What percentage of your income goes to car payments
06-06-2013, 12:15 PM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Miami
Posts: 67
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Vehicle: 2011 Genesis 3.8
What percentage of your income goes to car payments
or if you paid your car in full that's your rule of thumb on what your "budget" is on what to spend on a car?
I'm curious to hear what everyone has to say, i'm sure many of us could afford monthly payments for a much nicer car but what made you say "okay this is how much I should spend on a car to be reasonable"?
I'm curious to hear what everyone has to say, i'm sure many of us could afford monthly payments for a much nicer car but what made you say "okay this is how much I should spend on a car to be reasonable"?
06-06-2013, 12:22 PM
#2
Administrator
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: ɯooɹpǝq ɹnoʎ
Posts: 13,943
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Vehicle: ǝdnoɔ sısǝuǝƃ
I think priorities matter. For me, I align them as this:
1. Family/Home
2. Partying/Vacation
3. Car / Hobbies
4. incidentals.
I make sure my mortgage is secured; I make the additional payments necessary to accomplish my goal of paying it off in x years.
I make sure I have funds available to enjoy life, take a break from working my ass off, and treat my wife to the things she wants. Whether it involves weekend trips to wineries, a week in Belize, a weekend jaunt to Chicago, or just hanging out with friends pool-side with food/drinks.
I then identify what I have available to spend on my hobbies. For me, it's my car. My wife has money in here, too, but she doesn't have big ticket items to spend sh*t on other than her thirty-one business that should pay for her purse addiction.
I didn't have a $xxx/mo. budget when buying my car, instead I looked at what I wanted and found something I was willing to pay for. Sure, I'd enjoy an M3 - and I could afford it, but I'm not willing to pay for it. It's not worth it to me. I can have just as fun (or more) monkeying around with my Hyundai and enjoying the community of friends I've gained.
1. Family/Home
2. Partying/Vacation
3. Car / Hobbies
4. incidentals.
I make sure my mortgage is secured; I make the additional payments necessary to accomplish my goal of paying it off in x years.
I make sure I have funds available to enjoy life, take a break from working my ass off, and treat my wife to the things she wants. Whether it involves weekend trips to wineries, a week in Belize, a weekend jaunt to Chicago, or just hanging out with friends pool-side with food/drinks.
I then identify what I have available to spend on my hobbies. For me, it's my car. My wife has money in here, too, but she doesn't have big ticket items to spend sh*t on other than her thirty-one business that should pay for her purse addiction.
I didn't have a $xxx/mo. budget when buying my car, instead I looked at what I wanted and found something I was willing to pay for. Sure, I'd enjoy an M3 - and I could afford it, but I'm not willing to pay for it. It's not worth it to me. I can have just as fun (or more) monkeying around with my Hyundai and enjoying the community of friends I've gained.
06-06-2013, 08:44 PM
#3
Super Moderator
If you can afford to pay off the note in 3 years without cramping your lifestyle, you can afford the car. Otherwise you need a bigger down payment.
Current monthly car note: $0. Monthly maintenance on 2 cars somewhere around $100 average.
Current monthly car note: $0. Monthly maintenance on 2 cars somewhere around $100 average.
06-06-2013, 09:29 PM
#4
Administrator
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: ɯooɹpǝq ɹnoʎ
Posts: 13,943
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Vehicle: ǝdnoɔ sısǝuǝƃ
I agree. I could have paid off the car when I bought it, but the 2.9% financing was worth having the cash in the bank for me. I don't mind the $30/mo. in interest in exchange for having that cash accessible to me. It's earning 1/3 of that in interest sitting in my online bank account, so it's really costing me closer to $20/mo. for the peace of mind that I could use that money for anything else if necessary. My wife's job relies on a huge contract - if the client fails to renew her company's contract, she's out of a job. I choose to have excess cash available given the current economy.
06-07-2013, 06:18 AM
#5
Administrator
I could have paid mine off too but instead just put an ok down payment on it and now only pay $103/month for the Genesis. I paid for my Jeep right out in cash when I bought it so figured a small car payment on the GC would be fine.
