How did (do) you pay for your car?

"TheElephant" (426cubicinches) 10/19/2014 at 20:45 • Filed to: None

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This should really be "how do you pay for your fun car?" but I realize that for most people, they are one and the same.

So: how o you pay for it? Did you buy it with cash? Finance? How much of a down payment? Use the bank of Mom-and-Dad?

Just curious...

Alternative question: are all you fuckers still so young that the first car your parents bought you is still in your possession and use?

Vicente Esteve > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 20:47

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Cash, 10c coins.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 20:49

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Grandparents bought it.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 20:51

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Mom and dad helped me in high school. I promised i wouldnt get a bike while i lived in their house

Dsscats > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 20:52

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Tootsie pops. I paid for my car with tootsie pops.

GeorgeyBoy > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 20:54

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Worked my a** off.

jvirgs drives a Subaru > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 20:54

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My parents purchased it while I was in hs. Any car I purchase in the future will be via loan with, most likely, a $3-4K down payment.

desertdog5051 > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 20:57

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Cash!

Decay buys too many beaters > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 20:58

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All my vehicles are bought with cash

TheElephant > desertdog5051 10/19/2014 at 20:59

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Finally, a usable answer!

Can I ask why? I paid cash for my weekend toy, too, but I've been doing some math and I think I could have gotten a better car for about the same or less money if I used some light financing...

Are you averse to financing?

TheElephant > Decay buys too many beaters 10/19/2014 at 21:00

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Why? Why not pay cash for 50%, finance the rest and then when you inevitably sell it off after 3 or 4 years, you still have a decent chunk of cash coming back after paying off the note?

It's a lot of cash to tie up for no good reason...

desertdog5051 > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 21:05

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No. Not against financing. I bought the MGB with cash because it was what I wanted and I had the money to pay for it. I prefer to pay for toys with cash. Hope that helps.

AM3R > GeorgeyBoy 10/19/2014 at 21:08

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+1

Still doing it so I can get something nicer.

WhiskeyGolf > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 21:32

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I'm on my second Golf. The first was leased because I was just out of university and had no money for a deposit. My current Golf was used so I'm financing with basically no money down. I intend to trade up to a new GTI within the next year but because I won't have paid off my current car yet, I'm hoping to put a large enough deposit down that I have a minimal increase in overall price. Unfortunately I just don't have the cash flow to buy in full but I'm going to try to limit the monthly hit because I want to keep it long term.

Jayhawk Jake > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 21:37

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Financed with not enough of a down payment so now I owe too much and regret all the decisions leading up to it.

I love my car, but I'm going to be paying off my poor financial decision for quite some time. My next car purchase will be a Corvette that I will save up to pay cash or majority down payment on in a few (1 to 2 hopefully) years.

davedave1111 > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 21:39

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Cash. As in actual paper pictures of the Queen. But then the car cost less than a year's road tax, so...

davedave1111 > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 21:42

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Whether it's for a good reason or not depends on your financial circumstances and the terms of the loan. If you can get 0% finance, that's very different to paying 10% a year, for example.

Personally, I'd say that if you can't afford to buy a car for cash, you can't afford it. If you then take out a loan and invest the money, you're really borrowing to invest. It'd better be a safe investment.

TheElephant > davedave1111 10/19/2014 at 21:44

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I agree, but then I think: if I had financed half of The Elephant over 4 years, I would have only paid an extra $1,500 bucks and I would have been earning 15-20% on the money.

Seems... counterproductive...

Decay buys too many beaters > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 21:45

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It's a personal thing, I can't stand owing anything to anybody.

Also my garage is not really conducive to financing. I usually have a couple of bikes (I firmly believe nobody should finance bikes), a sub $3k beater, and a fun car. The fun car sees a lot of track time and I don't feel comfortable making payments on something like that.

davedave1111 > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 21:46

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Lots of risky investments look good with hindsight. What on earth are you getting 15-20% return on?

