead. I keep cars, so we're going to be the only owners. I didn't settle either. We got exactly what we wanted.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted by AuthorEditor
Ha! My first "real" job was $1.65 an hour, but I got overtime every week because I routinely put in 60 hours on the time clock. Got paid cash in a little envelope every Friday. Typical day was 12 hours, starting at 6am, and ate lunch on the floor if it wasn't busy. A lot of days we didn't eat. I was only 16 so bought a bicycle. No car then.



I might have you all beat!

As a cadet, I was paid a nomicomical ~ $25/day, no matter how many hours I worked. i was on one ship that paid overtime, but it was straight time, so not much of a benefit, especially since I still had a sea project to complete!

My longest tour was over 120 straight days, which meant a TON of money to come home with and spend, considering I didn't get a ton of shore leave! lol

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted by ls1mike
Originally Posted by Linctex
That's a mortgage payment!

Where? Rent here in the greater Seattle area is anywhere from 1200 to 2000 a month for an apartment.

My mortgage is 1600 dollars a month in Poulsbo Wa.

Indeed my mortgage is closer to the average car payment but I got a once in a lifetime deal. It's still not under $700 a month.

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by Linctex
That's a mortgage payment!

My last "car" payment (light truck, actually) was $184 a month.

The Kia Optima with 17,000 miles that I'm buying will be about $308 per month.

Way, way, way too many people are "living beyond their means" ...!!!!!!



Overall I agree Linctex...

 

[tony1679]

Originally Posted by ad244
Originally Posted by tony1679
Linctex has it right. Give me my very nice, very roomy $100k house (or even better a small ~700 square foot small house for ~$50k including a few acres of land in a rural area). I could literally retire for the rest of my life on $200k.


Until you get sick and need to see a specialist.

Well, I do agree with this, however, I'm the type that says let me die. So that said, yes, one lump sum payment of $200K (after any taxes/fees) would allow me to never have a mortgage or car payment, and essentially retire.

...I may have to work ~5-10 hours a week at a cake job to compensate for inflation, blowing a tire, or finding a goldmine of clearance oil at Target. But I still call that retired!

 

[Nick1994]

I don't get it.

My Sonata was 2 years old and $9,990. I put $4k down and my payment is $179 a month... I don't make the minimum payment but still, it has 4 wheels, is reliable, comfortable, and gets me to work. Don't care about much else.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I am visiting my niece in Arlington, TX. Her older twin daughters are graduating from High School. She has a 4,000 square foot mansion; it is worth maybe $400K.
$400K is not even an entry level 1 bedroom condo in Silicon Valley.

CA is beautiful, but we ain't got these beautiful blue skies and picturesque clouds. Stunning.

 

[HowAboutThis]

Originally Posted by AuthorEditor
Quote
As a result, the average monthly payment for a new vehicle continued to climb to a new high of $554 and to a record $391 for used vehicles, according to Experian.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/06/auto-loans-hit-record-high-sending-borrowers-to-the-used-market.html


Yup. Cause all y'all have to buy trucks and SUVs. Buy a normal car for $20k without all the bells whistles. Under $300/mth. After the loan is paid off, keep saving the same amount. 10 years later pay cash. Barring any medical emergencies draining your savings, you won't have a car payment ever again.

 

[HowAboutThis]

Originally Posted by Nick1994
I don't get it.

My Sonata was 2 years old and $9,990. I put $4k down and my payment is $179 a month... I don't make the minimum payment but still, it has 4 wheels, is reliable, comfortable, and gets me to work. Don't care about much else.


I know, right? Let the sheep keep spending more than they make. Gotta keep up with the Joneses. It's all about image, baby!

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by TiredTrucker

For me, min wage was $1.75. Maybe $1.80. That was a long time ago.


Heck, that makes my $3.35/hr seem downright "obscene" !...‚

Originally Posted by HowAboutThis
Yup. Cause all y'all have to buy trucks and SUVs. Buy a normal car for $20k without all the bells whistles. Under $300/mth. After the loan is paid off, keep saving the same amount. 10 years later pay cash. Barring any medical emergencies draining your savings, you won't have a car payment ever again.



That's pretty much my take. Maybe in a few years I'll upgrade but right now I got two teenagers wanting to drive, so I'm saving up for something used, cheap and safe that I can maintain... and most importantly something I can just pay cash for.

