Never Have Another Car Payment!

[Nords]

Nords:  You're good to go for a long time with 100k on your cars.

That's good to know. We got a Mazda GLC, a Plymouth Champ, and a Honda Civic up into six figures but it was a struggle once we got there.

Now we're only putting 2000-3000 annual miles on them, maybe we'll get another 20 years.

 

[maddythebeagle]

I just like watching Master Blaster's avatar. As the Joker said in Batman I..."Where does he get those wonderful toys?!"

n/k. this one is almost an entire movie, the penguin one was hilarious.

 

[Craig]

I spent 13 years in the retail auto business as a CFO / VP Finance ... no wonder car dealers EBITDA margins are dropping ...

Frankly, we loved people who traded all the time ... and we made a lot more than $100 per used car deal.

For folks in the business, there were two ways to be smart:
1. Buy a slightly used car, pay cash, and drive it into the ground.
2. Buy a classic car right, don't drive it too much, sell it and buy another before the miles add up.

You can't beat car dealers by trading cars every now and then. If this system worked, there would be no car dealers ... :

 

[73ss454]

I'm with Charles, no dealer is going to do a deal unless there was profit somewhere in the deal.

I don't think they need the practice.

 

[PJ03]

When I first came to the US I would go to the public car auctions
or if I could get a dealer friend to get me into the dealer auctions, I would buy a car or pickup truck only if I got a good deal. I would then drive it for about a year, in most cases about eight months. I kept an eye in the papers for what my car or truck was selling for. I always sold the car or truck for at least $700 more than what I had in it in most cases I would shoot for a $1,000.00 above my cost.

I looked for cars that people needed and would be easy to sell (most four door cars) my price range was around $2500 to $3500 and selling for $3500 to $4500. I did this for about four years and got tired of the hassle.
I should say that no matter how much I checked out these cars there was always something wrong that needed fixing but I got lucky as it was never a big expense.
In MD the MVA will let you do this up to five cars per year without considering you a dealer.

I spent 13 years in the retail auto business as a CFO / VP Finance ... no wonder car dealers EBITDA margins are dropping ...

Frankly, we loved people who traded all the time ... and we made a lot more than $100 per used car deal.

For folks in the business, there were two ways to be smart:
1.  Buy a slightly used car, pay cash, and drive it into the ground.
2.  Buy a classic car right, don't drive it too much, sell it and buy another before the miles add up.

You can't beat car dealers by trading cars every now and then.  If this system worked, there would be no car dealers ...  :

 

[Cut-Throat]

Texas Pound,

It is your choice to think it will work or not however, I am telling you I have done it (by the way I live in Texas also). Again, just trying to help!

I would have guessed Texas.

 

[REWahoo]

I would have guessed Texas.

Thanks C-T. We Texans really appreciate being insulted by proxy.

 

[Andre1969]

What kind of Infiniti is this? One reason you were able to get an Infiniti for fairly cheap is that they don't hold their value like a Benz, Lexus, or BMW would. Also, what kind of miles did the Jeep have on it when you sold it, and the Infiniti when you bought it?

The dealership that you bought that $13,000 Infiniti from probably gave the previous owner something like $9995 for it. And your Jeep is probably sitting on their lot right now with a price tag of $16,999.

The only time I ever made money on a car was when my Mom gave me her 1986 Monte Carlo, with 179,000 miles on it. I had to put new brakes on the front (about $20-30), new spark plugs (about $20 I guess) and a new windshield wiper motor (about $200). It got totaled 3 months later, with 192,000 miles. (I delivered pizzas, which is how I racked up 13K miles in 3 months! ) I got something like $2100 for the car, $500 for pain/suffering/inconvenience, and sold it for parts for about $800.

 

[Jeb-NY]

Back in my cheap and poor days, my approach to no car payments was buy cars in the last 1/4 of there life for cash. Now that is only the first part of the plan, you pick a class of cars that have the same size tires and battery since those parts were always shot on what I bought. Just keep moving the good tires and battery to the next car putting the ones off your "new" car on the old and sell it for a little over scrap price if possible or scrap if it is to far gone. Often the tires and battery were worth more than the car they were going on. Worked for me for years and only broke down on a trip once. I had the service manual with me and had to help the "mechanic" fix the car because he had never seen a points type ignition before (bad coil). This approach really only works if you can do some of the repair work yourself, which is a lot harder with todays cars.

If you are not in a salt/rust area of the country buying a vintage or soon to be vintage car works well also as long as you don't demand all the new safety features and such. If you are good at picking you can make money on every trade and have cars that you can fix yourself.

Jeb

 

[MasterBlaster]

Well I've had many many different used cars. It's been a bit of a hobby of mine to find a deal and then trade just for the fun of it and to be able to drive something different. If you buy them right from a private party then all it should cost is the sales tax and tags. The cost of the car can hopefully be recovered when you resell it a year or so later. They usually have a quirk or two that either you can live with or that you must fix.

