Hey everyone,
So I just bought a car, and my husband and I thought we made a good choice, but others are not agreeing. I have a 5 day period to return with money back guarantee so thought I would get a better idea of what people think.
Let me explain my budget before explaining the car I bought. I had a 2001 Toyota Corolla (130,000 miles), my husband has a 2013 Ford Fiesta, both cars paid off completely. I knew I would need a new car soon. My husband and I decided, if and when both of us get new cars, our combined car loan would not be more than $600 (so $300 dollars each). My husband still has a while to go on his car, so will not need one in the next few years.
Here's the car I bought. I bought a 2015 Toyota Rav4 XLE with 65,000 miles on it. I plan on driving it until it dies. I put $6,500 down on the car and took a 72 month loan for $290 a month. The 60 month loan would have been $330 which was over our "budget". That being said, because my husband will not be needing a car anytime soon so we will be paying the 5 year loan amount to pay the loan off quicker. We just wanted to get the car payment under $300 so if worst case scenario, something happens, we have more liquid money to work with with that car payment fund.
Everyone is telling me that I was stupid getting a 72 month loan because it is too long, but as I see it, we are paying more on it to reduce the loan seeing as we have the money, however if something comes up, we're not completely screwed with a car payment over our budget.
Also, when looking at all cars in the area that I could have bought that fit our needs, This car, even with the 6 year loan, will still be the youngest car with the least mileage at the end of the 6 years than if I got other cars that I could get a 5 year loan on.
Example: This car was 2015, 65,000 miles, with a 6 year loan. It 6 years, it will be 13 years old, and have roughly 131,000 miles on it (I drive about 11,000 miles a year).
Another car I was looking at was a 2013, 78,000 miles on it, that I could have gotten with a 5 year loan. In 5 years, it would be 14 years old with roughly 133,000 miles on it.
Another car I was looking at was a 2012, 80,000 miles on it, with a 5 year loan. In 5 years it would be 15 years old, with roughly 135,000.
So in the end, the car I bought, while a longer loan, will still be younger and with slightly less mileage at the end of the loan than the others with shorter loan. Let me know what you think! Thanks.
Submitted December 21, 2021 at 08:02AM by TheSmallestSloth https://ift.tt/3J8hKEk