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Buy Car with Cash or Take up Payments?

2059 Views 12 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  SwirlyThing
Hello everyone. I have posted here before and laid out my financial situation in another thread. I received awesome advice and now I’m looking for more. Since posting last, I’ve had a new twist to our debt situation. Here goes…

We (my wife and I) had two car payments that were basically sucking us dry every month. Three weeks ago, we were blessed. My wife was hit by another car and her car was totaled. Fortunately everyone was ok. The insurance is paying the vehicle off and we’ll have $3,200 leftover from the insurance payment. On top of that, I can bring another $1,500 in cash to the table to buy something else totaling $4,800 to get a used car. I currently own a Honda Accord, making payments, very reliable car. I drive 50 miles to work, one way. I’m giving my wife the Honda Accord because she totes the kids around to school, her work etc, and the car is safe. I’d rather put her and the children in it because it’s safe and reliable. So I have to buy something else. Remember, I drive 100 miles per day round trip – 4 days a week, so mileage adds up fast, and so does the gas bill. I DO NOT WANT NEW PAYMENTS. I’ve looked hard and all I can find are used Hondas, Toyotas, Nissan’s etc for roughly $10k . These are very reliable cars, with on avg 100-120k miles on them. I really really don’t want to have to finance anything. Should I go ahead and bite the bullet, finance something, OR there are other cars for ~$5000 that are less reliable but will be paid for. Of course, I’d have to do more maintenance on them. For instance there is a BMW with 120k miles for $4300. I don’t know if I should go ahead and buy it, or finance something else.

Thanks for any and all advice!
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I don't think lease will work for you either unless it's for your wife....but you still have payments there. So, you might as well finance something. I managed to get an '03 Nissan Frontier truck for about $10k with 47,000 miles on it just a few weeks ago. It's the 4cyl, I averaged 23mpg on my first tank (city driving), I think they get 28mpg highway. With your kind of cash down payment, you'd end up with a very, very low car payment, probably lower than leasing. A Ranger would probably be in the same ballpark (no room for passengers though).

Chevy Cobalts aren't a great car, but they are cheap and get very good gas mileage. I was getting about 30mpg combined on the one I had (4cyl). You should be able to find a lower mileage one for about $10k.

Oh! Dh found a '05 Dodge Magnum for $10k, 70k miles. I guess we only buy cars that cost $10k, lol. That's pretty much our limit. He loves that Magnum for his commute, and you can fit lots of people/things in it. It gets pretty good gas mileage for it's size, and is peppy (he has the 3.5 V6).
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