[Donatello.]

Originally Posted by Vindicator3

I'm old school I'm sure but if anyone were to ask me I would advise them never to borrow money to buy a depreciating asset like a car (rare investment cars aside).

My approach has always been to buy the car I can afford (favoring reliability, maintenance costs, and gas mileage first, then the fun factor) with cash, and then make car payments to myself thereafter to build up, with accrued interest, the pot of money to buy the next car. Recognizing as a part of this that the most economically sensible way to buy a car (unusual circumstances excepted) is to buy a 3-year old non-luxury car (with good reliability and good mileage) and drive it until the wheels fall off, then repeat, considering any variation from this as a luxury (that is, buying new instead of used, buying luxury instead of economy, selling before the wheels fall off, etc.) in which I can choose to indulge or not as my economic circumstances allow.

That meant I was driving a Civic or a TSX (with a growing pot of money in the bank to replace them) while others my age were driving newer or fancier cars (with no pot of money and lease or loan obligations instead), but it also meant that I was protected from economic shocks (no risk of losing my job and owing $20k on a car for example), and it also meant I spent less overall on transportation.

The advantage of this approach certainly decreased during that weird 10-15 year period when interest rates were essentially zero, but now that we're back to a normal interest rate environment the advantage is more obvious.

YMMV, of course, but that's what works for me. Buy with cash; if you can't afford to buy the car you want that way either wait until you can or buy a cheaper car; save up monthly for the next car; repeat.

And if you're just starting out and can't even buy a 10 or 15 year old Civic without a loan, then buy that 10-15 year old Civic (nothing newer, fancier, or more expensive), borrow the least amount possible to do so, and pay it off as quickly as possible, then try to make that Civic (or Corolla or whatever - but something cheap to acquire, bulletproof, and cheap to fix) last long enough to at least buy the next car with cash, even if the next car is a 5-year old Civic. Living within your means comes with much less risk and expense than living a leveraged existence, even if the leveraged life will "pay off" for some who never suffer an economic setback along the way. May we all be so fortunate.

The problem is most Americans don't make enough $ to be able to do that AND pay for all the normal bills most of us do AND also save a bunch monthly AND invest in retirement fund.

[Vindicator3]

Originally Posted by Donatello.

The problem is most Americans don't make enough $ to be able to do that AND pay for all the normal bills most of us do AND also save a bunch monthly AND invest in retirement fund.

I don't disagree. IMO those Americans who can't afford even a 10 year old Civic without borrowing should go ahead and borrow to make sure they get a quality car, but should not buy anything fancier or newer than a 10-year old Civic or Corolla until they can afford to do so without borrowing. If they borrow to buy something more expensive than that, they are contributing to their financial woes rather than solving them. IMO, of course.

(This assumes no actual need for something more expensive like a truck because of their work or a 4WD because of the climate, etc.)

[Donatello.]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

That's the beauty of it, if we consumers stop buying, the market eventually corrects itself. We want more diversity in the auto market, not less. More regulation kills diversity.

Sadly, most people are idiots & buyers of boring cars.

Also, these videos seem staged. Shocker