Hi All,

Ordered my 2005 enthusiast last month, and it looks like the car will be ready sometime in July, right now I'm trying to decide on what I should do with my down payment. Should I put 10k down on the car, or put 7k down and put the 3k I have left into 19" rims? The 3k makes about $50 a month difference over 5 years. I make enough to pay the car either way, but saving 3k later on might take me a few months to do so. What do you all think?

 

wiser to put down as much as you can

 

Don't forget you will have to pay interest on that 3K, so it's going to cost you more. Why do you want 19's? If you have no intention of tracking it, go for it. If you are trying for performance, get some lightweight 17s and sticky rubber.

Personally, I would put the biggest down payment on it that I can, and either have lower payments, pay extra and save some money on interest, or have the same size payments that don't last as long. It's not as fun as having extra stuff for your car, but I think it's worth it.

And no matter what you do, NEVER discuss the word "payments" with the dealer. Only discuss "price". Then when you have an agreed-upon price IN WRITING, only then should you say, "I'm going to pay this much up front, and divide the rest over this many months."

When you talk in terms of Payments, they will make sure you just pay them longer. This all by itself can save you enough for your 19's

In any case, good luck, and have fun!

 

Like 510dat said, put down as much as you can. Then (later on) you can use the money you saved on interest to buy the rims you want.

 

Put the maximum down you can. Interest is such a waste of money; you are paying a premium to watch your car depreciate. Pay cash for the rims too, you don't want to end up paying interest for rims.

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Warning, mild rant incoming!

First of all, please do whatever you want. I don't want to run anyone's life but my own. I am not saying you're "doing the wrong thing," I am just stating what I would do and why.

That said, in my opinion it's a horrible idea to finance things that typically lose value (TV, car, etc). If you must finance, it is clearly superior to acquire things that typically gain value like real estate. If I were going to buy luxury items it should be with money that's already in my pocket, not the future money that will be coming from my work. There is no such thing as job security in this world. Believe that.

OK, don't flame me now... I realize that everyone (at least in the USA) has the right to live life their own way and finance whatever they want. Some people do have decent job security at high paying jobs and financing hundreds of thousands of dollars of luxury items is no concern to them. More power to those people, I'm just not one of them. As for me, I bought my Z with 100% cash because in my mind, I can't afford it with the interest of financing.

End of rant.
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Also I would sell your current vehicle to a private party. Dealers rob you blind on all trade-ins.

The following comes from some article I read, I don't remember where it came from (and forgive me if it's total BS): if your car is more than about 4 years old , no bank or finance company will finance a 4+ year old car to a prospective buyer, so those vehicles are pretty much worthless to dealers who make much more money off of finance deals compared to cash deals. So, guess what, they will pay you a worthless amount to take that 4+ year old car off your hands.

Private buyers on the other hand, who can afford cash for your vehicle, will pay much more than the dealer and they will be getting a great deal as well. I love private sales, they are almost always win-win.

 

No offense taken to your opinion, but seeing as how in the future I'd like to qualify for a mortgage, and this being the first major purchase I'll be making to boost my credit for that future mortgage, I think it's good to finance the car in this case. If I could pay cash I would, but I think that's more for someone who's already established a good credit line and is a homeowner. For someone like me who has just graduated college and working for the first year out of graduation I think it's better to finance the car.

I think I will end up paying the 10k down instead, I might as well get used to the car stock first then maybe in a few months make a decision with the money I've saved to either get a few upgrades or put all that money down on a house. Makes sense to not get charged interest on that extra 3k that I'm financing since that could be more money spent later. Thanks for all of your opinions.

 

Higher down.

 

Your reasons sound pretty solid especially regards to establishing credit. I don't think you're making a mistake, but I still think that $10k is a little light on the down payment.

 

I just say do whatever makes you happiest, that is what it is all about.

 

Yes. I recently bought my Z from a private seller. The seller gave me a final offer of $23.3k. So I went to a local credit union and prequalified myself for a loan...I then told the seller that i was going to give him $4300 cash so we can bring the selling price down to 19k and i will pay less taxes. In the end i saved myself $350 in taxes (actually even more than that because I put the taxes on top of the loan). If i went to the dealership i wouldn't be able to get that kinda deal and i would have to pay full taxes too. All in all i saved thousands by not going to a dealer. Blue book on my car is 26.6k.......I could've paid the car off with cash but decided to keep that money in investments and a retirement fund.


My advice to the original poster is get yourself prequalified for a loan first at a credit union (they always have better rates than dealerships anyway), then find yourself a private seller. Take the 7k to bring down the selling price and the rest for your rims. School is tough (im a student also) and you worked hard for that degree......its time treat yourself. BTW congrats' on finishing school!