Financing a car, advice please...

[John Cole]

If you do decide to buy a new car, find a reliable one. Drive it until it rusts away in the driveway. Check out the new car loan rate at the local credit union, and tell the dealer you plan to finance there. A big dealer will usually beat the credit union's rate; of course, you may need a good credit rating yourself. Get one quickly, as others have suggested.

Unlike some here, I don't see anything wrong with buying a new car every ten years or so. Then again, unlike Ray Zee, I have to work.

[cardcounter0]

Exactly. Which is why you should always have liability insurance (and why it is usually required by law).

In the case of collision insurance, your loss is limited to the value of your car (and as pointed out, if you can't afford to replace it, you are driving too much car). However, there is a small chance that if you get in a wreck and somebody gets seriously injured, hospital bills for the injured party, or a big disability payment, could wipe you out for everything you have. Hence the need for liability insurance.

Also, why do you think Insurance Companies can afford all those big huge fancy office buildings downtown? Who do you think pays for all that?

[cardcounter0]

My car is 12 years old, but it only has 185,000 miles on it so I'll be keeping it a while longer.
[img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Still runs strong, suspension smooth, no dents, one small rust spot. Oil change every 3,000 miles is the smartest thing you can do to a car.

[MMMMMM]

Why not find a decent car for like 3000 or less and pay cash? Save all those expensive collision/comprehensive insurance premiums which you would be required to pay if you finance it.

Pick a car you can replace for cash if anything happens to it. You might have to shop around a little and run down some want ads.

You are making 600/wk right now at poker. What if that changes? Do you really want to be locked into a long-term car loan coupled with mandatory collision payments without a good-paying job?

Nice new cars are attractive and an ego boost but they are a really poor investment for most people. Realtors need really nice cars but most people can do just fine with a decent car.

By the way, have you noticed that there seems to be a loose inverse correlation between how pretty a woman is and the car she drives? It seems to me that the pretty girls tend to drive average cars and the less-attractive ones tend to
drive head-turner cars. Try noticing this for a while and see if you agree.

You have to decide if your ego or the money is more important to you. When you have the money and want something, it is very easy to be seduced into buying. Later when you don't have that thing anymore and you don't have the money either you might have something to think about.

You are young so if you make a mistake you will probably come out of it OK anyway.

Don't forget that not having that money on hand could cause you to miss an opportunity sometime and that is a loss also.

If I had realized certain things along these lines when I was younger, instead of after 40, I would be in a much better position in life now.

[CCass]

Ray's post is dead on. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[J.R.]

Hot chicks have rich husbands and drive nice cars. Perhaps you should spend some time in a more affluent area, it is an unmistakable fact.

[MMMMMM]

I have noticed the opposite but then the age group I am referring to is probably mostly unmarried.

[miamikid]

[ QUOTE ]
but no body gets rich by borrowing. you get rich by investing. not spending large amounts of your net worth on consumer goods. food for thought.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, one of the fastest ways to build wealth is by borrowing money and buying investment real estate and then have a renter pay your home loans,insurance, and taxes for you.

By borrowing money, you make much much greater returns on your investment. Borrowing is absolutely essential.

Lets say you have two options to buy a $100,000 house.
1. You buy the 100k house all cash, and sell it a year later for 120K. You make 20% return on investment.

2. You buy the 100K house, put 5k down, and borrow 95k.
Now, in the first example, you have no loan to repay. In this example you put 5K down, put still have 1k a month in loan payments. so after one year, you spend 17K, You sell the house for 120K, after you repay you loan of 95K, you make still make 20K even after paying off the loan. Except this time, you only invested 17K to make 20K for over a 100% return on investment.

This works of course, because you put the money you borrowed into something that appreciates.

[MMMMMM]

"Actually, one of the fastest ways to build wealth is by borrowing money and buying investment real estate and then have a renter pay your home loans,insurance, and taxes for you.

By borrowing money, you make much much greater returns on your investment. Borrowing is absolutely essential.

Lets say you have two options to buy a $100,000 house.
1. You buy the 100k house all cash, and sell it a year later for 120K. You make 20% return on investment.

2. You buy the 100K house, put 5k down, and borrow 95k.
Now, in the first example, you have no loan to repay. In this example you put 5K down, put still have 1k a month in loan payments. so after one year, you spend 17K, You sell the house for 120K, after you repay you loan of 95K, you make still make 20K even after paying off the loan. Except this time, you only invested 17K to make 20K for over a 100% return on investment.

This works of course, because you put the money you borrowed into something that appreciates."


Great in a rising market.

Not-so-great in a flat market.

Lousy in a falling market.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
Great in a rising market.

Not-so-great in a flat market.

Lousy in a falling market.

[/ QUOTE ]
I would imagine this is pretty typical, at least the general shape is: