CAR FINANCING ISSUE

[latoilette]

payments are PITA. like the home mortgage..if you buy something like 200k, after 30 years, you are paying like 350k for it..

[Jkuao]

payments are PITA. like the home mortgage..if you buy something like 200k, after 30 years, you are paying like 350k for it..

Most people wind up paying a lot more than 350k for a 200k mortgage. Fixed at 6.98%(the avg today), you would see 478k.

To the original poster, you paid 55% of the original value of the car in interest on top of the price. I would drive that car unless it's on fire at the side of the road and forget about buying a replacement. You already paid for something that's effectively worth scrap metal. Might as well get every penny out of driving it.

The rate you mentioned does sound fishy. Maybe he's throwing in the random gap insurance, service plan, etc to inflate the loan amount.

Car Price = 6,000
Tax = 360
Down = 1,000
Fees = 100 (Approx)

Financed Amount = 5,460
350/mon for 24 mon = ~47% interest which is totally illegal under usury laws even in GA and we're one of the few states that allows title pawns.

BTW, your dream of a 350Z would be pretty rough on $400/week even if the gov't doesn't get a penny of it.
400/week = 20,800 annually (assuming you work year round)

Lowest 350Z invoice is 26,095 so this is an ideal situation...one that you can't possibly reach w/o a lot credit and reported income.

26,095 + 650(dest) + 400 (doc + tag) x 1.06 (tax) = 28,773

28,773 - 1,000(down) = 27,773.

Assuming you have great credit and Nissan is having a deal, and you get 5% over 60 months you still would see a payment of $524.11. You would also have to buy insurance at a minimum of $1,000/6 months(it's a sports car and you're likely young so it'd be closer to 4k/yr) as well as $130/mon in gas (12,000miles per year at 2.90 avg at 23mpg)

524.11 + 167 + 130 = 821.11/mon

Annual costs are near 10k or half of your total income. That's not counting maintenance costs either.

Ideally to afford a 524/mon payment, you should be making over 78k annually (8% of your monthly gross in order to afford a mortgage too). Of course a lot of people on this board don't make that and that's the reason why so many people wind up in credit trouble or living at home w/ the parents. It's all to provide the perception of wealth. The median income in metro Atlanta is only ~55k meaning all those people technically can barely afford the payments on a Honda Civic much less an Evo or a Bimmer.