Car payment

[Disneycrazy!!]

all these low car notes are making me depressed!!! i thought 400 was cheap....NOT.

my husband ex wife RUINED his credit! opened credit cards and maxed them out in his name and he didn't find out until 4 years later.

so thankfully all that will be off his credit report in 2011 and we plan on refinancing everything.

 

[Kimberly]

Since the way cars are taxed here, it's better off paying cash for them in the states, so that way you only pay their "actual value" when you get them shipped on island. Importing a luxury car from a dealer here will run you a 27.5-40 percent import tax on the entire cost of the vehicle. Back in the states though, I considered about 1000 dollars/month to be reasonable for a daily driver.

 

[tonilea]

We bought a new car one year ago today. We hadn't had a car payment in ten years before that. We were very fortunate to be able to take advantage of the cash-for-clunkers and rebates to save over $8k off sticker. The payment is only $220 for the standard 5 yrs and we planned to pay it off early. Since I am starting college in a few weeks, it may not work out quite like that, but such is life. That said.... I hate having a car payment!

 

[Pluto 2]

exactly 500.00 dollars a month. 0 percent financing so its not bad

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

Mine is $320mo/5 yr loan for a used Honda Pilot. We hope to have it paid off within the next year (one year early). We just paid off DH's Honda Accord ($225mo/ 5 yr) 6 mos ago...1 1/2 years early. Hopefully once mine is paid off, we won't have a car payment for a long, long time. (please DH do not wreck it once it is paid off ).

 

[bumbershoot]

When you sign a mortgage, you have to sign a document that states the total amount you will pay over time. I wonder how the auto industry would change if this were the case for them.

I'm almost certain that we had such a page in our loan info. I KNOW I had it with my leases (b/c even if you turned it in early, you were still going to pay that amount).

But, especially with our car, sometimes it doesn't matter. You *have to have* that car. In our case, I'd just turned in my leased car (I leased for 12 years (3 cars) and it worked for me for 10 of those years and I was happy). We were going to take the amount of the lease payment and make my hubby's paid-off car really nice. It already had things wrong with it, and then there were annoyances (his driver's window would go off track so you had to support it when putting it down as just one example)...and then the brakes went out. I freaked. AT the time, we couldn't have afforded a total brake replacement (he coudn't get it through my head that HE could replace them at his friend's place where there's a lift), you can't finance those...so getting another car FAST was vital (he couldn't use transit for his job).

So we bought what we could get, and got the loan we could get.

I know there's a page that has the total we *would have paid*...but it didn't matter at the time, as we felt we had to have the car in that instant.

And then a month later he was asked to interview at our old company, got the job, and then was right on the transit line, and took the train or bus to work, letting the car just sit there for my errands.

 

[Bethenny]

Well, mine's more than $400. Even if you had a $25k car with 0% interest for 5 years, you're still paying $400 a month. Not sure why you're so surprised at that amount.

 

[mrsklamc]

It's been several years since I took out a car loan and I wasn't sure that info was there....

Interesting side note; The average American believes the average American millionaire drives a car priced at 75k new. The actual average new price of cars belonging to millionaires is about 31k.

 

[Clifton]

$230/month for a 2002 Ford Taurus SEL at 5 years. Almost a year and a half to go, I'll be keeping her for awhile as it's been the longest i've owned a car.

I almost traded her in for a 2010 Chevy Cobalt but undecided if starting over in payments is worth it. For now I'm paying this one off and with some $$ down then i'll decide.

 

[golfgal]

It's been several years since I took out a car loan and I wasn't sure that info was there....

Interesting side note; The average American believes the average American millionaire drives a car priced at 75k new. The actual average new price of cars belonging to millionaires is about 31k.

Which is most of the reason they ARE millionaires.

 

[pittsburghmarc]

$854 Nissan purchase
$785 Mercedes lease

 

[Wonders10]

So funny this thread is here...I just bought a new car today! A Honda CR-V EX-L, the one with all the bells and whistles. I had my previous car for 7 years and it had been paid off for a year and a half. My new car has a monthly payment of just over $400 and that is including the extended warranty. I also put some money down, traded in my old vehicle and got the lowest rate they would offer me since I have good credit.

