those of you with expensive cars

[IUTBAM]

Define "expensive"?

My DH bought a new truck in July for around $25,000 (which we thought was a great bargain for a truck that seats 5 and has 4 WD). We paid cash, which we took out of our savings. I don't like car payments.

What others have said sums it up...you either put down more money, pay cash, or have large payments. There is no "secret formula" that I know of.

 

[Green Tea]

If you are going to finance look for the lowest interest rate, for sure. That will lower the payments. Penfed has 1.99% on cars and 1.49% on cars purchased thru Enterprise. The 1.99% is for new or used cars, from 12 to 48 months.

Asking folks how they afford it isn't really going to help you though. There are no secrets. If a car costs $25K, its going to cost me $25K, you $25K and another poster the same.

 

[bettymae1121]

I'm sympathetic, OP. I drive around and look at all the expensive cars on the road and wonder how people do it too!. I'm shoping for a new(ish) car that I hope to buy at the end of 2012 and even putting half down, I still can only afford a car less than $20k. And DH and I make good money! Of course our definition of "afford" is a bit different than some I suppose, I refuse to have a car payment longer than 36 months ever again so that limits us somewhat, but still...I see cars on the road for $30k and higher and I know the average household income isn't all that high in my area.

Play with the numbers a bit, maybe adding another year to the loan will make the difference? If you plan on keeping the car for a long, long time and get a decent interest rate, it won't make that much difference in the end.

 

[angierae]

Your current car payment is more than 2x my current car payment, so I could ask you the same question - how do you afford your car payment?

You afford your car payment by budgeting for it and not buying more car than you can afford. I have no idea what an SUV costs but if you're already swinging $450 for a car payment, I can't imagine buying an SUV is going to cost you a LOT more than that.

 

[mommy2twingles]

We have bought used the last two few times and also go out to the 5.5 year financing. Still not the greatest payment but it works for us. I am also not a minivan person. My DH has one but I hate driving it. Our current vehicle does not have 4wd which is a small concern since we are in eastern PA and get bad winters as well. But we will see how it works with the snow tires. I have already warned my job that I may be in less if there is bad snow and they are willing to work with me. My parents both have 4wd and are fairly close should we have an real need to get out and can't

 

[tink2dw]

Check out www.craigslist.com Be advised these are cash deals! But lots of people are sell there cars right now.

 

[luvmy3]

no one is offering advice everyone is telling me to buy something i don't want that is just as expensive as what i do want, so how does that answer my question of how do those of you with an expensive car afford it.

if i have to have a higher car payment i will, but im looking to see if there is some out of the box idea's on affording an expensive car without a huge payment that im missing

You aren't missing any out of the box ideas, there really aren't any. To not have a high car payment, you either put down a huge down payment, get a loan for as many months as you can to stretch out your payments, lease a vehicle, or don't get something expensive.

 

[sharbear]

My sister and I have around the same car payment. I am driving a Hyundai Elantra and she's driving an Infiniti. I bought my car and am paying it off in 4 years. She's leasing. It's a matter of personal preference.

We've bought older cars, sometimes an older luxury car coming off lease is a good deal. We've leased and that was a good option when we needed a bigger car and could afford a certain amount each month. We also financed for 72 months, which we paid off early but that kept our payments down.

Also I live in the snow belt in Michigan. We get ALOT of snow. We have had no problems in our Hyundai and I drive a Honda minivan and never has it been a problem getting around. If it was I would buy snow tires. I don't want a SUV, I like getting better gas mileage. My H used to drive a rear wheeled car, he put snow tires on it and it drove like it had 4 wheel drive. I wouldn't have believed it until we put those snow tires on.

I almost didn't respond to this. People are trying to be nice. Yelling at them because you only want to drive an SUV and not a minivan sounds spoiled and petulant. Sorry but it really rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[Deffenm]

I drive a Ford Expedition EL (Extra Long). It has captain seats so it only seats 7. My DH also has a Ford Expedition that seats 8. We love our Expeditions. We only have one car payment (DH's is paid off). We have 0% interest loan. We also traded in a car that we leveraged to reduce the initial cost of the SUV. I am also a hard barginer. I have no problems walking away if they don't meet my demands. My DH just stays out of the way. We are a family of 5 that plays hockey, soccer, and pulls a large travel trailer. We will drive these SUV's until they fall apart.

 

[clutter]

With my first vehicle, I paid $350 a month for 4 years and I cannot imagine having to pay that now... you can buy houses for less than that!

Off track, I know. Where do you live? Around here, you can't rent a room in a shared home for $350/month!

 

[budafam]

Off track, I know. Where do you live? Around here, you can't rent a room in a shared home for $350/month!

I'm in Wisconsin... there are lots of foreclosures around here right now... ranging from $20,000-$40,000 - making payments less than $300 a month with property taxes & insurance included (CRAZY!)... there are places for rent for $350 as well. That car I bought was "only" $11,500 but to me that's expensive. I don't plan to ever spend that much again on a vehicle and so far, so good.

As for the OP, there are no tricks. Either you have the money or you don't, either you make the payments or you get repo'd. ??? People are only making suggestions to try to help convince you into buying something that's more reasonable for the money.. no one is forcing you to drive a "trash hauling" minivan. Insults don't really make anyone want to help either but like I said, there are no suggestions that are out of the box. Good luck to you.

