What car do you drive and what do you pay per month?

[Pops1967GTX]

These people are working at a car dealership.

 

[Takoctopus]

I don’t pay anything, all 9 of my cars are paid off. Never even had a loan on any of them. I buy used, fix it myself if broken, and not worry about what the neighbors think.

 

[AR67GTX]

Wow, I remember when I was younger I always tried to keep car payments below $200/mo, sometimes well below. Can’t imagine a car payment of $1500/mo. I think 2004 and my wife’s new Highlander may have been the last car we had payments on and it was some long, drawn out, low interest credit union promotion. I thought it would never get paid off and I said no more.

 

[69 Sleeper Bee]

My 2006 Silverado payments were below $400/mo but it's long been paid off. That was the last new vehicle I bought.
It is crazy hearing how much those people are paying monthly now, I don't know how they do it. Also 25% of cars on the road today are leased which is even crazier.

 

[Hey-O]

When I was younger, my limit was 225 a month, for 3 years, I'd buy in that bracket only and it was called a tight budget. The days of everyone who works at a dealerships making big bank are over. Those people are out of their minds if they pay 1500 a month and I don't care how much you make in our world. Most people don't drive a car for ten years and paying 1500 a month to more or less rent it till you sell it, is insane. Lets not forget, resale on these dogs is stupid. That's why some people can't afford to retire, some drove their retirement savings back and forth to work, and I don't want to hear, you only live once. I've enjoyed my share of new cars and I've never bought what I could really afford to drive. With that, I think I'm going to stop before I say something really stupid..................... I drive a 2019 Dodge Durango, cash and carry.

 

[68BabyBlue]

Perhaps my most valuable life lesson was given to me back in 1970, by the co-owner of the dealership that owned my GTX back in the day. I was drooling over a '68 Hemi Road Runner that had just been taken in on trade. Julie Clark told me that the smart way to own a car like that was to use it sparingly, and drive a cheap older car as a daily driver. Her words, "there's no shame in driving a cheap old car, it's smart," have served me well.

My current daily driver, a 2002 Lexus ES300, was originally my wife's car, purchased for $10,800 in 2011, paid cash, I started driving it in 2015. I was driving a 2007 Nissan Sentra at the time, also paid for in cash, later gave that to my daughter. The depreciation on the Lexus has worked out to about $45 per month, zero interest. The money saved on car payments funded a comfortable retirement, and some really nice GTXs.

 

[Ron H]

I don’t think we’ve had car payments since the early 90’s. I did have company rides until 2000. A few I bought for cash after they were to be turned in at the ripe mileage of 50k. Those went to my wife and kids. The thrill of a ‘new’ car left me long ago. Back when, part of it was the cost and depreciation. Now could afford to buy new; sure an $80+k Durango, Ram, or something. These vehicles have so much stuff in them, shy of auto-wiping my behind, I’m not impressed with. Riding in friend’s new rides I’ll hear this or that chime and ask what that was. All sorts of ‘alerts’. I’ve had an ’05 Dakota for near 10-years now that just turned 100k and did some restoration replacing rusty body parts, and the wife’s car is an ’09 Sonata we’ve had around 10-years. Lol, she says I should get a new truck and I say she should get a new SUV. Well, new-er. Her ride has been reliable, drives fine, and looks about new. I'm a stickler for upkeep.

Expect we will get a newer vehicle for her and I’m thinking about another old vehicle to give the ’63 a sibling. If I do, it would be the first one I won’t need to restore, just turnkey. My restoration days are behind and too many other projects as it is.

 

[WileE]

As I've said very often... a sign that you are old... is when the cost of a car and/or car payment is more than what you paid for your first home. In some cases here, it's double and triple for me.

 

[YY1]

I've only ever had payments on one car, er uh, my 2000 Dakota R/T that I bought in 2002.
It was an interesting experience as it was also the first vehicle I ever bought from a new car dealership.
They didn't quite understand that I wasn't interested in telling them "what I could afford", but instead how much I needed to put down to ger a $300 payment for 3 years.
They started calling me "that thorough guy" because I wanted make absolutely sure of what I was paying for, including the JET tuning chip someone casually mentioned".

After two months of not getting a payment book, but instead a late notice, I refinanced with my credit union.
They happened to be having an issue with network printing, which I fixed for them, and they reduced the fee from $400 to $25.

My wife wanted to pay cash for her 2020 hyundai kona, but we found out during a grueling discussion with their finance dept that we could save almost 2K by financing. She dotted her i's and crossed her t's to avoid penalties and ended up putting 1/2 down, making one payment of 1/2 of the remaining balance, a second payment a month later of 1/2 of the new balance, and a final, third payment to pay it off.
Lots of people's heads were spinning at that dealership that day. It cost about $30 in interest (and about 4 hours in research) in order to save that 2K.

 

[YY1]

I agree with the statement about- buying 2-3 year old daily driver cars has saved me more than I have spent on all my classic cars and parts.

 

[Dave6T4]

Our latest used vehicle we bought in 2022 cost 2X what we paid for our first house in 1973. 2-year-old Jeep GC with only 12,000 miles and extended warranty.. I figured I saved $20,000 from new list price on it.

 

[eldubb440]

rust free 02 Dakota......runs like a new truck.....does everything I need it to.......paid for lol

 

[Don Frelier]

2000 300m like all my vehicles they are cash deals from their owners.
I've had good luck with buying used cars from Private owners.
But I usually have a good idea what car I'm looking for.

 

[padam]

It takes a lot to make me feel like a financial success, but that video did it.

 

[Serious Satellite]

No auto payments. 2019 RAM 1500 Classic is my daily driver. 1973 Plymouth Satellite Sebring is my "hobby" car. Just insurance. I'm old. 68 and pretty much everything is paid for. Just insurance, meds, and taxes.

 

[33 IMP]

As I've said very often... a sign that you are old... is when the cost of a car and/or car payment is more than what you paid for your first home. In some cases here, it's double and triple for me.

The new(ish) car I want cost five times what my house cost new.... and ten times what my parents house cost.
So does a top of the line new pickup. They are insane.

 

[33 IMP]

I've only ever had payments on one car, er uh, my 2000 Dakota R/T that I bought in 2002.
It was an interesting experience as it was also the first vehicle I ever bought from a new car dealership.
They didn't quite understand that I wasn't interested in telling them "what I could afford", but instead how much I needed to put down to ger a $300 payment for 3 years.
They started calling me "that thorough guy" because I wanted make absolutely sure of what I was paying for, including the JET tuning chip someone casually mentioned".

After two months of not getting a payment book, but instead a late notice, I refinanced with my credit union.
They happened to be having an issue with network printing, which I fixed for them, and they reduced the fee from $400 to $25.

My wife wanted to pay cash for her 2020 hyundai kona, but we found out during a grueling discussion with their finance dept that we could save almost 2K by financing. She dotted her i's and crossed her t's to avoid penalties and ended up putting 1/2 down, making one payment of 1/2 of the remaining balance, a second payment a month later of 1/2 of the new balance, and a final, third payment to pay it off.
Lots of people's heads were spinning at that dealership that day. It cost about $30 in interest (and about 4 hours in research) in order to save that 2K.

How? How did financing save money compared to a cash purchase. (Unless you got a huge discount/rebate FOR financing!)

 

[6PKRTSE]

All of mine are paid for and I always buy used. Can’t afford or don't want new vehicles. However, I pay dearly per month keeping all 9 vehicles plated, insured, maintained to drive them all whenever I want.

 

[Dennis H]

300C. Zero.

 

[XS22J8R]

Wow 2 of the people had Hornets, I was unaware Dodge had sold any yet, let alone 2!
"When I was a boy" taking a loan to buy a car wasn't even something I was aware of. I saved money doing odd jobs for several years to buy my first car at 16. Got me my first job with a paycheck around the same time, and despite being a part time job, I made great money and as a student my expenses were low, so when I decided to buy a late model 4x4 for a good year round driver my freshman year of college I paid cash for my truck then.
I was in my early 30s the first time I took a loan to buy a car, and used a home equity loan since the interest was deductible. I did that at least one other time for a daily. In 2010 I'd just built a new garage and had refinanced my house to do that, plus had got a new HELOC with the refi. That proved to be a dangerous combination as I went to a Mecum auction with the idea if something cool ran and looked like a bargain I'd try my luck at it, which ended up happening and I wrote a check from my HELOC to settle up after winning. Interest rates never budged off the 2.25% it was then and still was deductible until later that decade they changed the rules, so I made a payment monthly for a number of years until paid off, I think I was paying around $500 a month but memory is vague.
My new Ram in 21 and getting my Scat Pack I bought last year, I put around 50% down and financed the rest mainly being my wisdom or misconception, though I'm pretty sure wisdom, is that since dealers can't sell me extended warranties, nitrogen filled tires or any of their other of their marked up BS, I still need to toss them a few crumbs to make a few bucks on the my deal, or they won't want to sell me a car. So I take a loan, they get their kickback or "juice" from the bank for the loan, and are presumably happy. I had super low interest on the truck loan and paid it off in a little over a year, I think the payments were in the $500s, I am sure I was paying extra every month, but I still had to write a fairly large check to payoff the balance when I did that. The Scat Pack they put a ridiculous term on it, like 84 months, and interest rates are pretty jacked now, like 7.99%. I told myself I'd pay it off by the end of the year when I got it in July, but in my usual triage way of managing life, I haven't gotten around to paying it off yet. I've just been adding money to the $450 payment every month, though in recent months I've been adding a lot. Last month I paid over $2000. I'm planning to retire this summer and part of the plan is to be debt free, and that is my only loan so I have to get finish that one off in the next few months.
After paying off the Challenger, I'm probably done with car loans in this lifetime. I have had a bucketlist item since I was a teen to own a hemi car, and on paper could probably do it, but actually turning those numbers to actual cash to buy a car isn't necessarily as easy as it sounds. Talking to the "cool kids" money guy type collectors on that issue, I was told a margin account on stocks is often what they use for their credit line to make those big deals you see while watching auction footage, so if I ever borrow to buy a car again, it will likely be for a collector car, and paying for it through a margin account on my stocks. Time will tell on that one though!