Back in the 1950s, a lot of people worried about driving an old car. Of course, the auto manufacturers did their best to make cars to our of style and look old. I was in high school when Chrysler products sprouted fins. GM had to follow suit and its 1959 cars to me looked atrocious. Of course, by the early 1960s, fins were out so one had to replace the finned cars to stay in style. I remember my dad thinking that stretching out payments for three yeara, was terrible. He had a friend who had purchased a new Buick in 1950. The car was in perfect shape, but by 1955 he couldnât stand driving an âoldâ car, so he traded for a new 1955 Buick. He then traded for another new Buick in 1956 because he could steetch the payments further and pay less per month on the 1956 Buick.
Well I have to disagree that the 59 GM cars looked atrocious. Maybe the Caddy and Buick, but the 59 Pontiac, Olds and Chevy were beautiful. Of course IMHO.
There is a photograph somewhere of President Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth officially opening the St Lawrence Seaway in 1959. This project was a joint Canada-US effort.
The Queen, used to being wheeled around in an elegant Rolls Royce, arrived in a rented black Cadillac with those atrocious tail fins. Eisenhowerâs car was an older armor plated Lincoln, I think and did not quits look so garish.
@bloody_knuckles
"The only reason to insist on paying cash at the dealership is pride (âI donât want to go into debtâ) or principle and neither is worth the headache."
Not necessarily. The ones I have looked at have an at least a $500 finance fee and also add a lot of other junk fees to the loan process. That $500 on a $18K purchase does make a difference for me. Also, I donât like to give my SSN away and for them to run my credit.
@galant - I have never seen a âfinance feeâ and, if I did, I would line it out and refuse to pay it. As far as giving out my SS# and running my credit? Meh. Who cares. As long as they donât write the SS# on the application I am fine. I make them write it on a separate piece of paper and then have them rip it up once we are done with the credit check.
At my last purchase I qualified for .9 % interest. Yes, less than one percent, which is practically free money. When it was time to pick up the vehicle they tried to bait and switch the loan and tell me that I qualified for 2.9% interest. I smiled and told them it was ok, stood up, and began walking out. They asked what I was doing and I replied âI am walking out on the deal since you did not deliver the car on the terms upon which we agreedâ. Minutes later I had an interest free loan. Dealers will charge you whatever they can in fees, hidden charges and interest UNLESS you simply threaten to walk out and kill the deal. Since I always buy on the last day of the month the sales manager is always desperate to keep the deal alive and will honor the terms of our original agreement, although they are not happy about it.
Thanks for the details. I only got in the details of financing once and that ($500 Finance fee, ? on early payoff penalties) was my experience. I like the free money but usually that takes some other discount away. I guess I might take your advice and give financing another shot at my next purchase.
I am a big saver and nowadays, barely make the 0.9% interest on my bank accounts. So, sometimes even paying that to someone else sounds wrong. I am looking into some other investment opportunities and this might change.
Personally, I know for certain if you do exactly the opposite of everything I have done, youâll be a hit. I never learned auto mechanics which was my first huge bungle in the jungle.
But, always buy used, preferably cheap, and then fix your babe up 4ever. Tesla is coming out with an all-electric model for 36,000 bucks. Iâd love to buy one used someday, in excellent condition, maintain it exquisitely, and fix everything I can applying all the knowledge I gain from here and mechanics and books.
For example. I figure if I make payments (whether leasing or buying) of $350.00 a month for 120 months, or roughly $40,000.00 in ten years, I could lease/own and return/sell several nice cars. Certainly, I have nothing to use for transportation even though I paid 40 grand in ten years on cars (after tax dollars, unless it can be a business deduction.)
Or, I can take the same amount of dough, buy a very well made, very fuel efficient, used car and maintain the Heck out of it. If I pay $1,000 or so every year for 20 years to keep her running in good shape, that leaves $20,000 to buy the car outright to equal the amount I spent in the other scenario but, Iâve used it twice as long and sheâs mine.
Years ago, PM ran a story something like the top ten things car owners could do to their cars to extend their service life dramatically. Replacing a rusted out muffler and pipes with a stainless steel exhaust system was one. Stainless-steel braided brake lines, another.
This much I do know and any boob can figure it out quite easily. The major car companies will never, ever, not once, not ever never ever, propose any kind of plan for us (like leasing from them instead of buying) to pay them to use one of their cars wherein they will make less money off of us than they possibly can. Ideally, they would prefer everyone lease their cars to keep us making monthly payments to them forever and ever. Wonât, hasnât, canât, shant happen, no matter what they say or do. Figures never lie, but liars often figure. Like buying insurance that covers the first 36 months on your new computer.
SCHULTZIE!
Oh boy. Is this the same leasing spam again or from a year ago?