06-07-2013, 01:40 PM
#6
Administrator
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Lacey, WA
Posts: 12,515
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
Vehicle: Two Accents, Mini, Miata, Van, Outback, and a ZX-6
I hate car payments, it would have to be a very special car for me to get a loan. I've bought my last 5 cars with cash.
06-07-2013, 04:49 PM
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Floating around the AUDM
Posts: 3,837
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Vehicle: X3 Sprint, S-Coupe Turbo
Cash for me, it's simple and just sorts the whole transaction out then and there. Done, it's yours, no worries at all.
I see that Visionz and Majik are smart about their loans. My friends are not, let me share a couple examples:
I could actually list three more people with lengthy, retarded histories with money and loans, but needless to say, they're mostly a bad idea and they extract lots of money from wishful thinkers. That's why finance is pushed so hard at the dealership.
I see that Visionz and Majik are smart about their loans. My friends are not, let me share a couple examples:
Girl A: Goes to a dealership and sees an 05 PT cruiser, $14,000 with like 60k miles.
Puts $5000 down, and is paying the rest off over five actual years.
Has spare money each week, but instead chooses to save that money in the same bank that gave her the loan, rather than paying the loan off ahead of time. I don't know the loan interest rate, but the current interest rate for savings in australia is about 4% p.a. Lol.
Spends saved money on shoes and vodka cruzers.
Boy B: Is a mechanic, starts out with some 70s pile of crap, but it was entirely his.
Takes out a 12k(?) loan for a mitsubishi magna, owns magna for a year.
Drives past holden dealership, sees LS1 ute for like 17k. Trades magna in at dealership (for 4-5k), takes out a loan at the dealership for the remaining balance on the ute. At 18% interest.
Loses licence for two years due to too many burnouts.
Three weeks into licence suspension, trades in V8 ute (for 6k) for late model Navara (35k). Refinances remaining balance from the magna, V8 ute, money owing on some dirtbikes, and the price difference for the navara, at 14% interest.
Three years later, he's still just making minimum payments on that loan (the actual debt started, and remains at, like 40k) and has since bought more dirt bikes and holidays to bali on credit cards.
Puts $5000 down, and is paying the rest off over five actual years.
Has spare money each week, but instead chooses to save that money in the same bank that gave her the loan, rather than paying the loan off ahead of time. I don't know the loan interest rate, but the current interest rate for savings in australia is about 4% p.a. Lol.
Spends saved money on shoes and vodka cruzers.
Boy B: Is a mechanic, starts out with some 70s pile of crap, but it was entirely his.
Takes out a 12k(?) loan for a mitsubishi magna, owns magna for a year.
Drives past holden dealership, sees LS1 ute for like 17k. Trades magna in at dealership (for 4-5k), takes out a loan at the dealership for the remaining balance on the ute. At 18% interest.
Loses licence for two years due to too many burnouts.
Three weeks into licence suspension, trades in V8 ute (for 6k) for late model Navara (35k). Refinances remaining balance from the magna, V8 ute, money owing on some dirtbikes, and the price difference for the navara, at 14% interest.
Three years later, he's still just making minimum payments on that loan (the actual debt started, and remains at, like 40k) and has since bought more dirt bikes and holidays to bali on credit cards.
I could actually list three more people with lengthy, retarded histories with money and loans, but needless to say, they're mostly a bad idea and they extract lots of money from wishful thinkers. That's why finance is pushed so hard at the dealership.
11-28-2020, 08:03 AM
#10
Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Vehicle: Warren
About $100 sounds right. Sometimes even that $100 is hard to find, and it looks like fortune. I was in an awful situation when COVID-19 pandemic started, I had no idea where from will my next paycheck come from... I was looking for side hustle ideas, and I found a lot of good stuff in one article that I read a few weeks ago. It talked about ways of earning money, there was 25 different ideas, and really there was something for everyone. I'm sure that a lot of people are in the same situation, and it would be helpful to them, like it was for me.
Last edited by GordonMurray; 12-30-2020 at 03:13 PM.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
2.0gennycoupe
General Performance & Hyundai Chat
4
03-16-2012 04:11 PM