However, if you keep trading older cars you will eventually run into a car that will truly cost you a fortune to keep running.

The most expensive car that I have owned, by far, was a used car. It was a real beauty that I owned for around 14 months but it just wasn't reliable so I sold it. Sometimes I wish I still had it but then I remember and think - Nah !

 

[yakers]

However, if you keep trading older cars you will eventually run into a car that will truly cost you a fortune to keep running.

Sounds like my currently owned 85 VW camper. I get to do some of my own mechanical work and still pay a bunch to keep it running. Best investment was replacing the VW engine with a Subaru engine. But wife & son love the vehicle. And its better than the hearse my Mohawk haired rock drummer son wanted.

 

[saluki9]

What kind of Infiniti is this? One reason you were able to get an Infiniti for fairly cheap is that they don't hold their value like a Benz, Lexus, or BMW would.

Don't tell that to any owners of the Infiniti M or G series cars which have some of the highest residuals according to last years ALG

 

[scoopsteve]

The Infiniti I have is a G20. When I traded my Jeep Wrangler for it the Jeep had approx 66K miles on it (1999 Model). The Infiniti (when Itraded for it) had approx 62K miles on it (2001 Model). Hope this answers your question.

A gree that even though they traded me even at 13K and then turned around and sold the Jeep for say 15K, what do I care? I still got the car I wanted and it didn't cost me a dime. If the dealership would have turned around and sold the Jeep for 20K, good for them however, it still didn't impact my trade with them.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I've owned infiniti's. Great cars to buy used as they're pretty decent quality and feature wise but the value drops like a rock over the next few years, and its nearly impossible to find buyers. I had my Q45 listed for three months in the local paper at a few hundred bucks over KBB wholesale and didnt get a single call. My dad finally found a buyer at the sun city he lives in by posting a note on the corkboard at the clubhouse...two more months later.

 

[Texas Proud]

The Infiniti I have is a G20. When I traded my Jeep Wrangler for it the Jeep had approx 66K miles on it (1999 Model). The Infiniti (when Itraded for it) had approx 62K miles on it (2001 Model). Hope this answers your question.

A gree that even though they traded me even at 13K and then turned around and sold the Jeep for say 15K, what do I care? I still got the car I wanted and it didn't cost me a dime. If the dealership would have turned around and sold the Jeep for 20K, good for them however, it still didn't impact my trade with them.

Scoop... you still have not done it again... and your car now is worth about $8,000 to $9,000 trade in... and that is if you have not put any miles on the car... still belive what you want, but you can not make wine from water no matter how many people say you can...

 

[free4now]

I remember when I was a youngster and thought I'd discovered a way to make a perpetual motion machine.  It was so simple I couldn't believe nobody had thought of it.  Just attach the shaft of an electric motor to the shaft of an electric generator.  And connect the wires.  So the electricity of the generator drives the motor, and the rotation of the motor drives the generator to produce electricity.

I thought it was the greatest idea but didn't have the ability to actually test it out until a few years later.   Then I realized that friction and the less than 100% efficiency would make it fail.

So I can identify with scoopsteve... he just doesn't see the frictional depreciation and transactional costs involved in his "perpetual car machine".   

 

[Texas Proud]

Scoop....

It has been a few weeks... I was wondering what you traded up to?

 

[Martha]

Scoop....

It has been a few weeks... I was wondering what you traded up to?

 

[HFWR]

Tough crowd...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I know...." HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

Bet the dealer even threw in an old saddle and a piece of rope.

 

[CybrMike]

Good thing you've got a couple million in the bank to pay for the maintenance on that sucker

Na, new BMWs come with 4 year, 50,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty. Brakes, Oil Changes, basically everything except tires.

I've not spent one cent on maintenance on the new 330xi I bought in 2003.

 

[justin]

Na, new BMWs come with 4 year, 50,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty. Brakes, Oil Changes, basically everything except tires.

I've not spent one cent on maintenance on the new 330xi I bought in 2003.

Hope you knocked on wood! That 4 year warranty is about up.

I heard my local BMW dealer up the street advertising free routine maintenance for 4 years (maybe 7, don't remember). Is this the standard BMW deal - 4 year warranty and free routine maintenance during the warranty period?

 

[TromboneAl]

Scoop....

It has been a few weeks... I was wondering what you traded up to?

 

[Nords]

I'm pretty sure I saw that one up on the North Shore last week...

 

[CybrMike]

Hope you knocked on wood!  That 4 year warranty is about up. 

I heard my local BMW dealer up the street advertising free routine maintenance for 4 years (maybe 7, don't remember).  Is this the standard BMW deal - 4 year warranty and free routine maintenance during the warranty period?

standard with a new car. No worries about the warranty running out, as I'll probably get a new one in june. 3 series doesnt have a big enough back seat for kids, gotta move to the more spacious 5 series.