New Car Finance Opinions
New Car Finance Opinions
Hi All,
I'm looking to pick up a new Corolla or Matrix in the next couple of weeks for the gf to use as a DD. Until the end of the month, they are having special APRs on the 09 Corollas: 0% for 36 months, 1.9% for 48 months and 2.9% for 60 months.
Assuming I finance $14,000 the respective monthly payments will be 388.92, 303.10, or 250.88. While I will be able to afford all of these payments, I will also have a mortgage to attend to by the end of the year and after everything is said and done, I will only have a buffer of about $500 after everything is paid off (insurance, utilities, estimated gas etc...).
My question is, should I take the 0% and hope that nothing big comes up, or should I take one of the other options and throw any extra cash into the car payment to pay off the car faster?
Thanks!
I'm looking to pick up a new Corolla or Matrix in the next couple of weeks for the gf to use as a DD. Until the end of the month, they are having special APRs on the 09 Corollas: 0% for 36 months, 1.9% for 48 months and 2.9% for 60 months.
Assuming I finance $14,000 the respective monthly payments will be 388.92, 303.10, or 250.88. While I will be able to afford all of these payments, I will also have a mortgage to attend to by the end of the year and after everything is said and done, I will only have a buffer of about $500 after everything is paid off (insurance, utilities, estimated gas etc...).
My question is, should I take the 0% and hope that nothing big comes up, or should I take one of the other options and throw any extra cash into the car payment to pay off the car faster?
Thanks!
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 32
Likes: 0
From: FL
Hi All,
I'm looking to pick up a new Corolla or Matrix in the next couple of weeks for the gf to use as a DD. Until the end of the month, they are having special APRs on the 09 Corollas: 0% for 36 months, 1.9% for 48 months and 2.9% for 60 months.
Assuming I finance $14,000 the respective monthly payments will be 388.92, 303.10, or 250.88. While I will be able to afford all of these payments, I will also have a mortgage to attend to by the end of the year and after everything is said and done, I will only have a buffer of about $500 after everything is paid off (insurance, utilities, estimated gas etc...).
My question is, should I take the 0% and hope that nothing big comes up, or should I take one of the other options and throw any extra cash into the car payment to pay off the car faster?
Thanks!
I'm looking to pick up a new Corolla or Matrix in the next couple of weeks for the gf to use as a DD. Until the end of the month, they are having special APRs on the 09 Corollas: 0% for 36 months, 1.9% for 48 months and 2.9% for 60 months.
Assuming I finance $14,000 the respective monthly payments will be 388.92, 303.10, or 250.88. While I will be able to afford all of these payments, I will also have a mortgage to attend to by the end of the year and after everything is said and done, I will only have a buffer of about $500 after everything is paid off (insurance, utilities, estimated gas etc...).
My question is, should I take the 0% and hope that nothing big comes up, or should I take one of the other options and throw any extra cash into the car payment to pay off the car faster?
Thanks!
Also remember that you can still get higher than a 2.9 percent return on investments if you invest wisely. You may not want to pay it off sooner and just invest the additional principle.
Go for the 60 month and lower payment... Or better yet, get a used car and pay it off, this way you dont even have to carry full coverage insurance, so your only payments will be gas and maintenance.
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if you have some savings already as buffer, i take 0%. if not, than that means you are still living short, and to be safe i would do 60 months to ensure more savings every month. if things get better down the road, you can always pay off earlier
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As it stands, I'm going to put around 5k down and I have 3k in savings that I definitely will not touch for this purchase. It's not a great amount but I have ING setup to take $200 from my checking each month to kind of force me to save 
Again, if the price is right, then I will buy this weekend, if not then I won't
Again, if the price is right, then I will buy this weekend, if not then I won't
allen k - for 5k, you can get a second gen infiniti g20 which is a fine reliable automobile that is relatively larger than your average civic. even honda accords are approaching that price nowadays.
Some infiniti G20 cars for close to 5k.
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/car/722547728.html
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/car/723670143.html
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/car/716460448.html
Some infiniti G20 cars for close to 5k.
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/car/722547728.html
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/car/723670143.html
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/car/716460448.html
The thing is I'm not all that comfortable with a car that has mileage that high. While it will be the DD, it'll probably also be the snow fun car 
. Here's the longer term view of things. In 2 years or so, I'm expecting a pay bump from anywhere between 10 and 20k. After that things should ease up a bit. Also, in 4 years the gf/fiance/wife whatever she'll be by then will graduate from grad school and will start bringing in 90-100k (although the first 2 years of her income will go 100% back towards paying off student loans) So essentially, I just need to survive for the next 2 years, after that I can relax.
. Here's the longer term view of things. In 2 years or so, I'm expecting a pay bump from anywhere between 10 and 20k. After that things should ease up a bit. Also, in 4 years the gf/fiance/wife whatever she'll be by then will graduate from grad school and will start bringing in 90-100k (although the first 2 years of her income will go 100% back towards paying off student loans) So essentially, I just need to survive for the next 2 years, after that I can relax.
In regards to the house, it's actually a screaming deal. It's a brand new home in a community with 0 Melo Roos, a low tax rate, and very low association ($70/month). After the down payment and all of that it's only $500 more than renting a 1 bedroom apartment would cost.