How do people afford to buy a car?

List of Forums + New Post Recipe Box Usergroups Following Log in

Join Now

| | | | |

1, 2 Next

Forum -> Household Management -> Finances

View latest: 24h 48h 72h

amother

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 5:26 am

I need a car desperately.
I got a used car 4 yrs ago but it’s old and there are many things wrong with it.
I am having such a hard time finding a car because the prices are so high. I’m not even looking for a new car but a used one and those are a fortune.
I see so many new cars on the road.
Even leasing is a fortune.
How do people with families with average paying jobs do it?
I can’t finance and want to buy something outright but don’t have the $10,000 plus to buy a decent car.
What is everyone secret?

amother

Slateblue

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 5:27 am

I know you said you can’t but our secret was financing

amother

Narcissus

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 5:34 am

We buy very old used cars, preferably totalled and rebuilt. One car was 6k, the other was 3k. The trick is having a mechanic you really trust to find you old working cars.

amother

Camellia

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 5:38 am

amother Slateblue wrote:

I know you said you can’t but our secret was financing

Same, it was easier for us with the monthly payments (for a long time) than to pay one big lump sum at once. This was the only option for us.

realtalk

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 5:45 am

We also bought very old cars in the $3k range and daven

amother

Jean

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 5:50 am

We financed. If your credit is good often they'll offer you zero %interest. We also financed a second car used.

mha3484

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 5:50 am

I financed a 5 year old car. I finally paid it off and the car is really showing its age so I am looking to do the same again.

amother

Burlywood

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 5:53 am

amother OP wrote:

We just had to do it and paid 3.5x more than we had and never dreamed of buying a car so expensive. I went for a few thousand more for newer since already a crazy sum. We convinced them to allow us to put a large chunk on CC that we have 0 APR on. They said no the whole time until it came down to paying, the finance person agreed

Kia is cheaper and good. We just wanted a car that held the value more for resale purposes later

amother

Burlywood

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 5:55 am

amother Narcissus wrote:

We buy very old used cars, preferably totalled and rebuilt. One car was 6k, the other was 3k. The trick is having a mechanic you really trust to find you old working cars.

We used to do this . It takes time though so doesn't work when desperate

amother

Narcissus

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 6:40 am

amother Burlywood wrote:

We used to do this . It takes time though so doesn't work when desperate

Very true. Our first car, in 2018, only took 3 months to find. Our second in 2021 took 6 months. (both still work if you're curious, we just both work in the suburbs and needed cars for commuting)

amother

Orchid

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 6:41 am

Where’s the best place to find a car to buy?

shabbatiscoming

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 6:44 am

amother Orchid wrote:

Where’s the best place to find a car to buy?

Seeing as this site is international with women all over rge world, you might want yo mrntion where you are located.

amother

Hydrangea

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 6:48 am

We bought a used Camry from Lakewood auto sales. They are honest and well priced. It was 10 years old with under 80k miles. We put down 3.5k, proceeds from out totaled old car. Payments were a bit over $220 a month- close to what we were paying for repairs on our old car. It’s been over a year and we are very happy with it. Rates may be a drop higher but if you can afford repairs, you can afford the loan on a used car.

amother

Oxfordblue

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 6:53 am

As soon as you get your car, start putting away "monthly payments " towards the next car so next time you are in the position you'd like to be in.

amother

Antiquewhite

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 6:53 am

It may come as a surprise but it may be worth considering leasing or financing a Tesla because they are super cheap now with significantly lower prices on cheaper models along with large federal and state tax credits, and significant savings on gas

amother

Natural

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 7:03 am

We financed through our credits cards and bought from Lakewood auto.

greenteaorange

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 7:23 am

The secret is financing most people don’t have huge amount of money laying around for a car why is finanancing not an option?

amother

Dodgerblue

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 7:25 am

Most people I know lease

amother

Burlywood

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 7:25 am

amother Narcissus wrote:

Very true. Our first car, in 2018, only took 3 months to find. Our second in 2021 took 6 months. (both still work if you're curious, we just both work in the suburbs and needed cars for commuting)

We were very happy with our copart car.
It took ages to find but we had time. This time we were desperate which was hard! So resale value was important to me since I couldn't get as a good deal as copart auction

amother

Burlywood

Sun, Jun 04 2023, 7:26 am

amother Orchid wrote:

Where’s the best place to find a car to buy?

Car edge and watch their videos on YouTube! You will learn lots of tricks to negotiating deals. We used it to our advantage big time

Page 1 of 2

1, 2 Next