I'm only adverse to getting another car note if I don't "have" to. I'd really "like" a truck or something bigger, but don't really need it, so I choose note to get another note.
2017 F-250 Super Duty SRW XL checking in...... I love driving that sucker to depositions and around downtown Chicago. It REALLY pisses people off.
Currently on our longest combined streak without a new car. Volvo bought in 2011 and Flex bought in 2012.
I agree. I lost 2 cars in Harvey. One of them I had for only 4 months before it was totalled. But I got all my insurance money and went to start settling debts, and the note on the new car was cheapest loan I had. So I kept the car note and paid off other things. What is hard about car notes though is that they have shorter terms. If you have a mortgage that is 30 years, a student loan that is 10 years, and a car loan that is 5 years, the monthly payment on the car is going to be comparatively heavy on a cash flow basis.
Ya I don't get this "I will never take out a loan for a car" attitude. I am not saying you should just go start buying a bunch of cars but I would rather keep $30K in the bank or invest it in an index fund vs. putting it in a depreciating asset. Especially when car loans are 1-3% for 5 years.
Buy used at 2-3 years, try to keep for 10+ years. I want at least 6-7 years of debt-free driving. Easy to do if you choose wisely and take care of your rig.
I think it's all a mental thing. Some people just don't like having any kind of debt, even if the interest is low. I'm the kind that loves using the 0% credit card to buy **** and just pay it off in the alloted term limit. My wife hates that I do this, but why give up all our cash now when we can just buy whatever and pay it off monthly without even paying interest and use the rest of our cash elsewhere. For car notes though, I can't stand having that payment even if it's relatively cheap.
It's partly mental, but I think there's a lot of people that just don't understand finance and opportunity cost. Borrowing money at 1% to invest at 5% is a no brainer logically, and 5% is a pretty conservative return on investment.
Yep I will never take any kind of loan for a car. I pay straight up cash for all my cars. In fact, my principle is to never take debt for anything that loses value overtime. A car depreciates in value right after you drive out of the show room.
Kept my last car just over 10 years. I’ve had my current one for 2 years and I love it but the potential repair costs after the warranty scare me.
We all of course understand a vehicle is a depreciating asset. Its the recognition that a vehicle loses 40-60% of its value every 5 years while also noting that there is little difference between 5 years on a line of vehicles. For most people who need newer cars, it comes down to materialism. If they can afford it, great. Instead of buying a brand new car $30k, buy a 10+ year old car for $4000. Drive it for 3 years, save up what would be a payment on that brand new car and buy that same vehicle for what it would cost at half the price 3 years later.
How long you keep a car should be dictated by how old the car is when you buy it.. Where people get in trouble is buying new cars and only keeping it for 3-4 years. To make sense financially you need to keep that car for 8-10+ years. And if you buy a reliable brand and maintain it, it should be easy. My Camry is up to 14 years and 208,000 miles. For luxury cars, you have to get them used. 3-4 years is the sweet spot. 3 years is when most come off a lease. Save 30-40% and most have plenty of warranty left.
Since I fix everything... I pretty much drive cars until I am ready to move on. I'm considering one day restoring a 911/Vette/Mustang or something, haven't decided yet, I need practice at body work first. So no notes on anything, just property mortgage. My one regret was basically an older Lincoln Mark VII (nothing too crazy) that I got for insane cheap and restored (mechanically) w/ the 5.0 and letting it go for practically nothing, should have just drove it, had the timing and engine running pristine too, obviously not the same as a manual sports car, but it wasn't bad. I've considered flipping cars in my spare time but way too many projects so currently only fix things when needed. ATM my big project is finishing up damn hot water foundation leak, found super early and bypassed it, but working on running PEX. Obviously I could hire a plumber, but this way I know it's done right (just like my cars). On a side note, driving 4x4 trucks/suvs etc are great because at some point they no longer depreciate. Obviously it depends on the type of driving you do/use for bigger car but that's always kind of cool, like iirc around 5k is the cheapest they'll get unless there's a lot wrong, where as a normal car it'll just depreciate to dirt, unless it's special/classic etc
Yeah, if looking for luxury, 3-4 years is perfect used spot to buy, and you let someone else eat/pay for the depreciation.
Man, not that it matters now... on the 07-12 altimas, there's a fix, have to add a transmission cooler and do normal flush, they ****ed up bad on those CVTs (transmissions). If it's more than that they're fixable but a pain in the ass to fix and have to outsource the solenoids because Nissan's actual book says to just replace the transmission, **** that noise, you can fix it with like $100-200 in parts and fluid. Obviously this doesn't help you but maybe someone else, they didn't even put a proper cooler on the trans, the car's heat/transmission heat causes it to start whining to failure. Great job Nissan ...
My sister has a 2010 altima 2.5 I hate that thing. I should have never recommended that car and instead just got an accord or camry (would have been our 3rd straight camry). It's got 100K miles on it and they just paid 1200 to fix the AC at the dealer smh. But I got my buddy to do the shocks, struts, control arms for half what the dealer was asking for.
This probably would have been helpful for me two years ago. I had a 2005 Altima that I bought in 08 with about 40k miles for $14k. Not bad and was still running fine but it had its share of problems. Ended up taking my uncle's 2013 Altima off his hands with 11k miles for $10k. Not a bad upgrade.I plan on keeping this car until it is completely dead.
my car's worth less than a day of work, i can't explain how good this feeling is. Some of self made multi Billionaire drive old car,buy cloth from flea market,uses public transportation, though those things seems excessive but it's much milder than an average Joe loosing an arm and legs for unnecessary luxury, ...boring I know
When I buy a car (Honda/Toyota) the goal is 10 years/ 200,000 miles - I take really good care of my cars so the hope is that they will still look nice with all those years and miles.
