Buying a new or used car

Cherokeekid88

Cherokeekid88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
High Point, NC
So my wife needs a new(er) car. I am trying to make that happen. I work with a guy who said that he went and bought a brand new Nissan Versa (not a car that I would buy) and he only pays $250 a month for it...brand new...I am trying to figure out if its better to try and get something new and have a really low APR or buy a used car by getting a loan through the bank?
Seems like better deals are to be had from puchasing a new car. Brother in law just bought a 2014 camry with alot of features for 21k...sticker price was 28k.

we are looking for around $250 a month for our car payment...want something nice but not anything crazy...basically something good on gas and that we can drive and drive and drive and drive.

input?
 
is that buy or lease?

how long do you plan to keep it? how long do you want the payment? they are financing cars for a lot longer these days to get the payments down.....6 or 7 years...and by that time you may owe more on it than it is worth.

If you plan to keep it until the wheels fall off, then buying new can be a viable thought.

Even at 0%, $21,000 is $350 a month for 5 years. $291 a month for 6 years. And you'll need full insurance until its paid off.
 
that was a buy.
I like keeping my cars for a while. I am not like my dad where he trades his in every couple of years.
Also, I am not one to put alot of miles on my cars. I try to keep it down to a minimum. My wife is tired of putting $20 in gas in her jeep every couple of days- Hers is lifted. We figured that some of the savings from gas alone could help offset the cost of a newer car.

we are looking for something $15k or less.
was looking at a 2014 kia forte just as an example and could get one for around $240 a month, buying.
 
I think Kia and Hyundai are making great cars right now. Strong, reliable vehicles. They seem to be trying to pick up the market the Japanese are losing by letting quality slip. The problem with small cars, especially cute ones, is they hold their value ridiculously well. Try buying a used Kia Soul or Scion xB right now, and compare the used price to new. Buying new makes a lot of sense in that case! Get a good rate, keep on top of your payments, and enjoy having a new car! You'll probably start talking kids soon, so you might want to look at something with a little more back seat room. Our xB has been fantastic for car seats and babies. The Soul is similarly set up.
 
Don't payment shop, look at your dollar and cents ... They will eat you up only to sell you on a $xxxx a month payment..
 
It is easy to setup a spreadsheet in Excel where you simply type in the cost, rate, and number of payments and it tells you the payment. Then have another cell in the spreadsheet multiply the payment by the number of payments and you will be able to see what will cost you the least. We recently purchased a brand new Camry. First time we've ever bought a new car. The advertised 0% is only if you pay the full price. I got a rate of 1.49% at the bank for 5 years and negotiated the price way down and will pay alot less in the long run than if I paid full price at 0%.
 
catfishblues said:
I think Kia and Hyundai are making great cars right now. Strong, reliable vehicles. They seem to be trying to pick up the market the Japanese are losing by letting quality slip. The problem with small cars, especially cute ones, is they hold their value ridiculously well. Try buying a used Kia Soul or Scion xB right now, and compare the used price to new. Buying new makes a lot of sense in that case! Get a good rate, keep on top of your payments, and enjoy having a new car! You'll probably start talking kids soon, so you might want to look at something with a little more back seat room. Our xB has been fantastic for car seats and babies. The Soul is similarly set up.
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We recently bought a Kia Optima for the wife. Granted it wasn't a ton cheaper than Japanese once we got all the options on it, but they did sell it to us for a very good price and 0% interest for 60 months. I love the car, 276HP and 275TQ, drives great too. Be careful with used Kia's though unless they are certified preowned you don't get the 100k warranty if that matters to you.
 
Like benXJ said, they are putting people in cars that are financed for 6-7 years these days. Works great if you know you will keep it. But say you loose your job or whatever circumstances arise that make you need to sell it and your stuck cause you owe more than its worth.

I'm back and forth on this myself. My car is an ugly beater and may die any day, but paid for and 30mpg makes me keep driving till it stops. Then I'll have to make this decision as well. That being said Kia is a pretty good car for the money with an excellent warranty. Girlfriend bought one brand new, has 143k on it and NEVER changed the oil or serviced it like she should till we met. I'm talking like 10k+ over due for an oil change! Thing runs like a champ. Drives it 80 miles a day.


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Take a look at certified preowned. I just got a 2012 civic ex with 23k miles on the odo and 100k powertrain warranty for $6000 less than a new 2013 civic ex with less warranty. I could've saved more, but I paid extra for the warranty. Will have to wait a couple of years to see if it was money wasted or not.
 
