# How big is your car payment?



## JST (Dec 19, 2001)

Emission said:


> *My 330i lease payment was $642/mo over 36 months. I put $2500 down ($1000 of that was from the BMWCCA). After living with that payment for 16 months I sold out (and ate another $600 or so due to market conditions).
> 
> My Porsche is $419/mo on a 48 month purchase. I put $5000 down on a loan @ 6.99% APR. I don't think that is bad at all. *


Which lender did you go through on the Porsche? When I was thinking about older Carreras, one of the difficulties I ran into was finding someone willing to finance a 15-20 year old car at less than confiscatory rates.


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## DaveN323i (Jan 17, 2002)

FireFly said:


> *ZeRo
> 
> But here is a tip for those who are in a position to pay cash on something:
> 
> ...


That is an interesting idea. My dealer only allowed me to charge $5000 when I purchased the car. But if I had planned this ahead of time, maybe the dealer would not mind getting money ahead of time and allow me to pay the whole thing in advance installments. I know they have to give a % back to the credit card but they are also having my money to use way before the car arrives. Hum....hey Jon, about that Steel Gray Ci...


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## Emission (Dec 19, 2001)

JST said:


> *
> 
> Which lender did you go through on the Porsche? *


My local credit union, Wescom.

They lent me about 80% of the sales price - they were willing to do 100% of wholesale book on the Porsche.


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## KP (Apr 16, 2002)

That's only half the part for me:thumbdwn: . Once the payments are finished, downpayment is next


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## RChoudry (Jan 13, 2002)

medical school interest rate on student loans around 6-9%

BMW FS lease rate around 5.3%

Priorities?


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## JJKK (Apr 17, 2002)

*.*

.


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## doubletee (Dec 20, 2001)

I bought my car when it was already two years old. Borrowed $16,500 for 24 months. Payments were $757/month.


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## Chipster (Dec 23, 2001)

TD said:


> *
> 
> We actually financed MORE on our house so that we'd have the cash to pay off the cars. If I'm going to be paying interest, it sure as hell is going to be tax deductable interest on an appreciating asset.
> *


Yup there's nothing better than tying a depreciating liability like an automobile to an appreciating asset like your house.

Let's see my car will be paid for in 3 years....oh you'll still be paying for yours for 15 to 30 years, long after the car is gone. How much interest will you pay in 15 to 30 years on a car that will probably be long gone....

For example, here are rates/payments based on a $35k loan for auto loans and home loans taken from www.peoplefirst.com for the auto loan, and www.Ditech.com for the home loan:

Car loan: 
60 month term - 5.79 apr
Monthly payment $673 for 60 months
Total payments after 60 months $40,380
Done you own the car.

Refi loan
360 term - 6.659 APR (or 6.96 w/no points) (remember APR is not the same as the "rate"
2.5 points to buy down the APR
Payment: 6.16/1000 or $215/mo
Total payments after 360 months $77,400
Ah, but you still have to include the 2.5 points (and we'll assume there are no fees (escrow/attorney/wire/etc) on this loan. 2.5 points on the $35k portion of the loan is $875
So $77,400 plus the $875 is $78,275
Can you really write off that much interest?
So the reality is you'll keep your home for 5 years and move on to something bigger and better and you won't have the loan for 30 years. True, but the equity you took out of the house to buy the car is money you will not be able to put down on the new home so you will still be paying for the car for years to come.

Flame away all you refi and heloc guys, I'm ready for a convincing argument...


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## Joe Mag (May 30, 2002)

When I bought my 00 323i I put down a big chunk of cash and financed a little. $240.00 a month for 4 years.


Joe


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## blackdawg (Jan 4, 2002)

*$0.*

until recently, i'd usually lease my cars for 24 months because i tend to get fickle about them.

but it's a huge stride forward to not have car payments. it's the only way we could afford to finance a house in boston (closing soon) whilst prepping our st.louis house for sale.

it also makes paying $250 a month for parking in boston that much more palatable.

(sigh).


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## bluer1 (May 30, 2002)

Chipster said:


> *
> Flame away all you refi and heloc guys, I'm ready for a convincing argument... *


Schwing!:thumb:

Someone else who knows what a natural log is, or at least that excel rocks!

Mine will be here late june, and i'm trying to decide whether or not to keep the beater [95 nissan truck, runs like a Singer] and how much to put down, but I'm looking at ~600/mo.

I put practically nothing down on my house, but it's in a *very* hot area in town, easily outpaces other property values, etc. so I've probably got a lot more equity than I'm aware of but I don't want to be paying for the 3er for 10 years (or 30), regardless of the rate.

Like someone else mentioned, I threw a bunch of my cash at my student loans instead.

but hey, what works for me ain't for everybody.
cody


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

Chipster said:


> *
> Flame away all you refi and heloc guys, I'm ready for a convincing argument... *


Aha! But I already thought of that when I did my refi/payoff.

Without doing a whole shload of math, this is what I came up with:

Old payment: Mortgage 1+ car loan = Total #1

New payment: Mortgage 2+ principal acceleration = Total #2

BUT set Total #2 to equal Total #1

This was all 10-minute Excel macro math, but this will essentially pay the car portion of the refi off in the same time period as the standalone car loan.

YMMV


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## Chipster (Dec 23, 2001)

Kaz said:


> *
> 
> YMMV *


WTF is YMMV?!?!

If you have the discipline to adhere to your intentions of plan 2 then I agree with you.

Unfortunatly most people use their equity as a crutch to buy things they typically can't afford. That's when they pay 30 years for a car, or lose the equity from their current property and don't have it to take to the next bigger property.

This is a great topic and everyone has their opinion.


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## IndyMike (Dec 19, 2001)

Chipster said:


> *
> 
> WTF is YMMV?!?!*


Your Mileage May Vary.



Chipster said:


> *
> If you have the discipline to adhere to your intentions of plan 2 then I agree with you.
> 
> Unfortunatly most people use their equity as a crutch to buy things they typically can't afford. That's when they pay 30 years for a car, or lose the equity from their current property and don't have it to take to the next bigger property.
> ...


And I'd agree that anyone that uses a HELOC and intends to pay it off over a 15 year period is not very wise.

But if you make accelerated principal payments in order to bring down the length of the loan, at least to me it's a no-brainer that this is the way to fly.

My first mortgage is at a fixed rate (7%), while my HELOC is tied to Prime + 1 (currently = 5.75%). If for some reason the Prime rate skyrockets it's nice to know that I have enough reserves to pay off the HELOC without substantial damage to my available reserves.

Regardless of whether you use math models or not, everyone has to assess their own situation and determine what is the best available option for them.

Just make sure that you choose wisely.


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## fuz (Feb 6, 2002)

cash. yes, i'm chinese.


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## Chipster (Dec 23, 2001)

IndyMike said:


> *
> 
> Regardless of whether you use math models or not, everyone has to assess their own situation and determine what is the best available option for them.
> 
> *


That says it all. :thumb:


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