I'm curious due to the sheer number of young dudes I see riding around in new cars in this city.

I avoid using credit or loans whenever possible.

Quote from ajp71 :

I avoid using credit or loans whenever possible.

That ain't gonna be good for your credit score.

Ummm... like what.. too many kids riding new cars or what? I think they have succesful parents that's all.

I didnt pay for my vehicle, where's that option... family gave it

I drive a beat-up 1994 Toyota Tercel (similar to a Paseo) that I bought outright for $900. I also bought my motorcycle, a 2006 Suzuki SV650s (track only), outright for $4,700. That number on the bike has been going up as I've been performing various upgrades (bars, pegs, sliders, steering damper, brake lines).

The only loan payments I make are for my student loans. Although they hurt a bit they're not bad, largely thanks to my parents paying for my first 2 years.

The only vehicles I didn't pay for myself were:

- 1994 Pontiac Bonneville, hand-me-down from my older brother, originally bought for him by my parents
- 2002 Kawasaki Super Sherpa, high school graduation present when I was 18, my first motorcycle

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

That ain't gonna be good for your credit score.

True. I bought my car cash but now I'm starting to think about my credit score. I will probably borrow 2000$ for a new computer soon. I have the money live in my account but you have to start somewhere. At 17 it's just alright to start having a credit reputation.

It's a bit late when you're 32 years old and want to borrow 200 000$ for a home but you can't because you always avoided credit.

Credit is a good thing why you pay on time.

DWB, no youngster here, so yes, I do have a car payment. When you have a house, wife, 2 kids, and 2 cars, it's a bit necessary to have a car payment, if you don't want to mess around with used stuff that is.

I have a 2006 Mazda Tribute on loan and a 96 Nissan Altima with 164k on it that was bought used and paid off around 2003 or 2004.

Got tired of messing around with used cars and constantly needing to fix them. The 06 Mazda is our first brand new car in the marriage.

Quote from mrodgers :

Got tired of messing around with used cars and constantly needing to fix them. The 06 Mazda is our first brand new car in the marriage.

I'm starting to feel this way. Pondering the Honda Fit, Mazda 5, and Hyunda Accent (not a very appealing car, but that warranty...).

Visibility bump.

I was lucky enough to get some shares in Northern Rock when they floated when I was 18.
I sold them all and used the money to buy my first car and years insurance (£600 car, £800 insurance)

When I got my first proper job, I needed a new car as the old one was rotting.
I chose to buy a £6000 car, payments were £125/month for 4 years.

3 years later, I decided it was time for an upgrade.
Part-Ex'd the old car against a newer one, this time payments were £140 for 3.5 years.

Insurance remained pretty much the same throughout due to higher insurance groups of subsequent cars, before starting to drop when I reached 25..I now pay approx £400/year.

I should probably not have spent so much on cars and bought a house/flat looking back, but hindsight is 20:20 as they say.

I borrowed the money off my mum to cover my car, but it was done in a lump sum.
So I owe her, but it'll have no effect on my credit rating and she's not likely to call the bailiffs or anything

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

I'm starting to feel this way. Pondering the Honda Fit, Mazda 5, and Hyunda Accent (not a very appealing car, but that warranty...).

I had a 95 Hyundai Accent. Was my first new car and I would buy another in a heartbeat if I didn't have 2 kids a wife and a dog
The thing was a great bargain for the money. My wife and I pulled a Uhaul trailer all over the Eastern and South eastern states for a couple of years. The trailer was almost lifting the front wheels of the car off the ground.
It had more than 250 000km on it when I sold it and was still going strong. Since I have had 2 North American cars/Mini Van (Saturn, and Dodge) Both Shyte!!

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

That ain't gonna be good for your credit score.

But a "perfect" credit score isn't so ideal either - the very best credit score for a credit card is mostly on time payments with the occasional late payment making them more £...

The day I turn 18 I will be putting myself on a phone contract (ideally a cashback contract) and (hopefully - not sure if i'll be accepted) putting myself on a 0% credit card (looks like i'll be on a 16 month one) and putting my car insurance on that.

Then i'll be off to Uni with *insertsillyamountofstudentdebthere* and max out my student overdraft, putting it all in savings and creaming off interest. Hopefully i'll have it all paid off before that end of Uni...

Quote from mrodgers :

I have a 2006 Mazda Tribute .

In May of last year I bought my biaatch a 2008 Mazda Tribute. She loves it. It looks a lot different than the 06 model.

My employer decided to take over my payments (they call it a "car allowance") on my 2006 Toyota Tundra SR5 as well as pay the insurance and provide a gas card, so we could afford to get her something new. Then again, we usually get her a new car every couple of years anyway.

So yes, I do have one car payment every month. I send them double each month and Im on pace to have it payed off near the end 0f 2010.

I avoid loans too, the only loan I have is for my car insurance, for 1 year they wanted £750, but if I payed it off direct debit each month it came up to £1100..... My old man payed for it at the time and i'm paying 100 back a month, so it will be payed well before the policy is up so I can put money away for next years insurance.

Kinda annoys me too, seein gall these guys my age and younger going around in 10 grand cars, that's more to do with rich mummy and daddy though.....

Nope. I paid $4000 cash for this two years ago:



Except mine's in silver and it has different (better) wheels.