My opinion? Buy about 1-2 year old. That first mile is STUPID EXPENSIVE. Let someone else bite that bullet. And like said, don't fall into the monthly payment shopping. Ya your buddy got a $250/mo. Payment.... But for how long? There's lots of 7 year payment plans out there right now. But then when you're done you have 7 year old car that you JUST finished paying on. And you probably paid 30%+ more on it in the end.
 
Oh and one more thing. Didn't you just buy a house? I'd wait to buy a car now. Not the best time to buy a car while pure in the first year of your home purchase. Many a financial planner will tell you to wait. Due to credit and financial obligation reasons.
 
There are some things I would buy new...a car/truck is NOT one of them.

The depreciation over the first few months/years isn't something I want to deal with. Warranties don't really make me feel any better because the chances of me getting out of the repair(s) for free are very low and I'd rather work on my own stuff. I know how guys at dealerships are (no offense to anybody here if they work for a dealer), but most of them are just trying to rack up their hours and get stuff in and out as fast as they can.

The insurance part doesn't bother me. I kinda like having full coverage on my "nice" truck. You know...smack a deer or get a limb or rock through the windshield, I'll want to get it fixed. My older trucks? Ehh...I'll chance it.

I won't finance through a dealership. I'm just weird like that and I've rarely seen one beat the interest rates that either of my banks will offer. I use SECU or First Flight, both credit unions. It's also easier to deal with them since they already have my money, I can have them do an auto-draft, and I can do anything payment wise online. If I can ever help it, I'll buy whatever it is that I want straight cash.


What does she drive now? How many miles? I've had this discussion many times with the guys at work and I usually talk them out of a new truck. They don't seem to think that new vehicles won't have any problems. To me, it's cheaper to maintain a vehicle that is paid for than to buy a new one as long as the one you have is in decent shape. (Not rusty or ragged out interior, etc) You'll have to put tires on a new one too, change the oil, put gas in it, etc.


Last thing...I might would wait a while anyway. You don't want to stretch your credit too thin, you never know what could pop up and you might need to get some money.
 
mbalbritton said:
My opinion? Buy about 1-2 year old. That first mile is STUPID EXPENSIVE. Let someone else bite that bullet. And like said, don't fall into the monthly payment shopping. Ya your buddy got a $250/mo. Payment.... But for how long? There's lots of 7 year payment plans out there right now. But then when you're done you have 7 year old car that you JUST finished paying on. And you probably paid 30%+ more on it in the end.
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He bought his Nissan Versa brand new and payed no money down for 62 months.
mbalbritton said:
Oh and one more thing. Didn't you just buy a house? I'd wait to buy a car now. Not the best time to buy a car while pure in the first year of your home purchase. Many a financial planner will tell you to wait. Due to credit and financial obligation reasons.
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Yes we did just buy a house. But shes is tired of her jeep. Sounds horrible, leaking, sounds like a diesel, its lifted and drives like chit and she doesn't want to put any money in it. Problem is...I don't know how much longer its gonna last. look below for more info....
Croatan_Kid said:
There are some things I would buy new...a car/truck is NOT one of them.

The depreciation over the first few months/years isn't something I want to deal with. Warranties don't really make me feel any better because the chances of me getting out of the repair(s) for free are very low and I'd rather work on my own stuff. I know how guys at dealerships are (no offense to anybody here if they work for a dealer), but most of them are just trying to rack up their hours and get stuff in and out as fast as they can.

The insurance part doesn't bother me. I kinda like having full coverage on my "nice" truck. You know...smack a deer or get a limb or rock through the windshield, I'll want to get it fixed. My older trucks? Ehh...I'll chance it.

I won't finance through a dealership. I'm just weird like that and I've rarely seen one beat the interest rates that either of my banks will offer. I use SECU or First Flight, both credit unions. It's also easier to deal with them since they already have my money, I can have them do an auto-draft, and I can do anything payment wise online. If I can ever help it, I'll buy whatever it is that I want straight cash.


What does she drive now? How many miles? I've had this discussion many times with the guys at work and I usually talk them out of a new truck. They don't seem to think that new vehicles won't have any problems. To me, it's cheaper to maintain a vehicle that is paid for than to buy a new one as long as the one you have is in decent shape. (Not rusty or ragged out interior, etc) You'll have to put tires on a new one too, change the oil, put gas in it, etc.


