Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Average car payment over $700 a month

Used to put close to 20k per year on a vehicle just going back and forth to work and since I travelled mostly through rural areas and at night, I needed something reliable. I bought several compacts with nothing down and long payment schedules and i usually got a year or two extra out of them before needing another. I also drove some wrecks that struggled back and forth and believe me, when you spend a couple hours per day on the road it's worth paying a bit for peace of mind, air conditioning, and tunes, if you can swing it.

Now I do maybe 3k-5k per year, and get by with a couple of low-mileage oldies. New vehicles are dead to me now.

Well played Sir...

I had a 1992...

I had NO IDEA when I bought it that they were such gold mines...

Sold it for a bloody fortune.

Hope you keep your forever... or at least until she is worth $200k.

Dave Ramsey likes to put these numbers out on his show. And he says that unless you have a net worth in excess of $1 million, you cannot afford a new car.

You drive the new car off the lot, the first mile you drive costs you $4,000, because now it is a used car.

Dave gives the statistics, it is basic math, but a 30 year old couple who buys 2 new cars and trades them in every 3 years, by the time they are 60 will have thrown away a million dollars, in depreciation and interest, compared to the couple who bought 4 year old used cars, and kept them for many years.

The good news, you had that "new car smell" for 30 years.
The bad news, you are retired, and broke.

The biggest lifetime wasted expenditure is paying for too much house.
At least a dependable vehicle can help one earn!

Bought a 2006 Chev TrailBlazer 4x4 new. Currently has about 112k miles on it. Have put 2 computer "brains" and a fuel pump in it along with normal maintenance. It has been paid for since before 2010. Sold my 2000 Chev S10 Ext cab 4x4 PU with 77k miles in Feb 2021. Bought a 2019 GMC Terrain with 12.5k miles in Jan 2021, It currently has about 16k miles and will be paid off next week.

The TB pmt was about $500 / mo. The S10 was bought in 2003 and paid cash for it. The Terrain is/was under $400 / mo.

Don't think we will buy another vehicle before the end comes.

I heard yesterday that Toyota is no longer going to market the Landcruiser in the US. They are only going to go up in value.
Old news I guess, last year was the last year of manufacturing.

We bought a 2018 two years ago, it has 35k on the odometer now. Judging by what I’m seeing on Autotrader right now, it would bring 20k more than we paid for it.
Thinking it will take us to retirement. (10-12yrs) then I’ll buy the wife a new vehicle and I’ll drive it til I die.

Indeed, in fact when you’re a Boomer you could stroke out.....

BEFORE THE TRUCK IS PAID OFF.....

and NEVER have to pay off the note.....

BWAHAHAHAHAHA..........

Pretty much!

2003 Cummins Ram 3500 here- long since paid for. From near empty to sorta full took $200 last week. And now it just turned over to it's 5K scheduled oil change at 120K. Maybe I'll get to it today.

I'll be driving it awhile yet , tho as little as possible.

My car payments since about 1990 have been exactly ZERO dollars a month....

Last new vehicle I bought and made payments on, was in Sept 1987...

a new Toyota 4 Runner when I got divorced from my first wife...

still have that vehicle.... 587,000 miles on it.. it is still serving me well, even if not a daily driver anymore...

LOL That's awesome.

I’m in the camp that finds threads like this odd..

It’s always the majority that scoff at the $700 notion and brag how all their goods are bought and paid for and you’d have to be an idiot to buy a new car these days blah blah…

Some people need bulletproof reliable transportation. Some don’t. I’ll bet none of you guys would send your wife or daughter across the state in anything you didn’t have faith in tho.

New vehicles aren’t cheap. $700 is not exactly in the extravagant purchase realm. And for a lot of people, $700 a month is chump change

Many would consider us types fools for having 10’s of thousands of dollars that mostly sit in a safe too…

Three years ago I bought a 2010 Nissan Frontier. Had 44,000 miles and looked brand new. I paid $17K for it, half the price of a new one.

This truck now has 75,000 miles on it, never has given me any trouble. I have saved a small fortune in depreciation, and interest costs. I would have no qualms about sending a female out on her on on a trip in this truck.

But, if you gotta have "That new car smell" then more power to you.

How dare you defile this thread with logic

People seem to go from "only an idiot has a car payment" to "I just put a Ruger American on layaway at my LGS." real quick.

My bad hill…won’t happen again!

For the record we roll an 03 rx300 at 185,000
And my ‘11 F-250 with 126,000

I bought the truck with 115 on the clock and don’t put a lot of miles on it tho it’s my daily driver.

Any errands or long trips we take the wife’s car and I’m not looking forward to replacing it when that day comes. Fortunately I keep it maintained and it runs great

Lol…you ain’t lying

Call me frugal or whatever, but my jobs have all been middle-class wages. I've always lived like my dad and never bought fancy toys. I also have never taken out a loan for a car.

If you can't afford a $700/month car payment, then don't get one. If you can, rock on.

Saving up and paying with cash may sound cool when trying to impress, but it's not always the smart thing to do. Lets say you save for 4 years before buying a car. How much did that cash go down in purchasing power and how much did the price of the car go up over that 4 years while you saved? How much would that cash have made conservatively invested? The last 4 vehicles I've bought were all with less than 2% interest. I come out ahead financing instead of paying cash.

My money is on low interest loans IF I can afford the payment. Afford the payment doesn't mean I have to worry about the cost of gas or cost of eating out or anything like that. Afford means I can take that money out of my account without making cuts anywhere else.

Debt isn't necessarily a bad thing if you can afford to pay it back. I saw the world over many times in my youth on credit as I knew I could pay it back, and did. I keep a vehicle on average 10 years, so buying new does not worry me at all. If all you want out of life is the 4 walls you live in and to go to work every day, then cash is king.

My most recent two new vehicles (2012 Ford Expedition, and 2017 Ford Explorer) were bought with cash, along with my recent fun summer car (2010 Jaguar) Hate car payments.
Last December I ordered a new Lincoln Aviator , came in 3 1/2 months later, with my discount it came to over 68K out the door. Was ready to write a check for it, when the Finance guy said I can give you .09% interest if you finance an amount over 36 months.
I have an excellent Credit Score, but it's all based on my one credit card, so I thought I'd add to my credit score with a car loan. Told the dealer I'd do 10K over 36 months, about $280/month.
Figured I'd make more interest leaving the 10K in my CU than paying .09% on the loan. Sure enough CS jumped a few points after the first 3 months.
I figured I'd pay off the loan after one year, but now am thinking I'd make more $$ leaving the payoff in the bank. We'll see what happens.