I plan on driving this into the the ground (it's a Honda, so that should be years from now). It had just had the 100,000 mile service when I bought it (timing belt, water pump, tune-up etc) and absolutely nothing has gone wrong since. I don't plan to have a new car and a car payment until I'm completely financially secure.

Quote from Bawbag :

I avoid loans too, the only loan I have is for my car insurance, for 1 year they wanted £750, but if I payed it off direct debit each month it came up to £1100.....

What I don't get is why when you try to pay monthly, they don't actually let you pay monthly - they just loan you the money at *insertsillyinterestratehere* and then let you pay it back monthly.

What that also means is that in the most of expensive year of insurance (i.e. your first year / first car - 17) you can't actually pay monthly as they can't loan you any more as your too young...

I don't mind paying a surcharge for montly (i.e. the "lost interest" they would cream off when they put it in savings...), but not the way they do it!

EDIT - OT - I own my car and bike outright, gifts from my parents (although i lost my childhood savings to pay for them - long story). Got insurance free again from them but I have to pay for next years insurance, and repairs, fuel etc. Plan on driving my current car into the ground atm, only if it survives after I leave Uni and get a (hopefully decent) job will I bother getting a different car if my one works, unless my current one goes seriously screwed or I get mega rich :P

No I have no repayments on anything I own. I have enough money going out every month in bills etc without the need for more on finance.

Quote from Toddshooter :

I had a 95 Hyundai Accent. Was my first new car and I would buy another in a heartbeat if I didn't have 2 kids a wife and a dog
The thing was a great bargain for the money. My wife and I pulled a Uhaul trailer all over the Eastern and South eastern states for a couple of years. The trailer was almost lifting the front wheels of the car off the ground.
It had more than 250 000km on it when I sold it and was still going strong. Since I have had 2 North American cars/Mini Van (Saturn, and Dodge) Both Shyte!!

Yeah, my gf just bought a 2008 Hyundai Accent when her '95 Escort hatchback died. She likes it a lot so far. $240 a month for 5 years, $2k down.

I have a monthly payment of €157 ($198) for my bike, a used Suzuki SV1000S of 2003. I took a loan of € 5000 and am paying it off in 3 years. Got one more year to go.

Haven't got a car, and I can't imagine ever being able to afford one. Partly because I'm ridiculously picky when it comes to cars

dont have any debt at all, the joys of being scottish and not having to pay for uni . do have a overdraft of £750 interest free, but im saving that for a special time when im really skint.

No car payments, bought it outright, and insurance. OP is ridiculous, why not just chuck all the money you have at it, instead of spending more just to get 'credit'.

Quote from th84 :

She loves it. It looks a lot different than the 06 model.

They are quite different. My wife loves hers, I despise it. Auto everything including the freakin AC (can't turn just heat on the windshield and floor, the AC compressor kicks on ). The automatic 4WD system "senses" slip and transfers the power to the rear. In my opinion, if it senses slip, that means that you've already slipped! I want my 4wd to PREVENT slip!

I do have one thing I like about it. It is rated at 19-21 mpg or something and there are complaints all over the net about the Escape/Tribute's fuel milage of 15-16 real world. I get about 24 mpg overall.

Quote :

So yes, I do have one car payment every month. I send them double each month and Im on pace to have it payed off near the end 0f 2010.

Nice, you'll have your 08 paid off before I have my 06 paid off, LOL. Though I did get it left over in 07 and the sticker was $29,900 and I got it for $18k leftover new.

I paid ~$30K in cash for the new car last summer. As a foreigner in Canada, I'm not sure I can get any kind of financing anyway, besides those with ridiculous interests (those with ads like bad credit, no credit- you're approved!). They even wouldn't let me have a credit card for long, even though I'm paid fairly well...

Interesting about the insurance payments in UK. For me, there's $0 difference in paying the whole sum and paying in 12 monthly installments, so I chose monthly as I pay a lot as a new driver (they don't care that I've had a license in Croatia for >10 years).

I also avoid loans when possible, but I don't count credit cards under loan, as I always pay on time and never buy stuff unless I could have bought it with cash too.

Quote from mrodgers :

I do have one thing I like about it. It is rated at 19-21 mpg or something and there are complaints all over the net about the Escape/Tribute's fuel milage of 15-16 real world. I get about 24 mpg overall.

Yea, I like the fuel milage, I think she averages around 22-25 MPG also, but we bought the 4cyl version. It sure beats the 12-15 mpg that I get in my truck.

Quote :

Nice, you'll have your 08 paid off before I have my 06 paid off, LOL. Though I did get it left over in 07 and the sticker was $29,900 and I got it for $18k leftover new.

I try to double payments on any car we buy. It makes me sick to even think about paying on a car for 5 years. Since we have no mortgage payment anymore (we inherited a 25 acre piece of property with a nice home on it) I can easily swing doubling up on the car payments. I really hate sending the Ford company $600/month though. Its rather depressing sending money to a company that I hate so much. :P

If I had a decent paying job I'd jump at some of the deals on Motorcycles they have today. 0% finance on pretty much any bike you want, a while back George Whites were giving away £1750+ of free items that you'd actually want (cans, tail tidies, Sidi Vertigo boots, alarms etc) on EVERY bike, although now it's back to just a few select models, although 0% finance still stays.

Besides, 2 years and about £140 per month + 30% deposit (use old bike on trade in or something) is a very realistic thing to do!