When to buy?
 

HI, My take on this is rather simple. If you can get a down payment and a loan to purchase the car do so. Then it is up to you to pay for it. Do what it takes to own and maintain the car. There is nothing wrong with purchasing something and growing a set of "balls" to pay for it. Desire, perseverance, and good work ethics will get you there. Do what it take to get you there. If you can't do that don't buy the car. You will be amazed what you can do once you have made up your mind to do it, if you fail don't give up just keep trying. Or you could plan and save and perhaps get there, like folks have said something always comes up. Please keep in mind any day above the dirt is a good day. Good luck

If I had to guess, I would bet more than 50% of Vette owners pay cash. Only thing I will finance today is a home, everything else is cash or I don't buy.

why? that was old school thinking before were ridiculously low. I buy one or two rent houses and let them make my vette payment.

When I get mine I will pay half in cash and use my HLOC for the balance. Locked in at 2 3/4% and can write off the interest :D

If you need to justify affording the purchase by putting some math around your financial position, me thinks you should buy a Cruze. Kind of like waiting until you can 'afford' to have children. For most of us that day never comes. I love my kids but still can't afford them.

If the C7 is a priority, then you stretch to get it, and if you are on the fence you can never justify what is best described as an emotional, impractical purchase.

I know from experience that kids hold your hand until they are 12 years old then they hold your wallet for the rest of your life !:lol:

I'll be able to make my Vette payments until that "must show ID to use your food stamps" law passes... then I may be in trouble.

Don't see how your statement relates to mine.

If you can pay cash but can borrow the $ at 2% BORROW THE MONEY!!!! You can't get cheaper money! Bought my last Vette when GM was on the ropes. Got 0% interest rate. Dealer asked how much I wanted to put down. I laughed... Zero, what do you think?

My point is that ideally you should be able to pay cash for the vehicle plus have sufficient liquidity to cover extended business downturns before you consider spending $70k. That said a 2% interest rate is cheap insurance for extra liquidity.

My point exactly!

yep.... got mine at 0.99% for 72 months.... could have paid cash if I had sold some AAPL stock. As long as AAPL doesn't tank... I think I made a pretty good decision.

You are correct. I can afford to pay cash for the Corvette, therefore
I cannot afford to pay cash, makes perfect sense in an extremely low
interest rate market. :cheers::cheers:

Back in 2008 when the market declined, It bugged the hell out of me that I lost a bunch of money like everyone did .....but I still owed money on a mortgage which I should of had paid off with money riding down in investments.
It's much easier "riding" the market with no debt.

That's basically what sophisticated financiers do. They're betting on the come of the interest rates, AND their future income. When all goes to h # LL, they'll default, go belly-up, and not meet their obligations. In their world everything is great as long as X,Y, and Z comes true. When it doesn't - they default. - Some aren't capable of understanding this; DEBT==RISK or choose to stay in denial of debt, even in it's most simple terms....

Disagree,,,

I know over 100 Corvette owners personaly and would bet only 1/3 have a Vette that is paid for. Mine was paid for till I sold it last week to make room for my 2015 order. I will pay over 1/2 in Cash and have locked in a 1.99 for 72m foe the rest.

Budget and Financial Planning
 

Been amused at the various scenarios regarding the beginning thread. If the memory serves me well which at 70 clicks on the pavement the gears sometimes don't mesh, the demographics of the typical Corvette owner are in the 55-60+ years bracket. :cheers:

That said usually by then the final third of life's travel begins to kick in. The first third is finding out about what's going on in the world plus beginning a family and acquiring the necessary assets to survive. The second third is generally a maintenance cycle of paying for the home, the kids schooling and trying to save something or investing.

But the final third is where generally the mortgage is winding down or done, kids are beginning to leave the nest and get out of college, you don't need more house/furnature and most likely less is best. This generally is when one begins to find that investments are paying off from all the learning experiences, and there is more cash available since many of the demands are winding down or stopping.

So with all this you find its time to treat yourself to the long time lust for a hot rod, boat, sports car or better yet the greatness of a Corvette.

My experience ends with the following. I waited 60 years to buy one. Mostly because to me the new 014 is the first pure high performance Vette with no faux gadgets and its mostly derived from the factory racing. My first sighting was in 1953 and I swore I would own one.

So when 70 clicks arrived, having followed all the introductory hoopla,
I went to the local dealer who had just what I wanted on the show room floor. I said I would take it if the bank would finance it.

You know the drill. Off to the paperwork guy. My bank of 30+ years responded that I couldn't afford it and turned me down. (I have zero debt/very good credit rating. I worked my ass off to get to this point). Undaunted, the next bank, a Federal credit union, jumped at the opportunity at a half point less than my beloved bank had purported, 1.75% for 72 months.

At this juncture the math is simple. If I can make 6.5-7% in the market with reasonable safety, 1.75% money cost is a no brainer.

Now another often overlooked influencing factor is that the mortgage on a car is vastly different than on a home. 30 year home mortgage you pay mostly interest for the first 20 years. With the car you pay the same amount of interest and principle each month and the interest is a small portion of the total monthly payment.

This last is good because if you do the depreciation curve versus market value somewhere in the three and a half years to 5 year range you will overcome the depreciation burden and have gained on the equity side.

Obviously the car can't be ragged and must be well kept and from my experience most Vettes are.

So if you are in the third tier of life's travel I have shared my trip. AND I love tripping in my new Vette. :rock:

And, do you know I had this brain explosion two weeks later after purchasing the Vette, to buy a new house and damn if my bank of 30+ years jumped all over it. Go figure.........:D