Which makes more sense? Or I should say, is waiting worth it? I know waiting 40 million years and paying cash is the best route but of these two options which is best?


A. Put $10,000 down and finance $20,000 for 60 months, which would leave me about $4,000 in cash left over, after I sell my truck. Actualy it's $6,000 left over but I subtracted the 2-2.5 G's in mods that MUST be done ASAP when/if I buy one. This plan would put me in a brand new 2006 base Z with my initial mods at the end of June 2006.

or

B. Wait until end of next year and put $15,000 down and finance $15,000 for 60 months and have maybe a couple grand left over after mods. The payments would be about $100 a month lower by waiting. On the other hand I would have to wait about 11 months from now to buy one


Basically I can buy in 11 months or buy a lot sooner and pay $100 more in monthly payments.


Do you think it would be worth it to pay the extra $100 a month in order to have it sooner? Finacially waiting would be better (lower payments and save on interest), plus I could get a better year end deal perhaps.

Or just pay the extra hundred and get it sooner?

 

Or should I order a fully loaded Pontiac Solstice in May?

 

only one catch though. if you wait 11 months can you guarantee that you still
get the 2006 model or will you want a 2007? i'm all about saving money but the
waiting sux.

i would check to see what changes are planned for 2007 before buying. if there
are no significant changes planned for 2007 i would get the 2006 earlier even w/
the 100+ difference a month. sure you pay more in finance charges but... you
will have your car to drive sooner.

will paying 100 a month more screw with your budget?

 

ix-nay on the olstice-say!

 

***will paying 100 a month more screw with your budget?***


A little. Well by a hundred a month anyway. Well it kinda depends.

The reason I haven't bought anything yet, isn't because I don't make decent money, I do but I have been spending the last 9 months paying off a ton of CC debt (was just under $30,000 briefly at one point), that will be gone in early January.

Then I have to set aside $2,000 for my income tax that will be done mid Feburary.

Then and only then can I start to save for the down payment. The most I can set aside is about $2,000 a month towards the down payment. However that's working 2 full time jobs, which I have been doing since March of 2004 (21 months). when I buy a car I don't want to rely on my second job to pay bills, so I would idealy want lower payments but don't want to wait till the end of the year either LOL.

Even after I buy my car, I would probably keep working a second job, just part time to make extra money, so the $100 isn't a real huge issue if I kept doing that but if I decide I'm sick of 80 hour work weeks or 2 jobs all together, then I would be eating off the value menu LOL. Now if I could get zero APR that would kick *** but I don't live in La La Land... Bummer. Although like I said I would have like $4,000 set aside as a cusion anyway, after mods, so I do have a little nest egg/safety net in a pinch.

 

What are the finance charges on option #1? Option #2?

 

I was figuring about 8% APR

 

A "smart" financial rule is that if you can't afford to finance a car in 3 years (36 months) then you shouldn't buy the car in the first place. If you do 60 months like you are planning on doing, you are going to get ripped on the interest financially and are going to be paying way more than the car is worth. Add on top of that the 8% interest that you're going to be getting (which isn't too low, but I've seen worse)... Have you done a calculation on how much you're going to be paying total, after all is said and done?

 

Eh, if you'll need to finance it for 60 months at 8% then EITHER option is too expensive. Get a cheaper car or go used!

 

8% does seem a little high but 60 months is pretty standard for any car over 30k

 

At 7% on $20,000 loan, it's about $3,700 in interest over 5 years.

So I'd be flushing about $740 a year down the toilet on interest.

A $15,000 loan is about $2,700 ($550 a year being flushed).

A $200 a year difference means nothing to me. I don't have a problem with paying out $3,700 in interest spread out over 5 years. You have any idea how many thousands of dollars I have flushed down the toilet on 8 years of CC debt that hovered around 10-15 grand for about 5 years at about 20% average? I don't even want to think about it, so

 

I was using 8% as the extreme high end. I have no clue what kind of rate I would get.

 

i understand what you are saying but people can always re-fi..... maybe wait a year save some money and fix your credit then re-fi...

a lot of people do it..

 

Just reading this thread, I would have to say, get an older used base Z for about 17 grand and save your money. If your having to work 2 jobs and that many hours to support a car, thats just not right man. Not trying to be a jerk or sound like a father, but do the smart thing. Youll thank your self later on.

BEN

ps- as for interest rates, shop around. Mine is 4.5% for 48 months and I thought that was a little high. 8%!!! WOW.

 

I'm just working hard for the down payment. Once I get that I am done, unless I decide to keep doing it for extra money. I can manage on my main job, but having extra money is nice too.

If I waited till I had $15,000 to put down, I wouldn't be sweating anything.

Actually hold on a second hehehehe. I just thought of a way i could do the $15,000 by the end of June. The only drawback is i will have to get rid of the truck before I can get the mods, no biggie. Hmmm yea I think that will work.