TheElephant > davedave1111 10/19/2014 at 21:46

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I do private equity funded overhauls and take a chunk of my comp in the form of options.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Decay buys too many beaters 10/19/2014 at 21:55

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That's exactly the same with my grandfather. He pays cash for every single thing because, as he says, he wants to enjoy his retirement without being a dime in debt. He just doesn't buy stuff he can't afford.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 22:01

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My first car was a birthday gift from my parents (don't get all jealous, it was a Metro) but my current car I bought with my own cash.

thebigbossyboss > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 22:02

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Meth money.

Sn210 > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 22:31

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1. Build up savings account

2. Bug wife

3. Pay cash

4. Repay savings account

M54B30 > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 23:35

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cash. I financed a Focus ST I ordered from the factory in 2007 but that is the only one. I'm not against financing, but my wife and I racked up a lot of student loan debt (approx. $80k all said and done). The worst one is almost $750/month but we've been making double payments to get it done sooner. Once we get those done and paid off we will likely finance our next car - either a Focus ST or Charger

Conan > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 23:48

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Financed. Huge downpayment.

Jay Lauer > TheElephant 10/19/2014 at 23:58

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Cash. Always cash. For me it's different. The car is the investment and it only stays around for a couple months or so. Most of the cars are an 80-100% ROI anyway, so loans would just reduce that.

I can't help but get the feeling part of this post was to just downtalk kids that had their parents buy them their first car. My dad bought my first car, a beat up 95 V6 Mustang for $1500. Eventually, I paid him back. After delivering enough pizzas, I saved a chunk of startup cash and bought an investment car. Never looked back.

A lot of people that post here, myself included, are 16-24 yrs old, meaning they're in school. I honestly wouldn't advise buying or financing any newer 'nicer' car while in college.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > TheElephant 10/20/2014 at 01:37

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Cash.

Always cash except for once. That was a stupid decision that I made when I was very young and it messed up my credit pretty bad, mostly recovered now, but I like cheap (sub $5k) beater cars just the same. It allows my income to be used for other, more important, things.

I don't buy a car unless I can sell it for more than I paid on it. Not that I actively flip them, that takes more effort than I care to put into it. Usually keep them for about a year, maybe 10k miles at the most. Worst I've done is breaking even twice, P38 range rover and '01 Cadillac. But I had those close to three years each. Not too shabby if you ask me.

abzman > TheElephant 10/20/2014 at 08:42

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Cash. Why cash? because it's a $2500 1957 Chevy, bought private party. Replacing everything one bit at a time (but it still runs!).

Pixel > TheElephant 10/20/2014 at 09:06

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Paid cash for both the '04 Scion xB($6800 back in '07), and the '64 Chevy($2400 in '12).

cayman2007 > TheElephant 10/20/2014 at 09:13

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When I bought my Cayman three years ago I traded in my Acura (owned it outright), put $10k down, and financed $19k. Made the payments for about six months and then changed jobs; part of the negotiation included a one-time signing bonus that was (after tax) exactly what I owed on the Porsche. Win! So, paid off the car in one fell swoop, however in hindsight I should have kept paying the loan because credit rating.

When I bought my 2013 VW TDI Jetta as a second car (Home Depot runs, times when there are more than two of us in the car) I was going to buy it cash for $24,500. However, VW Credit was offering 0% interest so I put $10k down and financed the rest over 36months. $406/month, I have 14 months left on the loan.. and plenty of money in the bank if I choose to pay it off. I financed a good chunk of it because a) zero interest b) adds to my awesome credit rating

Sometimes it makes sense to finance some or all of the purchase, although, I really do hate debt of any sort.

Jedidiah > TheElephant 10/20/2014 at 11:12

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Bought it for $100 cash then worked my ass off for parts money.

Tapas > TheElephant 10/20/2014 at 12:25

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Big (ish) wad of caish, foo :D

Jordaneer, The Mountaineer Man > TheElephant 10/20/2014 at 14:09

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100 dollar bills, 23 of them to be exact. My grandparents gave me my birthday money and chirstmas money early so I could buy a car, someone else was really nice, and said I could mow their lawn ten times for 500 bucks up front for my car, (their lawn takes about half an hour to mow) I had 400 cash at that point, and the other 900 came from my savings.