 

[adisneymama]

Some vans are just as expensive others aren't. If you don't want a van then you are going to have to decide which you are happier with. A smaller payment but not a luxury vehicle or the big SUV with the high payment. I am about to purchase either an extended length Tahoe or Expedition. I have 3 kids and need the space behind the third row. Yes it is going to be expensive. But I will trade in my Honda Van (which I love) and most probably put some money down. We afford it by having little debt and a lower house payment. We also keep vehicles until the wheels fall off so the cost over the number of years isn't much.

 

[Disneefun]

Okay, I don't mean this to be nasty, but here it is. Others have already told you that there is no magic bullet. However, if you still insist on having a car with payments that you cannot comfortably afford, then your only other choice is to cut every other aspect of your lifestyle to the bone. No eating out, no nice clothes, no cable TV, no vacations, no activities for the kids, etc. That will free up the money to cover the payments. Of course, you'll have no life or other nice things, but you'll have the car you desire.

That's called choices. If you want the car, you have to make the choice to make it the priority and sacrifice in other areas. If you want to keep the lifestyle you have now, you need to settle for a cheaper car. It's that way with any financial choice for everyone except the gloriously rich.

 

[arthuruscg]

Look into used minivans. They are typicaly alot cheeper.
And here is a little hit, most SUV drivers are just minivan drivers that are in denile. I know there are people that use their SUVs for towing, off roading ect, but they are easy to identify compared to the soccer / mall SUV drivers.

Also, don't forget that TIRES not awd/ 4wd/ fwd/ rwd will determine how well a auto will do in the snow. If you believe otherwise, please turn your license back into the DMV.
I have refused to help pull people out of ditches before if they where on bald tires. Why pull them out when they will just mess up traffic even more and find them selves in a ditch again in a few miles.

 

[teCh0010]

How many kids are you going to have, and what are the age spreads? Since you have a CRV now I guess you don't need to tow?

If the two older are booster age and buckle themselves you could put them in the third row of a 2008+ Highlander or a 2006+ pilot without much problem. With the Highlander you can remove the center seat in the 2nd row and the kids can reach the third row without flipping a seat each time. I like the pilot better overall (I have an 07), but if I had to put someone in the 3rd row everyday I would get the highlander. Both come in AWD.

The minivan will have more room behind the third row and easier access, but if you don't need to tow and can't drive a minivan those are the two I would look at.

If your CRV is a 2008 and paid off you could get say 12k on trade, and spend 23k on a 2008 Pilot or Highlander you could finance 11k for 36 months at 1.9% with pen fed and have a $315 payment.

You can do better selling your CRV yourself, but a trade in can cut your tax burden depending on the state.

 

[Swimalie]

Off track, I know. Where do you live? Around here, you can't rent a room in a shared home for $350/month!

I lived in Portland Oregon in a 3 bedroom, 2 bath single family home and our mortgage was $369 a month. It can be done with a large downpayment.

To the original poster, the "magic" is to save up for a more expensive car. Once you buy a car, you know you will have to replace it so you save a bit each month. We saved for years and this past June paid cash for a 2011 Forester 2.5X Limited. It has all the bells and whistles (except navigation which we didn't want). Now, with no car payment, we are putting that money in to savings each month and when my husband needs a new car we will be ready to pay cash again. We could have bought a more expensive car but didn't want to. We're very happy with what we bought.

As for cars with 3rd row, check out the Rav-4. The sport model has a 3rd row and is around the same price as my Forester.

 

[teCh0010]

I lived in Portland Oregon in a 3 bedroom, 2 bath single family home and our mortgage was $369 a month. It can be done with a large downpayment.

To the original poster, the "magic" is to save up for a more expensive car. Once you buy a car, you know you will have to replace it so you save a bit each month. We saved for years and this past June paid cash for a 2011 Forester 2.5X Limited. It has all the bells and whistles (except navigation which we didn't want). Now, with no car payment, we are putting that money in to savings each month and when my husband needs a new car we will be ready to pay cash again. We could have bought a more expensive car but didn't want to. We're very happy with what we bought.

As for cars with 3rd row, check out the Rav-4. The sport model has a 3rd row and is around the same price as my Forester.

yep, we direct deposit money into savings every pay check and replace cars with cash when they are 8 - 10 years old.

 

[maggiew]

We have a Toyota Sienna minivan with 3 rows. It is really nice! (paid off)

My VW jetta will be paid off soon, so DH will be able to get a new car instead of the minivan. (We alternate buying vehicles. We drive each one for 10 years so only have one car payment at a time.) I was talking to him the other day about how we will be able to do without a minivan now that we have one in college and one almost out of high school. He said, NO WAY! He loves his minivan and won't be getting rid of it!!

Maggie

 

[jmsaj]

With my first vehicle, I paid $350 a month for 4 years and I cannot imagine having to pay that now... you can buy houses for less than that!

Wow I wish I could buy a house for only $350 month....

 

[ccgirl]

I'm not a huge fan of minivans. I actually traded mine in for a used SUV with a third row seat. As far as expensive....one might think my car payment is expensive but it is well within my budget. Personally, I would not purchase a car that would break the bank so to speak. There are a ton of used SUV's out there with third row seats. At lease there are in my area.

Good luck with your search.