Last thing...I might would wait a while anyway. You don't want to stretch your credit too thin, you never know what could pop up and you might need to get some money.
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She drives a 93 jeep Cherokee. almost 190k on Motor....last year we had to do the head gasket, oil pan, radiator, and now something is going on with her drive train, Im sure her U joints need to be replaced all over. She works with a bunch of girls (shes a dental assistant) and all her co workers have nice, newer cars and she hates pulling up in a lifted, loud jeep. She is done with it. My thing is....if her jeeps stops working, I don't know what we would do....She needs her car for work and has to frequently go to different offices that are kinda far away and needs reliable transportation...thats my only fear.

Also, with us both having lifted Jeeps, it makes traveling hard, we wanna drive to the beach or to the mountains but costs too much in gas. and never know if something is gonna happen, although that could happen with a newer car just as well, but less likely.

Also, we are trying to get stuff payed off. We should have her school loan payed off in a couple months along with 2 other bills, so that would free up some cash every month.

I'd be happy with like an 07 civic...just something fun to drive and good on gas.
 
#1 - Read what Snappy sai 100 times and understand it.
#2 - Do not buy a car "around tax time"...many a dealer will tell you this is when they make as much as 80% of their year from Feb1-May1..if you are getting a tax refund big enough to sway this decision you are already making a separate mistake.
#3 - I am not opposed to buying a new car, but I do not and will not have a car payment. If I cant pay cahs I cant afford it, on a depreciating asset. BTW gas money is a huge cop out...do the math and you will see dont forget an extra vehicle has extra property taxes and insurance. I drive 60k miles a year and it still does not pay off for me to buy a gas sipper instead of my Diesel.
#4 Everyone here telling you to slow down is doing so because we didnt and now wihs we did. So this means you are likely not going to listen either and will go buy a car you really cant afford and stretch the payment out long enough to make it look good on paper. (There is no suhc thing as "negative equity" on a car. That is a delaer made up teerm to make folks feel better about a financial mistake. Dittto for "upside down". ) I hope I am wrong here but I doubt it. If you really want a gas saver, pile up $8-10k over a years time and go buy a 3-5 year old Camry/Acord/Impala whatever floats your boat.

Again I suspect you will not take that last piece of advice (which is not mant as a knock on you at all-Im old enough to know better but young enough to remember how my brain worked then) so enjoy whtever you buy.
 
Ron said:
#1 - Read what Snappy sai 100 times and understand it.
#2 - Do not buy a car "around tax time"...many a dealer will tell you this is when they make as much as 80% of their year from Feb1-May1..if you are getting a tax refund big enough to sway this decision you are already making a separate mistake.
#3 - I am not opposed to buying a new car, but I do not and will not have a car payment. If I cant pay cahs I cant afford it, on a depreciating asset. BTW gas money is a huge cop out...do the math and you will see dont forget an extra vehicle has extra property taxes and insurance. I drive 60k miles a year and it still does not pay off for me to buy a gas sipper instead of my Diesel.
#4 Everyone here telling you to slow down is doing so because we didnt and now wihs we did. So this means you are likely not going to listen either and will go buy a car you really cant afford and stretch the payment out long enough to make it look good on paper. (There is no suhc thing as "negative equity" on a car. That is a delaer made up teerm to make folks feel better about a financial mistake. Dittto for "upside down". ) I hope I am wrong here but I doubt it. If you really want a gas saver, pile up $8-10k over a years time and go buy a 3-5 year old Camry/Acord/Impala whatever floats your boat.

Again I suspect you will not take that last piece of advice (which is not mant as a knock on you at all-Im old enough to know better but young enough to remember how my brain worked then) so enjoy whtever you buy.
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I do listen to advice that people give me. My wife and I work hard for what we have and we are very reponsible. If I didn't listen, I would have never asked anyones opinion. But I also understand the frustration of needing a new car. I don't want a car payment but saving up over the next year might take too long...I just want to be prepared.
 
Being young and dumb, I bought a couple new cars all within a year (mistake #1)...and I'll never do it again. All of them financed 100% (mistake #2), for 72 months (mistake #3), with under 5% rates. Luckily, I'm capable of making double or triple the amount of the minimum payments...so I wasn't in trouble for long. But the newest car I'll ever buy again (unless I can pay for it in full with cash) will be 3 years old. You can usually find 3 year old cars for half the price they were new, with 20-30k on the odo and most will still have 2-3 years worth of warranty left. With 100% financing, even if you're making double or triple payments...you're still stuck with the car for 18-24 months, because you owe more than it's worth. And obviously, the longer you finance, the more you'll pay and typically the longer it is before you're right side up on the car note.