The thing I thought was interesting though, was that you couldn't imagine paying $400/month for a vehicle, but I couldn't imagine paying cash for upfront and not financing anything. Lucky you for having that money to pay for a car...I am not in the poor house but I definitly do not have $25K lying around to buy a car!

 

[DISdreamin']

So funny this thread is here...I just bought a new car today! A Honda CR-V EX-L, the one with all the bells and whistles. I had my previous car for 7 years and it had been paid off for a year and a half. My new car has a monthly payment of just over $400 and that is including the extended warranty. I also put some money down, traded in my old vehicle and got the lowest rate they would offer me since I have good credit.

How funny! We just bought the exact same thing yesterday. And our current car (we only had one) is also seven years old. We paid cash for that one, but this one we financed. Honestly, I'm not at all wild about having a car payment for the first time but, with our current ride having very high miles, we felt we needed something more reliable. I hope to never finance a vehicle after this if we can help it, and with a little luck we should be able to save up enough to pay cash next time.

FWIW, we did a $680 payment for 36 months at 1.9%, but we hope to have it paid off by the end of next year so that we can start saving up for a replacement down the road (pun fully intended).

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

Holy cow you all have so high car payments!!!! I thought $350 was bad.

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

I will NOT pay over $250 a month on a car payment. If I have to buy an older car to get that payment then so be it. I drive it to work and back. I don't live in it so I don't see the point in spending a huge amount on a car payment especially something that is going to go down in value. I also will not have more than one car payment at a time so DH and I trade on and off on when we purchase vehicles. One must be paid off before we purchase another one.

 

[junebugs]

$433 for a 2007 Chrysler Pacifica. It was a 5 year loan with 0% interest -so that felt good - but I do feel like this is a high monthly payment and probably won't buy a car with this high of a payment again. Plan to drive both our cars into the ground.

 

[Wonders10]

I also think your car payment has a lot to do with the type of car you want and how much you can afford. I could never in a million years afford a mercedes so I wouldn't even start to look at one. On the flip side, a car that sells for $17K is going to have a much lower monthly payment with the same terms, down payments, etc as the expensive car. My car payment previously was $236 for a new 2003 saturn ion. It was the middle level model. This time around I bought an overall more expensive car and also went for the highest model, and actually put less money down and had a different interest rate...so my payment is higher.

i'm curious - how do people pay cash outright for their cars? I'd have to eat ramen 3x/day, live in a box and work for 10 years to have enough to buy a car...of course I have savings but that isn't car money - that's emergency money.

 

[Tinkermommy]

I also think your car payment has a lot to do with the type of car you want and how much you can afford. I could never in a million years afford a mercedes so I wouldn't even start to look at one. On the flip side, a car that sells for $17K is going to have a much lower monthly payment with the same terms, down payments, etc as the expensive car. My car payment previously was $236 for a new 2003 saturn ion. It was the middle level model. This time around I bought an overall more expensive car and also went for the highest model, and actually put less money down and had a different interest rate...so my payment is higher.

i'm curious - how do people pay cash outright for their cars? I'd have to eat ramen 3x/day, live in a box and work for 10 years to have enough to buy a car...of course I have savings but that isn't car money - that's emergency money.

The theory is that when you do pay off a car you keep making your car payment to a savings account. Then keep the paid off car for another 5 to 7 years and you should be able to pay cash for a new one. Then you still bank a certain amount so you can afford the next, etc and etc.

Also, some choose to buy less expensive cars or pre-owned ones that have taken the hit on depreciation.

 

[Amandaj0831]

We pay 360 for 4 years for a used Sienna van. Unfortunately my credit isnt great and it is an older van so our APR wasnt that good but hopefully it will stay running after 4 years so I can put some into savings to put down on the next car.

 

[quentina]

681!!!

Mine is very close to this....