Poll of the Day > Suppose you wished to purchase a car. Do you pay in full or in monthly payments?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I must have these answers.
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who tf pays in full? am i alfred p moneytits?

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So your point is that it is ridiculous for someone without an exorbitant amount of money to be able to afford the total cost of any good automobile.

Now I realize the stupidity of the question I posed.
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You asked for either or and then in the poll asked for yes no answers. You sir are a failure.

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Bought a used car a few years back, paid in full because I didn't want to be bothered with credit checks and crap and I had no interest in paying... interest

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You are way better buying a car you can afford to pay off in full, then making payments in almost every case.

In fact:

You can often buy cars for $1k-2k that are very reliable and will work fine for years (have them inspected by a mechanic before purchasing them if you can't do it yourself). That is without actually going to auctions where yoo can get them for less then half of that price.

IF a car breaks down, or costs more to repair then it's worth, you can sell it to a junk yard for about $300 (based on weight). If you buy a car for $600 (like my friend) and it does eventually break down (it didn't, but did get impounded in NY eventually), you can get half of what you put into it back, and then use that to get another car.

If you buy a new car, you literally threw about 1/4th of the price away as soon as you bought it, you just tossed that money out the window.......unless you got some massively incredible deal at least.

If you make payments, in general, you end up paying about 2x the value of the car, and cars are not cheap, that is a decent amount to lose.

Buying a used car, a few years old, with very low gas milage, is often a decent bet (it is what me and my wife did about 20 years ago, got a 1999 toyota avalon for $10k in 2001). The value of that car will not depreciate nearly as fast. It had low milage on it and was in good shape. We drove it for 16 years or so (until it was stolen).

Barely had any work done in all that time (replaced the timing belt basically, and the driver sides door handle).

That still wasn't being nearly as frugal as you could be, but damn was that a nice car, super reliable and totally worth it. I could have sold it after all that time, for $4000....meaning I would have driven it for 16 years or so, for $6000 total (along with normal matenance costs), and about $2000 total ii repairs (belt swas 1k and so was the door).

So yeah, I'd buy, whatever you can get, that is a good deal (prioratize that) within the range you can afford to pay flat out, or within a few months (often you can get no interest for 6 months or something, so using that, as long as your ssre you can pay it off in that time, also works.)

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JixHedgehog posted...

Bought a used car a few years back, paid in full because I didn't want to be bothered with credit checks and crap and I had no interest in paying... interest

This is the way to do it.

No monthly payments, no credit check, and youre buying something that continues to go down in value... so might as well spend the least you can.

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Used beaters like 1000-3000 I obviously pay in full.

Pretty much under 10k I have paid in full. After that I take a loan of sorts or finance.

I've never bought a vehicle new yet but I might one day. My wifes last 2 vehicles were new and she finances them.

xjayguyx posted...

Used beaters like 1000-3000 I obviously pay in full.

Pretty much under 10k I have paid in full. After that I take a loan of sorts or finance.

I've never bought a vehicle new yet but I might one day. My wifes last 2 vehicles were new and she finances them.

You can often get CCs with 6 months to a year with no interest etc. If your gonna go with a 10k one or so, I'd try and put most of it on a CC with a plan like that and make SURE you pay it off by the end of the year.

Long as you can put a decent amount down though, you can probably get a pretty low interest rate on a car loan anyway. So if you can put like 4k down on a 10k vehicle, and pay it off in the first year, it wouldn't be too bad (500$ a month basically). You'd prob pay something like $500 extra total (1 more month) and have the car right away (without needing another CC etc).

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wolfy42 posted...

You can often get CCs with 6 months to a year with no interest etc. If your gonna go with a 10k one or so, I'd try and put most of it on a CC with a plan like that and make SURE you pay it off by the end of the year.

Long as you can put a decent amount down though, you can probably get a pretty low interest rate on a car loan anyway. So if you can put like 4k down on a 10k vehicle, and pay it off in the first year, it wouldn't be too bad (500$ a month basically). You'd prob pay something like $500 extra total (1 more month) and have the car right away (without needing another CC etc).

It depends on who you get it financed through, though. Because I know of you finance it through Toyota, you cant use CCs to pay...
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I get my car from auctions. I haven't paid over 5k for a car ever.

Additionally, I've had each of my cars over 5 years with no major issues.

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I bought my 2017 Subaru Outback new. I qualified for a 0% interest for 48 months so opted for the monthly payment. One more year till I'm done.

That being said, I am very surprised to see payment plans of 60 and 72 months now. If there is interest, I can see that as a way to make consumers focus on the low monthly payments but gain interest from them over time. But if there's some promotion for 60-72 months and 0% interest, I'm stump as to what dealerships is hoping to gain from that other than to make it more enticing. Granted whether it be four years or six years, the dealership is gonna get their money eventually anyway.

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InfestedAdam posted...

I bought my 2017 Subaru Outback new. I qualified for a 0% interest for 48 months so opted for the monthly payment. One more year till I'm done.

That being said, I am very surprised to see payment plans of 60 and 72 months now. If there is interest, I can see that as a way to make consumers focus on the low monthly payments but gain interest from them over time. But if there's some promotion for 60-72 months and 0% interest, I'm stump as to what dealerships is hoping to gain from that other than to make it more enticing. Granted whether it be four years or six years, the dealership is gonna get their money eventually anyway.

They actually lose money on those deals because of the interest they could make, but it's less then if they don't sell the cars by the end of the year etc.

0% interest on a 20k+ car over more then 2 years is a significant loss those (compared to if they got the 20k straight up). Thing is they have been having a hard time selling new cars so there are alot of incentives recently to get people to pick them up.

I STILL wouldn't buy a new car with a 60 month loan at 0% interest because even without paying out extra money, the car depreciates in value so fast at first it's like throwing away money. You can literally buy cars that are a few years old and have less then 30k miles on them that will work just as well, and save yourself 10k+.

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EclairReturns posted...

So your point is that it is ridiculous for someone without an exorbitant amount of money to be able to afford the total cost of any good automobile.

Now I realize the stupidity of the question I posed.

The stupidity is that your poll options are yes/no when it's not a y/n question. And most sensible people can afford to buy a good car -- which, by the way, doesn't necessarily mean a new one -- outright excluding perhaps if the previous car died unexpectedly.


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It's obviously better to pay in full but life kinda mandates that you play the credit game so you can use it as a tool to improve your score.

I pay in full for everything.

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My car was 8k, purchased in full.

I'd imagine anything over 10 or 12 would be monthly.

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wolfy42 posted...

I STILL wouldn't buy a new car with a 60 month loan at 0% interest because even without paying out extra money, the car depreciates in value so fast at first it's like throwing away money. You can literally buy cars that are a few years old and have less then 30k miles on them that will work just as well, and save yourself 10k+.

Aye. At the time I think I simply wanted a more modernized car and new after having driven a 2005 Subaru WRX prior. Now that my Outback is a bit beat up from all the driving and camping trips I have gone on, I'll be more than content getting a used 2010+ car as a commuter for several grand than paying 35k+ for something new. I do not regret getting the new Outback but I will probably not get another Outback, new or used, until I have driven this 2017 model into the ground.

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Any car that I would be happy with isn't a car that I can afford to pay for up front.


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I'm currently making payments... But I got a 0% interest rate over 5 years, so there really wasn't any reason to pay it off in full.

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Buying used, pay in full.
Buying new, financed.
Never lease.

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