evets

Ditto and makes me sleep better each night. Like I tell my kids, If you can't pay cash you can't afford it.

tuffluck

when a lot of people buy cars, they see the cost of the car to be the monthly payment, not the total cost. if BMW or any other manufacturers offered 10 year financing you would see poorer and poorer people driving BMW's around because they would think their 2008 550i cost 350/mo, not 40k total (plus interest). it's just a simple fact the sticker price isn't what people are concerned with the most, whether that be a house or a car or whatever. the reality is that most people sell their cars before they are fully paid off anyway and start the whole process over again with another car.

the positive side is that if you're smart about your finances, a car loan is actually really good for your credit. this isn't a credit forum so i won't bore anyone, but i think most people are aware of what good credit can do for you. you just have to be smart about it.

mrich1353

Gotta disagree with your comment about vettes only fun when straight!
The ZR1 rivals or exceeds most super cars' performance, even lesser vettes than the ZR1 (Z06 or any C5 or C6) vette and will typically require you be in an M car to match all around performance...

forumballer

Words to live by!


This is very true. When I bought my 06 550 nearly 2 years ago I went in there with the intention of paying cash, but ended up financing half because of the 0.9% interest special they had going. It has helped me build credit at a fairly young age ever since

acuteperformance

if your ROI using that cash > interest rate of the car and depreciation why pay your car off?

pjinca

Hence the reason I financed my cars, but put a nice BIG down payment on my house. I also typically send $100-150 over the payment to payoff the cars quicker and decrease the interest paid.
Paying cash for a car saves a payment but loses you money

Freewilly

Porsche 911 Carrera S

tuffluck

you're right. not to mention the vette's get considerably better mileage than the M5/M6. like i said, performance per dollar, GM is unbeatable in that category.

to answer your question, with that reasoning you will always be paying a car loan for the rest of your life. if you're not lucky, one day your trade-in value for a car might be less than your outstanding loan and you additionally lose money on the deal. i.e. a 40k car turns into 40k + interest + outstanding loan amount not recouped in the value of the trade/sale.

i think the bigger point is though that if you pay your car off and have no car payment at all, that extra cash can be used for other things, or invested, etc.

besides, having a car payment isn't a big deal, but in a couple of years when your warranty runs out, paying $600/mo for a car that required $2k in repairs every 6 months (arbitrary number), means you are losing a lot more cash than you probably anticipated.

acuteperformance

shrug we can agree to disagree. back on topic!

pjinca

Agreed, topic is: Diamond is whacky