Buying a car in this market

I spent $18,000 on a Camry in 2004. I paid cash and owned it until 2020 -- almost exactly 16 years. I would estimate maintenance and such cost me, on average, $1,200 a year. Many years was much, much less than that, but I know I had two strut jobs that killed me.

So I paid an average of $156.25 every month for a car I loved.

And it wasn't just the cost. It was nice to not be owing money to anyone, not paying sales tax every few years, etc.

 

Cash is good, usually.

 

I don't doubt that's the case. But I think that's often a result of poor planning - trying to stretch payments over six years when the car might have only four years of life left.

 

I'm currently on year five of my 2008 Corolla, which was around $9,000 when I got it. Scooped it up with low mileage, and I think I'm around 80,000 right now. Being in the garage for almost a full year certainly helped, but since I've paid it off, I'll probably drive it for the next decade. Or, until I finally get annoyed with the lack of features.

 

One thing to consider is that you can often negotiate a lower selling price (not sure in this market) if you finance through the dealership at a higher interest rate. Make two payments and then pay it off. Payment in cash is actually not desirable to a dealership.

We did that with our F-150 a couple years ago. Took 6 percent financing even though we qualified for their lowest rate to get a pretty good chunk of cash off MSRP (we ended up about $550 below invoice), then paid it off two months later. Just make sure there is no early repayment penalty in the financing agreement.

 

Be very careful with Carvana, especially in this market. We bought a 2020 F-150 two years ago, but later needed to upgrade to a 3/4-ton pickup. Checked out the trade value on Carvana, and they offered $41K, which was $14K below what we paid a year earlier. Took it to the local Ford dealership and they gave us $53K for it, barely less than what we had paid.

Unfortunately, MMSW doesn't have a car to trade. Buying a car on Carvana may be a very different experience than trading, but that certainly made me distrust them.

 

Not sure I could ever buy something from a company with a website that bad. It looks like it was designed in 1998.

 

Same was the case for us a couple years ago when we were looking for our F-150. We went to the dealership to look at a year-old used model, which had 20,000 miles on it and, based on the condition of the bed and mileage, it appeared to have been a hard-working truck. The brand new model down the row was $3K more, had all zeroes on the odometer and came in my preferred Agate black instead of gray. It was a no-brainer to buy the new model.

 

Depending on your state, they've also had a lot of issues with registering cars and finalizing paperwork like they say they will.

 

Paying cash just makes wifey and me feel better knowing that we are not burdened about making payments.

i had our G35 for 14 yrs and our minivan for 19 so we’re ahead of the leasing game.

 

Conclusion of our saga: Bought a 3-year-old Camry hybrid with low mileage. Surprised how much I enjoyed the quiet in the cabin.

Plus my wife wanted it and since I crashed her car, she gets to choose.