[DannyK]

I purchased my car recently (MSRP $47,500) and decided to finance it using a home equity line instead of the BMW finance. I pay about $1,000 a month for my car and am starting to feel like it's a bit too much. I was just curious how much some of the people on this forum who purchased their cars (vs. lease) pay monthly for their cars.

[Amil@AutoTalent]

how many months? whats your apr? i get about 4.85% from an outside bank www.lfcu.com

[Xeloj]

BMW Financial offered me 3.9% for financing, but I had the money to buy the car outright.

I still think 3.9% is a good percentage though.

[oc24]

Yes but with the home equity loan can't you deduct it?

[DannyK]

Originally Posted by slubu

Yes but with the home equity loan can't you deduct it?

Yes, I believe you can...but was just curious to see what everyone's monthly payment was.

[hkkuf]

Originally Posted by Xeloj

BMW Financial offered me 3.9% for financing, but I had the money to buy the car outright.

I still think 3.9% is a good percentage though.

What... are you sure it was 3.9%? I got 4.9%.
I pay about 790 a month with 6000 down. Pay off amount of 41300.

I think Nationwide is offering 4.25% for people with credit rating over 780 or something.
Worth looking at if you qualify.
http://www.nationwide.com/auto-loans.jsp

I just called them and found out 4.25% is only available for loans with terms of 36 months or shorter...
Anything longer would carry higher interest rate.

[Xeloj]

Originally Posted by hkkuf

What... are you sure it was 3.9%? I got 4.9%.
I pay about 790 a month with 6000 down. Pay off amount of 41300.

I think Nationwide is offering 4.25% for people with credit rating over 780 or something.
Worth looking at if you qualify.
http://www.nationwide.com/auto-loans.jsp

I just called them and found out 4.25% is only available for loans with terms of 36 months or shorter...
Anything longer would carry higher interest rate.

Wow, $790 is a pretty steep payment. I bought my car in November and at the time I do remember them doing 2.9% on Pre-Owned and 3.9% on New until December 31st if you qualified. They even offered me a 60 month term. 4.9% is not that bad, but yeah it's not 3.9%.

[IrvRobinson]

It's currently 3.9 on the 328 coupes and sedans and 4.9 on the 335's

[LACA335i]

Originally Posted by Amil@AutoTalent

how many months? whats your apr? i get about 4.85% from an outside bank www.lfcu.com

dude that is credit union. you cant compare that with Bmw financing... Majority of the time credit union . you need to be a union. However, some Credit Union does not need to meet that requirement.

[Bulldog 6]

Originally Posted by DannyK

I purchased my car recently (MSRP $47,500) and decided to finance it using a home equity line instead of the BMW finance. I pay about $1,000 a month for my car and am starting to feel like it's a bit too much. I was just curious how much some of the people on this forum who purchased their cars (vs. lease) pay monthly for their cars.

You should look at your income vs debt. My research has found that most recommendations are for no more than 20% of your income. There are alot of people who don't think you should finance a car period, because of the depreciation. Since you did finance if possible I recommend paying over your monthy payment, the interest alone will add on thousands of dollars a year if you don't. Much better to pay off in 2-3 years vs 6. Do a google for "pay off my auto loan early" and you can see how much you can save by adding additional $$$

[John 070]

Even if you have a killer HELOC say at 6 1/4% or even 6%, the minimum payment is so small that there's a tendency for the debt to never get paid off for quite some time. It's usually interest only for the first 10 years. I would say a couple who are in the highest tax bracket with the 6% HELOC can't even touch 3.9% after taxes. The low-rate car loan is the way to go, and 60 mos. from now the thing is paid-off. There are lots of ways to get a BMW without up-front cash, but the outcome is quite different.

[John 070]

Originally Posted by Bulldog 6

You should look at your income vs debt. My research has found that most recommendations are for no more than 20% of your income. There are alot of people who don't think you should finance a car period, because of the depreciation. Since you did finance if possible I recommend paying over your monthy payment, the interest alone will add on thousands of dollars a year if you don't. Much better to pay off in 2-3 years vs 6. Do a google for "pay off my auto loan early" and you can see how much you can save by adding additional $$$

There is also a camp that says they lease not because they don't have the sufficient downpay, that it's because they invest the cash flow. 2007 was not a good year to leverage investments, both real estate and stocks were not good. So the people who claim they have the cash but invest it instead, they really shot themselves in the foot. Unless the real estate was in Manhattan, then of course it's a total seller's market.

Those who don't have the cash but have to have a BMW, of course, leasing is a very real way to put that car in the garage for minimal down and relatively small payments.

We can talk about it over and over, but imho there should be a relationship between one's income and how much is spent on a car. A car is a total luxury item and most of its price goes down the drain. Then again, we should and do spend some of our income on enjoyment. We seem to disagree whether that should be 5 or 150% of one's annual gross salary. It's the creative financing that allows one to have a car that exceeds one's annual salary by a multiple, pretty crazy.