New or Used

[TRC_WA]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have never bought a 0 mile car.. and will never do it, unless I become so well off that I literally do not have to worry about money in my life ever again. Buying brand new car is such a bad investment of your money, imo. 

Modern cars' engines nowdays are so much better, efficient and reliable. 

A used car, especially from a reliable brand, can last you 200,000+ miles, easily.

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Yeah it's a bad "investment" but I didn't buy this new car because I cared about what I can sell it for 10 years from now.

I bought it because it's my dream car... and it will retain some value being it's a V8 modern muscle car when compared to say... a Kia.  Again though, I don't care what the resale value is because I'm keeping it until I die or it dies.

That being said, buying new was the best option.

If I had planned to trade it in 3 years I most certainly wouldn't have bought new.

You only live once... and I'm a single guy who has no overhead... so I splurged on a nice ride that turns heads wherever I go. 

[StartingOver10]

I love it - she is beautiful! And to me, the better the deal, the prettier they look....lol.

[Anonymous]

TRC_WA: I totally agree. If it is a situation where you want to get yourself your dream car.. go aheadd

I'm totally for being financially irresponsible for what the heart wants.. been there haha. Life is short..

[Anonymous]

Thank you everyone for the advice!! I agree you only live life once and I think when buying new with a car you wanted all your life that's the best option so you can enjoy it as long as possible! For instance if I bought a new car it would be something that I always wanted because I would want it to last as long as possible. TRC- you have no kids so your lucky and get to splurge on yourself and your right you only live life once. One day when the kids are older I will be right there with you.

I think financially for us since we are a large family going used was the best way to go right now. With kids you just never know the expenses that can come up and with it also being our first car with a car payment it would be best to start out low so we can get use to it Hopefully she last a long time or at least until she is paid off and I think we will continue to buy used until all the kids are older but maybe next car buy a year or two used with low miles and continue to do that until the all the kids are out. Right now we need to be saving for the kids college instead of spending thy extra money a month on a new car payment. And everyones post here has helped me so much in knowing that we should be okay! So thank you all

StartingOver- Thank You! They wanted $16,997 for her but we got them down to $15,492. Like I said she has heated seats, 2 rear DVD players, Bluetooth, sirius, navigation, voice command, touchscreen radio, and power everything. It's great especially when I have the kids and grocery bags and all I have to do is push a button and the doors/trunk open and close by themselves. Power seats and even power breaks so I am very happy for it and like I said for $15.4K we got a lot of van so as long as we take great care of her and get her to last another 7-8 years im happy! Town and Country's with no heated seats, no 2nd DVD player, no power breaks, and no spare tire (which we have to) is close to if not over 30K before dealer discounts and incentives. So we def saved there. We did put $1500 down which basically covers the TT&L so we only financed the van itself and $280 a month isn't to bad for us for starting out. I made the term 72 months even though I wanted 48 or 60 just to make the payment as low as possible bc I knwo u can always pay more but can pay less and our plan is to always always pay more but have the low payments just in case something unexpected comes up one month. I also got 9% which isn't the best but I just started rebuilding 6 months ago and have never had a car loan before or any type of loan before besides a CC so I was happy and I can always refinance in a little bit.

[Anonymous]

Beautiful van, looks very well made. Don't worry, it will last a long time. I would purchase an extended warranty from AAA if I were you, modern cars are great,  but can be expensive to fix. You made the right decision if you are happy with the vehicle and can afford it. Sounds like you did. 

[Anonymous]

I will probably get yelled at by pro car warranty folks but I have to share my thoughts.  Car warranties rarely pay off, when they do the folks with the warranties get excited because they avoided costs but the odds are very good that you will not get the full value out of a car warranty because cars these days are excellent.  The average life of a car has gone over 10 years and 160,000 miles which is amazing compared to just 15 or 20 years ago.  Buying used cars is smart, the other guy took the depreciation hit which is generally 40% in the first 4-5 years.  I wouldn't get nervous I would simply plan. Set aside a small savings account or part of your credit card limit to ensure that you can pay for a repair, chances are you won't need it. 

Take good care of your car, change the oil regularly and ensure that all maintenance is done on time and chances are very good it will be just fine. Carmax is really good about screening their cars and not allowing cars to be sold unless they are solid.  I bought a 06 BMW 330i from them with 49,000 miles, that was almost 6 years ago, I know have over 200,000 miles on it.  I paid 25k for it and the orgional sticker was 49k. so 3 years and almost 50% off on a car with plenty of life left in it, hard to make a case for new. Having said that we recently bought my wife a Honda Accord, because those cars really don't depreciate a whole lot in the first 3 years and we wanted the newest model we bought new.  There is no right or wrong answer, it is all about the circumstances.  Sounds like you bought the right vehicle for your needs and will take great care of it.  

Best of luck

[Anonymous]

Also, 9% is a bit steep of course but continue to rebuild and do a refi in a few months.  We were at 12.57% in July and just refinanced to 4.29% with NFCU so you can probably get that interest cut in half soon.  

[jhtrico1850]

I second the poster about buying new for Hondas, Toyotas, etc. Often times, after rebates, new is cheaper than recently used listings.

[Anonymous]

Thank you everyone so much! I feel a lot better now. It's like no matter what car you buy, whether used or new the first few weeks you should be enjoying it and celebrating that I finally reached this milestone with my credit. Even though 9% isn't the best, a few years ago when I tried I was getting 24% (which was the highest interest by law for my state) and I of course didn't take it and just waited. But since we bought it I just haven't been able to enjoy it or celebrate because I got so worried that something bad was going to happen and we would be put in a hole but now I feel so much better so thanks so much again. It's finally time to just relax and enjoy her! (As much as I can enjoy a minivan lol)

I Def plan to look into refinancing. I financed with Navy myself and really wanted to keep my car loan with them until it's paid off so I hope they refinance their own loans if not I guess I will eventually (soon) look into refinancing with someone else. Even though I want to stay with Navy saving money is always a priority. Thanks everyone again!

[Anonymous]

I once used an extended warranty in a Toyota Corolla.  The tranny went while I was driving it at 67K miles. The car had a  trans service and all the required maintenance and this still happened. My wife(gf at the time) bought the extended warranty when she puchased the car new to protect herself. I used to think they are a waste as well until this happened.