Now something to think about...you said you were looking to buy new to save on gas. I hear that all the time, and in some cases is true...my first new car was a $400/mo payment, 300/mo in gas and $60/mo in insurance, vs $1000/mo in gas, $30/mo in isurance and God knows what in parts. But for most people, how much gas could you buy with that car payment??? If your wife is eating $20 every 2-3 days, let's call it $240/mo in gas. Figure $40/mo for insurance...and no payment. So the jeep costs you about $300/mo to own. If you get a car with a $250/mo payment, it'll still require gas...figure that $20 is every 5-6 days now, call it $110/mo for gas. Now that you own a new car, you get to also have full coverage insurance, at another $60/mo. Right now, I see a Jeep costing you $300/mo vs something new that will cost $400+. So you're spending an extra $100/mo to get 30mpg's vs 15...I wouldn't.


Edit...just saw your reply on the condition of the Jeep...still wouldn't buy new. Find something in the 3-5 year old range (at the newest), pay cash money. If gas is truly a concern, buy her a Honda Civic or Kia something or other. Sold my chicks Civic for $750 on here with 150k on the odo, got 36mpg...buddy of mine just picked up a Kia $#!tbox...gets 30mpg, but only paid $1500. But I get it, I understand...you guys have some cash...starting your life, and you want instant gratification. I was there about 3 years ago, and have been paying ever since...just now starting to recover.
 
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Cherokeekid88 said:
He bought his Nissan Versa brand new and payed no money down for 62 months.
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Did he trade anything in on it? Something else to factor in to the equation.

Regardless, if you are looking for a sensible car, try to find a TDI Jetta in the $5k range. 45-50mpg, cheap, mechanically reliable. Or if you want something a little nicer, you can find used 04-05 TDI Passat's in the sub $10k range these days with under 100k miles.
 
I have never bought a new car, and have always said I would never buy a new car. I spent about 9 months looking for a good used Toyota Highlander AWD model for my wife. The AWD models are hard to find used. After driving to Raleigh to look at one that turned out to be a total dump, we decided to stop at Rice's Toyota in Greensboro on our way home and see what they would do on a new one. My wife is an incredible bargainer. She made them a ridiculously low offer on a new AWD Highlander. Initially they rejected it and tried to talk her into a different (cheaper) vehicle. She said that is all she has to spend, take it or leave it. We truly were willing to walk out of there and keep looking for a used one, and I believe the salesman knew it. They ended up selling us the car at our price. Lesson learned was that there is WAY more room to move on a new car price than I ever expected.
 
drkelly said:
I have never bought a new car, and have always said I would never buy a new car. I spent about 9 months looking for a good used Toyota Highlander AWD model for my wife. The AWD models are hard to find used. After driving to Raleigh to look at one that turned out to be a total dump, we decided to stop at Rice's Toyota in Greensboro on our way home and see what they would do on a new one. My wife is an incredible bargainer. She made them a ridiculously low offer on a new AWD Highlander. Initially they rejected it and tried to talk her into a different (cheaper) vehicle. She said that is all she has to spend, take it or leave it. We truly were willing to walk out of there and keep looking for a used one, and I believe the salesman knew it. They ended up selling us the car at our price. Lesson learned was that there is WAY more room to move on a new car price than I ever expected.
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This is what I am thinking! Espcecially if I could find a 2013 early next year that is still "new" (if that is the way it works) and get a really good deal on it.

I would love to have a Passat or Jetta TDI (newer) but I don't think the wife wants a diesel...plus I could see her pulling up to the gas station and putting in regular gas......

thinking about a Kia Forte 2014....internet price is 16995..I figure I could probably talk them down to 15 or so.... again, this is something I am just pondering....not gonna do anything till we have a few more bills payed off.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
Yes we did just buy a house. But shes is tired of her jeep. Sounds horrible, leaking, sounds like a diesel, its lifted and drives like chit and she doesn't want to put any money in it. Problem is...I don't know how much longer its gonna last. look below for more info....
Click to expand...

Then don't buy new and keep your financing LOW. Get something you need vs something you want. Wait a couple of years and then get her a newer car. Tell her The Best Things are worth waiting for. ;) and if you can convince her of that, be sure to let us know JUST HOW YOU DID IT! :D
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
I would love to have a Passat or Jetta TDI (newer) but I don't think the wife wants a diesel...plus I could see her pulling up to the gas station and putting in regular gas......
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My wife didn't want a diesel car either, but then I told her I was saving the planet. So she rolled her eyes at me.:lol:
Then I told her that she would only have to fill up every 650 miles instead of every 350-400 miles, and she liked that. But then I told her it wasn't her decision and bought it anyway, haha!
 
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