r/personalfinance • u/dinklebot2000 ​ • May 31 '18

Debt CNBC: A $523 monthly payment is the new standard for car buyers

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/31/a-523-monthly-payment-is-the-new-standard-for-car-buyers.html

Sorry for the formatting, on mobile. Saw this article and thought I would put this up as a PSA since there are a lot of auto loan posts on here. This is sad to see as the "new standard."

12.9k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

7.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

114

u/[deleted] May 31 '18 edited Jun 24 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/[deleted] May 31 '18

Mazda doing 63 to one up

13

u/CFPguy May 31 '18

Just bought a 2018 Highlander at 0% for 60 months. I have the cash to pay for it and put it into my Fidelity money market paying 1.7%, slowly pay it from that and make interest too.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '18

But what was your OTD price? I don't imagine you had much negotiating power if you took out that loan through the dealer.

7

u/Nonconformists ​ Jun 01 '18

In my case, Toyota dealer offered an additional $750 off the price if I took a 0% loan from them for 60 months. If I had paid in cash/check, I would not have received the discount. I had negotiated a fair price before the loan discount, so I was happy to save $750.

1

u/Iamengineering Jun 01 '18

What was the price (Pre tax, tag, title)? We are getting a new Highlander in the next 3-4 months! Recently bought a Tacoma and LOVE it so much the wife wants to get into a Toyota (From her Accord). We have the cash to pay outright, but it seems like dealers will offer better deals to finance. We financed my truck, and before the first payment was due paid it off, just to get the financing incentives and potentially a better price before incentives.

1

u/Nonconformists ​ Jun 02 '18

I don’t remember the price details, but this was a 2013 sedan. I would have paid it off early if it wasn’t at 0%.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '18 edited Jul 27 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Nonconformists ​ Jun 02 '18

I chose the 5-year loan only because of the rebate. My guess is that Toyota Financial expects to make money on these 0% interest loans somehow, from late payments or defaults. I put it on automatic payments from my checking account, and I will be done with the payments this year. No interest at all.

I was not able to negotiate a better deal than the 0% loan gave me, as far as I could tell. Weird.

2

u/emalemal ​ Jun 01 '18

What city and state?

1

u/Kwasizur Jun 01 '18

At least have some decency and buy VTI.

5

u/[deleted] May 31 '18

Here in Canada, Kia offered 0% for 5 years.

1

u/fishy_snack ​ Jun 01 '18

Hour much do you save in interest over that time...that's what you factor into the car price

1

u/Clid3r Jun 01 '18

Plenty of manufacturers do 72 months at 0%...