Originally Posted by HowAboutThis
I know, right? Let the sheep keep spending more than they make. Gotta keep up with the Joneses. It's all about image, baby!


I've got friends that have practically a $100k in cars in the driveway (not hard to do) and maybe make a little more than that, if that at all. But, to each his own I guess...

What's funny is my father always use to say a man who lives within his means sleeps well at night. He retired from ConocoPhillips as mgmt, pretty well off and drove the same Chevy Astro right up until retirement, where then he treated himself to a nice Lincoln paid in cash 100% .... and yeah, I got the Astro. ...

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted by HowAboutThis
Originally Posted by Nick1994
I don't get it.

My Sonata was 2 years old and $9,990. I put $4k down and my payment is $179 a month... I don't make the minimum payment but still, it has 4 wheels, is reliable, comfortable, and gets me to work. Don't care about much else.


I know, right? Let the sheep keep spending more than they make. Gotta keep up with the Joneses. It's all about image, baby!


BITOGism........

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by tony1679
Originally Posted by ad244
Originally Posted by tony1679
Linctex has it right. Give me my very nice, very roomy $100k house (or even better a small ~700 square foot small house for ~$50k including a few acres of land in a rural area). I could literally retire for the rest of my life on $200k.


Until you get sick and need to see a specialist.

Well, I do agree with this, however, I'm the type that says let me die. So that said, yes, one lump sum payment of $200K (after any taxes/fees) would allow me to never have a mortgage or car payment, and essentially retire.

...I may have to work ~5-10 hours a week at a cake job to compensate for inflation, blowing a tire, or finding a goldmine of clearance oil at Target. But I still call that retired!



At 29 years old....NO WAY, NO HOW!!

I don't have a Mortgage or a Car Payment. And even if I was single, I couldn't see 200K getting me very far!
Owning a home & land is expensive!

 

[tony1679]

Originally Posted by clinebarger
At 29 years old....NO WAY, NO HOW!!

I don't have a Mortgage or a Car Payment. And even if I was single, I couldn't see 200K getting me very far!
Owning a home & land is expensive!
I have two ways to easily do this.
1. I can buy an acre of family land with an existing well and septic for $5k. I can then build a small, simple, extremely energy efficient house for well under $75k, as I've already had multiple estimates based on what I want. Then pay off both cars (rounding way up) for $20k. That's only $100k. I have no debt other than that, so that's $100k I can put in savings, invest, etc. With no real bills, $100k will last a very long time with my lifestyle.

2. I can buy my current house I'm renting for $125k. I'd instantly have $25-50k equity in it (again, family deal). Paying off the two cars would leave me $55-60k, plus $25-50k in equity. My lifestyle consists of surfing BITOG and the everlasting hunt for the motherload of clearance oil. Not to mention the things I could do for income in all that free time that I couldn't do now.

Of course, as ad244 said, assuming I don't rack up millions in medical bills.

 

[AuthorEditor]

I wonder if that $554 includes other things, like the sales tax? Topic for another thread, but I'm convinced the absolute cheapest way to own a vehicle is to pay $3000 or less in cash and then drive it until it drops or three years, whichever comes first. I have never gotten less than about five or six years out of a car this way, but by then I usually lose some of the value in repairs. If you choose carefully you can usually avoid major repair expenses for three years or about 36,000 miles. Rinse and repeat every three years. If you spend $3600 (to get a nice one) that works out to $100 per month for a car. Plus, there is a ton of savings on initial sales tax, car insurance (just get liability), and even routine maintenance. Don't do anything expensive to the car except change the oil, make sure you have good tires and brakes, and keep a battery that works in it. Drive it, save a fortune!

 

[MCompact]

I usually buy a 2-3 year old CPO, take out a 60 month loan, and pay it off in around 2.5 years. For the X1 I only took out a 2 year loan and I hope to pay it off in less than 20 months.
For me cars are an entertaining part of my life- if driving cars I enjoy costs me a bit more, so be it.

 

[Ws6]

Originally Posted by MCompact
I usually buy a 2-3 year old CPO, take out a 60 month loan, and pay it off in around 2.5 years. For the X1 I only took out a 2 year loan and I hope to pay it off in less than 20 months.
For me cars are an entertaining part of my life- if driving cars I enjoy costs me a bit more, so be it.


