Just for fun, how are you enjoying your car payment

Oh man, all this talk of building wealth. In my late teens I pursued "a road, VERY much less traveled" and now at age 67 and choosing to continue working with passion in my career, I still feel very blessed and content with my choices. I could share a very long story, but it is not necessary. That my bride of 46 years and I are thankful to have our reliable, low cost of ownership 11 year old Jeep Patriot is telling, lol. Our priorities are elsewhere.

I do continue to be annoyed when my SIL insists in parking his POS behind us.
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FowVay said:
I'm a boomer. I haven't had a car payment since the Reagan era. It's just how I roll. Don't ask me about my white New Balance tennis shoes and white cotton socks though, they keep me hoping I hit the Bingo jackpot :)
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I recognize the sarcasm. You're probably also one of the people here that are scared to talk about politics.

I'm not a Boomer but I am sick and tired of the under 50 crowd using this phrase and innuendo about anything that is thrown their way in the form of criticism or how things aren't going so great for their generation.

Get a straw, suck it up buttercup.
 
Admittedly I have not listened to Ramsey in years. The problem I have with his process is he ignores too many variables. One, he says pay off your lowest value loans first. This ignores the interest rate. 2nd he says save up money and pay off debt before buying a house. This ignores the current housing values, interest rates, etc. Not to mention if you are paying rent you are paying someone else's mortgage. IMO, Ramsey's process is oversimplified.

Regarding the 15 vs 30 year home loan, again the pure numbers are overly simplistic. This assumes one has the same loan for the duration. I refinanced my home loan many times; the object was to minimize interest expense. Duration is a factor but not the most important. Additionally, if you are struggling to make the larger payment, you may get stuck in lean times. It can also curtail or stop other investments. I paid off the house and invested in the market at the same time.

Retiring early is generally considered a good thing. Well, if you invest in yourself via training and/or education you might get into a career you love. For me, this is a key point. I am retired but miss the challenge. In fact I am currently teaching myself another programming language just because. Goes along well with dirty greasy oil change services...
 
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JeffKeryk said:
Admittedly I have not listened to Ramsey in years. The problem I have with his process is he ignores too many variables. One, he says pay off your lowest value loans first. This ignores the interest rate. 2nd he says save up money and pay off debt before buying a house. This ignores the current housing values, interest rates, etc. Not to mention if you are paying rent you are paying someone else's mortgage. IMO, Ramsey's process is oversimplified.
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His plan is oversimplified because that's the way it made sense to him to stop making poor decisions. It's the rip off the bandaid approach for those with addiction levels of spending. I do listen to Ramsay on occasion and my method has been a bit modified of his. I will say he was one of the voices that made me originally reevaluate my financial situation years back.
 
Hillbilly Deluxe said:
No car payments but the insurance today feels like one.
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YES! We barely drive anywhere. Own 2009 + 2018 Honda AccordExls and every time insurance is due they sneak a few more dollars onto the yearly rate. Same national company for 30 years+......... Already checked many other places and it pays for us to stay with same company. They at least have always paid instantly any home or auto claims so there is that at least.
 
ATex7239 said:
You’re a good person. Don’t let the ageist around here bother you. If you can look passed all their judgmental comments, new vehicle bashing, oil hoarding, bickering, complaining, conspiracy theories, fear mongering, and general hatred of anything new or different… they are actually ok guys. ✅
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Thanks 🤣😂

Been reading a bunch, seems like a good group.

I had never heard of Dave Ramsey before yesterday, googled him.
I took a 20 year mortgage on my home, 15 years and 8 months left to pay on it, I'll be 44 years then.

Joined this oil website more as prior planning, for a dream I have. Hoping to buy my own logging truck someday, and will be my own chief mechanic on it. Do my own F150 maintenance, as well as my girlfriend's Ram 1500, and most of the maintenance on the logging truck I currently drive, but don't own.
My path wasn't typical, didn't finish high school, but did complete grade 11. When I should have been in grade 12, instead had two jobs, and worked an average of 80 hours a week. At age 19 got my Class 1 license, and was moved from the small tow truck I drove, to a heavy. Then a year later was offered a job hauling logs, took it, and been there for 8 years, and still there. A few weeks off right now for freeze up, start back at it January 2nd, and more long hours. Typically I work 12 to 14 hours a day, 5 days a week, plus working on the truck as required weekends. I look forward to freeze up, and break up, to have some time off.
Last week I paid my girlfriends sister to come live at my house, so my grandmother and the dog had someone able bodied around. That allowed us to go away for a week long vacation, we drove to a small town, checked into a hotel for 5 nights, and just explored the area around there.
Best part of our vacation was making my girlfriend do most of the driving, it's so nice not to drive all day. I maybe drove 25% of the time, she did the rest.
 
SC Maintenance said:
I have done well buying new cars and keeping them forever. I financed the first two for a short period and paid cash for the third. All 3 are still in the family. I think the issue is people buy too much car, or are constantly rolling into new ones so they never get ahead.

FWIW - something like 20% of all new cars are paid in full on purchase. I think I saw a stat for the make with the highest percentage paying cash for new and it was Toyota or Honda or something - not a luxury brand.
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It's Toyota.
 