Yes, I am still that young, I only had my license and my car for like 2 months.

Jordaneer, The Mountaineer Man > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/20/2014 at 14:15

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my grandparents are that way as well, they inherited some money, and their house is paid off, and they actually had enough in CD's that were coming up to pay off my moms house and then she is paying them back becuase she was finacially stable enough, but the bank wouldn't refi her house. but since they did that, it cut 12, (5 years of a 30 year loan done, and now she has a 12 year loan). years off of her loan, and now she pays 50 bucks less a month, so she saved almost 130,000 in interest. they actually also had enough to do that for my moms sister as well.

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > TheElephant 10/20/2014 at 18:08

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Cold hard cash, almost $2,500 worth.

Strange Noises Alou > TheElephant 10/20/2014 at 20:06

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cash - but that's because I haven't spent over $4000 on a car in many years.

iwrock > TheElephant 10/20/2014 at 21:45

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Cash.

The industry I'm in is always evolving and changing, and as a result, very volatile. Don't have a loan on anything so I can liquidate quickly if needed.

CSX-55 > TheElephant 10/20/2014 at 21:48

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With the exception of the two cars that have been given to me by family that I still own, I've paid for every car and bike I've owned with cash. Granted, they've all been used (the newest being a 2008), but the most expensive was my 2003 Sierra SLT at $13,250, to give you an idea of the price range I play in.

I don't finance for a couple of reasons.

1) I buy relatively inexpensive used vehicles

2) Buying, working on, driving, and selling vehicles is a secondary hobby of mine, so I have disposable income set aside just for this purpose

3) Mainly, because I haven't had a need to buy a car new or expensive enough to justify the financing. The interest fees don't even really bother me because I have stellar credit, thus wouldn't be paying too much on that end.

However, I wouldn't mind picking up something new (or at least newer) in the next couple of years, ideally a CTS-V, so a purchase like that would most definitely be financed (and hopefully at 0% if Caddy still offers it and I go the new route).

M > TheElephant 10/21/2014 at 21:20

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Usually cash, willing to finance at .9% or less. May lease my next car though, not sure.

getFuckedHerb > TheElephant 10/23/2014 at 15:34

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Fun car with the rates that are out there for me right now are partially financed. I finance up to a dollar amount I know the vehicle value won't fall below. The rest stays in investments where it makes more than the interest rate of the loan. Worse comes to worse I have more cash on hand and the ability to liquidate the car and eliminate a payment (Plus likely add some cash to the coffers).

Example:

$30,000 Blue Book Value Car
Cash down: $10,000
Finance: $20,000 for 5 years at 2% (Lowest I expect the value of the car to fall to in the next 5 years)

Hopefully your investments are making more than 2%. Leaves options open.

n54 & s38 > TheElephant 10/23/2014 at 16:16

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Ca$H money, baby!

Kevin Rhodes > TheElephant 10/23/2014 at 16:51

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I buy toy cars with cash. Paid $3500 for my '74 Spitfire 18 years ago, paid $5500 for my '01 Range Rover. Many more in-between. Much too small an amount to bother to finance. I'll pay cash up to ~$10K. Real cars I finance with a decent down payment. '11 BMW 328i wagon, $39K, put down $7500, financed the rest, 60mo at 1.9%, comes out to $600/mo. Will have it paid off next summer though. '13 FIAT Abarth, $21K, also put down $7500, .9% for 60mo, $300/mo. Will be paid off about 6mo after the BMW, if I end up keeping it that long. Friend of mine really wants to buy it, and I am ready for something different maybe.

MFEJAL grey because who knows... > TheElephant 10/23/2014 at 17:01

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2004 Ford Crown Victoria P71, bought at dealer in 2010 cash for $3600.

The Biebster's got a P71 (Formerly not Justin Bieber) > TheElephant 10/24/2014 at 02:03

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Full cash outright, both times.

Buccaneer9 > TheElephant 10/24/2014 at 06:32

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Cash.