Just do the math with eyes wide open, net present value calculations, and no concern for the monthly payment, and do what you want.
I have never paid a finance fee either but I always know the credit union rates and take the best of both worlds. Also they will generally meet competitive rates so if the credit union is lower, the manufacturer can lower their rate to compete. Donât be a chump and deal with âJohnâs auto sales financingâ.
2nd time that ryanbmwcar has mentioned DSR in his 2 days on the forumâŠsomethingâs definitely fishyâŠ
Per the Terms & Conditions of using the forum a spam post is defined as such: âThis post is an advertisement. It is not useful or relevant to the current topic, but promotional in nature.â
ryanbmwcar had (at the time of my previous post) only been registered for a day or so, 2 of his posts had specifically mentioned DSR (Iâm assuming some kind of leasing company/dealership). I canât even look up his profile anymore so Iâm assuming it got taken down for being a spam profile. His posts that werenât pertaining to DSR had little substance in nature too (âget the red oneâ for example in resurrecting an older âwhat car should I buyâ thread). His post on this topic was basically an advertisement of DSR without adding anything useful to the conversation (resurrected an older thread too, though not as old as someâŠ)
Youâre paying more in taxes and insurance on the leased car.
Is that 280 mile trip in a remote and desolate area with no cell service?
Barkydog- You are comparing apples to oranges, a van costs more to run than an economy car. Also, as others have said, you are required ro carry more insurance on a leased car and here in NY your registration goes by weight.
You are forgetting about taxes and insurance costs. The older non-leased vehicle will have much lower taxes and insurance costs. Depending on where you live, that could be a $1000 savings every year!
All I can say is that if when Iâd bought my car 11-1/2 years ago Iâd leased instead, my original monthly payments might have been a bit lower⊠but every three years or so (when the lease ran out) theyâd have gone up again to where theyâd be even higher now that they started out at! Sure, I might have a newer car, but I havenât made a car payment of any kind for many years!
How would having made a slightly smaller monthly payment 11-1/2 years ago combined with that fact that Iâd still be making payments have been better than not now having made a payment for some 6-1/2 years? And I can drive as far as I want without penalties! And if I get a ding and donât care, I donât have to get it fixed or pay a pro to fix it at some future date!
The good thing about leasing is that you never have that sticker/payment shock after going a number of years with no payments. Some people just have stars in their eyes when they see low payments, or two for one coupons, or 10% off coupons, or cash back rewards, free shipping, no tax, and on and on and on. When someone tells me I can save money doing something, I love to see the look on their face when I say I donât care about saving money, its the principle of the thing. I donât like being manipulated-and thatâs worth a lot of money.
In addition to seconding what mountainbike stated, here is an interesting articleâjust published by Business Weekâthat relates to this issue:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-21/the-next-financial-crisis-might-be-in-your-driveway?cmpid=BBD022117_BIZ
Iâve had good experiences with leased cars I could predict the depreciation for (2007 Miata and 2003 Accord are examples). I bought out the Miata lease and got a smokin deal when I initually leased it and again when I bought it out. Note that it was a low mileage car. As everyone above knows, high mileage points one away from leasing. One type of car that can work very well as a lease is an EV or plug-in hybrid of any type. There are a few reasons. 1) The manufacturers are artificially supporting the lease prices to move them (by boosting the residual value) 2) The segment is rapidly evolving, so yesterdayâs EV has a much lower range and a higher cost than tomorrowâs 3) The Federal tax deduction on such cars drives the lease prices way down. Yes, you lose the deduction (if you might have qualified), but itâs a sucker bet anyway, since EVs have now been around long enough to prove that they have ridiculous depreciation, and thus, the buyer loses the value of the tax deduction in retained value anyway (Tesla Model S excluded). Leases work good in many circumstances, but they are not for everyone.
Insurance costs did not change, sales tax on the original van purchase was my only tax liability I recall. We bought the van for 26k, owned it 11 years and $218 per month was the cost not including gas and oil changes. So leasing a 24k car at $200 a month, not even taking into account about double the gas mileage, no repairs outside of warranty, no tires, brakes coolant time outs, looks like apples to apples to me, though I am constrained to have a reliable vehicle for the wife, for me 36 months of lease @$200 = 7200, for the wife she gets a lease, for me I will buy a $7 to $12 grand car and fix and live through repairs, maintenance and breakdowns. 21st century schizoid man
The apples to oranges is that you are comparing a van to a car. Are you trying to tell me you are leasing a Van for a true sign and drive price of $200 per month? Also, why are you still paying collision and comprehensive on an 11 year old van?
Weâve already been through this
There are some regulars on this forum who DO pay comprehensive insurance on 11 year old vehicles