MonarchDon said:I have a friend that is a Finance Manager for a car dealership, in his estimation 90% of the people he finances are "buying a car payment". They go with the terms that get the monthly payment as low as possible. He has a tricky job getting most customers financed because most of them are whay over extended, but they have to have that brand new car.
The first car that we bought after getting married we handed the dealer half the amount in the form of a personal check and half in the form of a check from our credit union (financed at favorable CU rates for only 2 years). The dealer was stunned! Said he rarely saw anyone come in that organized or with money in hand. I didn't think we were all that abnormal, but I guess most people do really just look for a "payment they can afford."
BTW, We drove the car for 7 years and gave it to my dad when we moved to Japan. He says it still runs great. Paid cash for our cars over here and will have the cash to buy two good cars when we return to CONUS so no more car payments for us. For some reason car debt bug me more than any other kind of debt - I hear they're up to 72 month loans now. Ugh!