- Jul 3, 2003
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And then I look at my 6 year old Maxima with 83,000 miles on it and no car payment and all thoughts of buying a new car go flying right out the window.
I was getting my wife's car serviced today and stopped by the ford dealer next door to look at their wares. The hybrid Fusion did not plug in, even though it would go up to 47 MPH on electric alone. I was dissapoint.
the fusion hybrid is pretty impressive when you consider it is sized like a normal fusion (which is to say roomy) and doesn't have the standard egg shape and super narrow tires of a traditional hybrid.
And then I look at my 6 year old Maxima with 83,000 miles on it and no car payment and all thoughts of buying a new car go flying right out the window.
Cars aren't going to get any cheaper. Government mandates alone guarantee that.
The longer you sit on the sidelines, the bigger the shock is going to be.
And then I look at my 6 year old Maxima with 83,000 miles on it and no car payment and all thoughts of buying a new car go flying right out the window.
I agree. It seems like cars are becoming prohibitively expensive. I refuse to borrow money so for me to go drop 30k on new car would mean missing out on other more important things, like sending my son to a really great school.
Another thing I find surprising is how poorly people treat their cars. For instance, my daily driver is a 1996. Granted, in 1996 it was considered a premium car but I have kept it up and frankly it's a very nice used car right now, much nicer than many people's cars I know that are five-seven years old. People treat their cars like dirt and then complain when they break and have to fork over the cash for a new one, when if they just took a little better care of the one they had it would have served them for years to come.
eh, you pay to play. I doubt today's Maxima is a whole lot more than what yours was whenever you bought it, or at least when it was new. Today's also gets you a safer car, a much bigger car, more power, and perhaps more efficiency. I'd say many of the cars out there are fairly priced for what they offer these days. The one thing the US market does lack is super cheap small new cars.
Funny you say that because my wife bitches every time I take my car in for service or spend ANY money on it. Then she complains when she takes her Lexus in and they say she needs $200-500 worth of preventative maintenance...Um, if you want your car to last and be reliable, you need to take care of it.
Heh, I can't wait to pay more for a new car. As soon as the weather shows no more signs of Winter during the beginning of next year -- I will be in a brand new overpriced vehicle.
I'd rather spend the money on something fun like taking a vacation or doing something to my bike.
I refuse to borrow money
Why? There isn't anything inherently wrong with borrowing money, and if done right can increase your credit rating. What if you had a life-threatening medical situation in the family that you can't afford? What if you want to buy a house - not many people keep a few hundred thousand on-hand. What if your son's "great school" was more expensive than you budgeted for?
The other thing is that you can make your money work for you. When I purchased my current car, I got in on a 0.9% APR deal. I had $10k ready for a down payment. They asked how much I was going to put down, and I replied, "how much is required?" They said that nothing was required at all, so I put nothing down. This did mean that my monthly payments are pretty high, but that's okay since I can budget for it. The next day I went to a bank and put that $10k in a CD for around 5%. I made more in the first year off that CD than what I'll pay in interest on my car loan for the duration of the loan. (of course CD rates plummeted after that )
This is not surprising. In her head it is now an old car that is "costing a ton to keep running". I cam within $1500 of replacing our Maxima this past January with an entry level Altima. Fvck me I'm glad that dealer was as stupid as me (not taking what I was asking for, and me being stupid for being there in the first place). 11 months later instead of $3300 in car payments I have spent just the cost of further depreciation on a car not worth even $5k to begin with, so I win. For what many pay each month on a car payment if they had the car paid off they could buy a new camera or laptop every damn month.Funny you say that because my wife bitches every time I take my car in for service or spend ANY money on it. Then she complains when she takes her Lexus in and they say she needs $200-500 worth of preventative maintenance...Um, if you want your car to last and be reliable, you need to take care of it.
Why? There isn't anything inherently wrong with borrowing money, and if done right can increase your credit rating. What if you had a life-threatening medical situation in the family that you can't afford? What if you want to buy a house - not many people keep a few hundred thousand on-hand. What if your son's "great school" was more expensive than you budgeted for?
The other thing is that you can make your money work for you. When I purchased my current car, I got in on a 0.9% APR deal. I had $10k ready for a down payment. They asked how much I was going to put down, and I replied, "how much is required?" They said that nothing was required at all, so I put nothing down. This did mean that my monthly payments are pretty high, but that's okay since I can budget for it. The next day I went to a bank and put that $10k in a CD for around 5%. I made more in the first year off that CD than what I'll pay in interest on my car loan for the duration of the loan. (of course CD rates plummeted after that )
I'd rather spend the money on something fun like taking a vacation or doing something to my bike.