Exactly. I drive 100mi a day that I work, and I prefer to do it in a car with air-conditioned seats, heated steering wheel, HUD with NAV, and AWD (for when its icy/snowy/rainy/to navigate my gravel road/drive), and that has decent acceleration. I pay $650/mo, and I have it DD'ed straight to the bank account responsible for maintaining that loan. I don't ever see/miss that money, but it sure is nice to get 27-28mpg and cruise in comfort to work and back, not worrying about if/when anything will break because I have a 150K mile, 10 year bumper-to-bumper 0 deductible warranty, and I enjoy the vehicle. My mortgage on my house and acreage combined is around $1500. No college debt. One small personal loan. Small amount of CC debt that I'm wiping out this year. Life is good, and I have plenty of money left over to go on trips, take my girlfriend nice places, and feed my chickens and dog. As long as you're solvent...you do you...time is the one thing that noone can get back. Enjoy what you've g ot, nothing is promised.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by AuthorEditor
I wonder if that $554 includes other things, like the sales tax? Topic for another thread, but I'm convinced the absolute cheapest way to own a vehicle is to pay $3000 or less in cash and then drive it until it drops or three years, whichever comes first. I have never gotten less than about five or six years out of a car this way, but by then I usually lose some of the value in repairs. If you choose carefully you can usually avoid major repair expenses for three years or about 36,000 miles. Rinse and repeat every three years. If you spend $3600 (to get a nice one) that works out to $100 per month for a car. Plus, there is a ton of savings on initial sales tax, car insurance (just get liability), and even routine maintenance. Don't do anything expensive to the car except change the oil, make sure you have good tires and brakes, and keep a battery that works in it. Drive it, save a fortune!

How do you get 3 years out of tires? Ah, you must drive little... My wife is a stay at home mom but drives 25k/year. Tires don't last us more than about 40k on average (do about 32k/year, 22k is commuting and the rest is misc trips).

This past vehicle I did do as you suggested, $1,500 Camry that I put about $1,500 into repairs, maintenance and a couple minor upgrades (hitch, stereo). Two years & 60k was fine but lately it's nickle and diming me and has been parked more than driving. No way could it be my only vehicle.

 

[Ws6]

Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by AuthorEditor
I wonder if that $554 includes other things, like the sales tax? Topic for another thread, but I'm convinced the absolute cheapest way to own a vehicle is to pay $3000 or less in cash and then drive it until it drops or three years, whichever comes first. I have never gotten less than about five or six years out of a car this way, but by then I usually lose some of the value in repairs. If you choose carefully you can usually avoid major repair expenses for three years or about 36,000 miles. Rinse and repeat every three years. If you spend $3600 (to get a nice one) that works out to $100 per month for a car. Plus, there is a ton of savings on initial sales tax, car insurance (just get liability), and even routine maintenance. Don't do anything expensive to the car except change the oil, make sure you have good tires and brakes, and keep a battery that works in it. Drive it, save a fortune!

How do you get 3 years out of tires? Ah, you must drive little... My wife is a stay at home mom but drives 25k/year. Tires don't last us more than about 40k on average (do about 32k/year, 22k is commuting and the rest is misc trips).

This past vehicle I did do as you suggested, $1,500 Camry that I put about $1,500 into repairs, maintenance and a couple minor upgrades (hitch, stereo). Two years & 60k was fine but lately it's nickle and diming me and has been parked more than driving. No way could it be my only vehicle.



My last CX5, on CrossContact LX20's, I got 50K miles. That's just shy of 20K a year, so it's not much driving, but does fit in with most people's schedule. They lasted me about 2 years.

Also, yes, screw that nickel and dime BS. My vehicles need to be 100% functional, as close to 100% of the time as possible. Time is money to me, and I would rather work an extra shift or so to pay for the difference between a fixer-upper and a new car with a solid, long-lasting warranty.

 

[SEBZX79]

I think most are missing the point, worry about doubling your income and you will not worry about a 600 or a 1000 dollar car payment.
Work hard play harder and enjoy life.

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted by MCompact
I usually buy a 2-3 year old CPO, take out a 60 month loan, and pay it off in around 2.5 years. For the X1 I only took out a 2 year loan and I hope to pay it off in less than 20 months.
For me cars are an entertaining part of my life- if driving cars I enjoy costs me a bit more, so be it.


Exactly. I'm orderering a Camaro ZL1 later this year for my fun weekend car.

Imagine if I kept my 1988 Honda CRX all these years and never bought modern vehicle that made me happy.

I've had company vehicles for the last 25 years and all have been very boring.