Hillbilly Deluxe said:
It's Toyota.
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We been buying Honda Accords since we discovered we liked them since the early 90s. Always try to put down 1/2 the price and then pay note and a half or more each month to pay off early. Hate car notes. Next vehicle will likely be Toyota as Honda has recently shown they have zero respect for and do not really value their customers. Long time or new, doesn't matter to them it apppears.
 
SammyChevelleTypeS3 said:
We been buying Honda Accords since we discovered we liked them since the early 90s. Always try to put down 1/2 the price and then pay note and a half or more each month to pay off early. Hate car notes. Next vehicle will likely be Toyota as Honda has recently shown they have zero respect for and do not really value their customers. Long time or new, doesn't matter to them it apppears.
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I love Hondas. I've found customer support has more to do with the dealership than the car.
 
After 6 yrs paying off the 2 Camrys. I now own them outright. The snag is that they're in my deceased wife's name and the insurance lapsed. I have filled out 3 different DMV forms and signed up for 6 month Progressive policies today. Pray for me. I head to the local RMV tomorrow AM in my distinguished elder gentleman disguise to put myself at the mercy of some heartless RMV functionary. I am shy an original title to further complicate the issue.
 
alarmguy said:
Yeah, that is my point too, we arent that far apart just differing thoughts.
The thing is, we (the public) allow the banks their fortunes. Ok, so even lets stick with the 30 and invest the savings, Joe Public STILL goes out and buys everything else on credit AND second mortgages (we forgot about that, as soon as they get equity, they take out another mortgage on top of the original mortgage!.

The banks have grown and become so powerful because we made them that way. If we just stuck to mortgages they wouldnt be half as powerful. I say this, because I think most know we sold our house late 2022. It was stupid fast sale too, never expected it and the price we got.

So new home, barely took anything with us, all new furniture appliances etc. I know this has happened to cars but do you know it's starting to happen with things like Washing Machines? *LOL* (I know I used that example before) Shopping this past spring for all new everything. Every store we were in, including appliances like Washing Machines had the monthly payment on it!!!!
Wow was I starting to feel old!! *LOL* Holy smokes, I said to my wife, you got to be kidding? People have to take out loans for appliances like Washing machines? Just like cars, I bet some day, oh wait, I think maybe I saw it already. I will see appliance ads without the purchase price, just the monthly payments! *LOL*

I mean, the American consumer is literally enslaving themselves to banks, so of course they are getting powerful and winning all the time because the public has turned them into their mommy and daddy at a huge cost.

Ok, I better go now :coffee:
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I actually financed my fridge, stove, washer, and dryer, when I bought my house in 2019. Home Depot was running a special promotion at the time. 0% interest for 24 months, and they would make the first two payments. So it was cheaper for me, than if I had paid cash. Sometimes a deal is too good to pass on.
 
demarpaint said:
I'm a boomer too. My mother taught me from an early age, if you can't afford it, you don't buy it. Maybe parents today should teach their kids that. ;) Having said that, the last time I took a car loan the rate was 0%. Next time I take a car loan it will be 0% or I'll pay cash for the car.
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I don't have a crystal ball, but interest rates are going to be high for a very long time. We just exited a time of historically ridiculously low interest rates.

That said, for any purchase you have to consider how you're going to raise the cash to buy it, and the opportunity cost for other things you might have done with that money. I don't like to borrow money either, but those are all the factors that go into the decision. If you have an excellent credit score today you might be able to get a new car loan under 6%. It is what it is. But if you're going to sell stocks to buy a car, you're going to pay 15% tax on any gains (assuming you held the stock at least one year), and then there's however the stocks might perform over the next several years after you've paid for your car.
 
Number_35 said:
I've paid cash for our last number of vehicles, but then pay more for repairs than someone with a new vehicle under warranty. I still think I'm ahead, but it does add up.

In 2023:

AC repairs - $1000
New tires - $950
New headlight Assemblies: $200
Brakes all around: $325

That's about $2500 that could have been used toward payments on a new van.
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I wouldn’t include the tires in the formula. You’re doing OK.
 
I haven't had a payment in about 9 years, no house payment either. But if we get a car in 2025, I did the math and payment would likely be $1100/mo if we put $30k down. maybe we can do better but honestly I doubt I'll put $50k down, so the payment will be up there and potentially 4 figures. It's math. btw I've never had a car payment above $400, so yes, $1100 sounds shocking to me.
 
In general, I’ve never taken a long term loan out for a car, then Covid hit.

I had 2 cars over 225k miles and one that just turned 100k. I was also getting tired of spending free time working on an aging fleet, though I admit one of them was a toy. Looking at cars I could pay cash for made my stomach hurt due to the lack of good cars in the $6000-$15000 range, which was my go to market.

Knowing the climate was not leading to keeping internet rates low, I bought my Rogue with a loan, in hopes of paying it off in half the time the loan is for. I didn’t buy the JKU or JLU I wanted, rather, I bought a sensible car with a low monthly payment.

I’ll pay the Rogue off 6 months earlier than planned due to discipline, and selling my Jeep YJ since I was tired of wrenching.

Funny thing is, I just took a job with a company vehicle included….
 
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