From a financial safety net perspective, those (insert monthly payment amount here) payments are still showing up every month, long after the manufacturers supplied warranty has expired. Now of course you can buy the extended warranties, however you are paying interest on said warranty which just adds to the monthly payment. To add, not many “consumers” purchase said extended warranty, leaving them wide open for an un expected financial hit all the while still making payments. I have seen many people freak out on the service drive when popped with a large repair bill while still making astronomical payments on a depreciating asset that just left them DOA. Extended term financing is the industries answer to over priced vehicles that most people really cant afford. Personally i dont buy “expensive” vehicles, never go over 5, i pay off early, and i keep socking that payment into savings in preparation for the next vehicle purchase. Now days the only way anyone should consider extended term financing is if they have a warranty that covers the term of the loan, which would require and extended service plan, which costs more money. My experience having worked in the car business for over 20 years, is that in 7 years, most modern vehicles are well over 100k miles, and pretty much clapped out. Dont get me wrong there are still decent high mileage pre owned vehicles that are traded in, but most are not. Personally, 7 years later, i wouldnt want to be making the same payments the day i traded in a turd as the day that i purchased said turd brand new. The best was when dealerships were offering 72mo 0%. They called it 0% blind, because most people didnt realize that you either took the term and lost all incentives, or you took the incentives but on a shorter term. Most of the time it was a better deal to short term and pay interest, but all the “consumer” saw was the lower monthly payment, so they would finance the extended term. Dealers absolutely loved 72 @ 0 because they made more money.
