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Stressing About Cost

D

Darvin

GUEST
So, I want to get AV now, the wife being sensible says lets save for a larger downpayment. I'm still looking around seeing if any good deals pop up while we're saving and the cost of this purchase is weighing on our minds.

I seem to find most used AV's between 25-30K for 25K at 60 months is a little over $400 not counting interest. If we can get a couple thousand down we may get a monthly payment around $450 with interest and tax title and all that.

Anyway, thats a big payment for us, and it seems like a big fight to get a AV payment around $400. Do any of you have low payments and how did you do it?

-Darv
 
Ours is around $600/month :cry:

Probably not what you wanted to see :cautious:
 
Wow, I'm poor lol.

Well, maybe its my up bringing. My parents have never purchased a "new" car. Or any car that cost more than a thousand dollars or so. My first "new" car was a geo metro and my monthly payments were 267. My wifes used taurus is about 385 and we thought that was high. So these AV prices make us a bit dizzy.
 
I think that a used is the best way to go if you want to keep the payments down.
 
Our payment is $899.61 per month. ?Everything, including extended warranty, is financed. ?We bought New Years eve of 2001 when the deal was 36 months with no interest. ?As you can imagine, I am wishing February of 2005 was next month! ?Again, not what you want to hear......
 
Can I ask why you want the truck?

You're looking at buying a top end truck too cheaply don't you think? Perhaps another vehicle would meet your needs.
 
Well, Here's the other end of the spectrum. 500.00 a month plus zero % for 5 years. One of the last 2 off of the dealers lot, they couldn't move them. ;D

jw
 
Darwin, again not what you were after, but I will offer some thoughts.

Got everybody (so far) beat. Our payments are $1000/mo. We're almost half done. Bought back in 10/01 during the same 0%/36 mo. deal and very few cashback offers. We too were saving our pennies for a large downpayment either to pay cash outright and avoid interest, or make the monthlys more manageable.

Then they came out with the 0%/0 down/36 month thingy. The decision then was reduced to "Can we afford $1000/mo.?" When there's 0% interest, it's a no-brainer--you either can afford the montlys or you can't. With some of the cash incentives available now (not sure about on used Avs), some have said that the interest you might pay is less than the cash, so forget interest. I usually try to avoid interest--that's why we were saving to buy outright. But with 0% financing, why put $1000 away toward a new vehicle each month and pay cash when you can get the Av now and give that $1000 to GMAC?

BTW, just so someone doesn't think we're loaded, I became unemployed shortly after that, and for my wife's sanity she decided to go to 80% full-time, so that $1000 has been a pain each month for the last 3-4. Luckily we had some of that money we'd been saving for the new vehicle still in savings (remember, we put $0 down).

What I'd advise anyone to do (and what I would do if I was in the situation now) to be fiscally responsible is figure out how much you can afford each month including everything. If it's $400, then figure out what kind of loan you need for the $400 to come out right. On a 36-month, you'll be financing ~$15,000. So that means you need to have $10k-$12k saved up for that down payment. You can come up with less on longer terms... Also figure out how much you'd be paying in the long run (figuring the interest and all that). You don't have to be an accoutant or loan-monger to figure this out. Just estiamte, and you'll get close. Or ask a friend who knows how to figure this stuff.

Whatever you do, figure this out yourself, or with the help of a trusted friend. DO NOT go to your dealer and say "I want this truck and want to pay $400/mo." They will get you the truck likely, but you will end up paying huge TOTAL $$$ when it's all said and done. They'll manipulate the price of the truck, your downpayment, any trade-in value, etc. to make it come up with $400 ignoring basic economics of what you really should be paying in purchase price and interest over the course of the loan.

Good luck!

My guess is that anyone with sub-$400 payments either has a long-term loan (72-mo.), put a bunch of cash down, is paying more interest than I want to, or a combination of these.

Brendan
 
Look for other places to finance, for example a credit union, that may have better interest rates and/or a longer term available. But above all, be patient. I waited for over nine months looking, poking around and saving so that I could hit my target.
 
We had been saving money for a while for a new vehicle when the AV came out. My brother-in-law bought one and brought it over. We feel in love and had to have one of our very own. It took several more months but we paid cash.

It was worth the wait and now it ia all ours. :D
 
If you own a home and have any equity at all you might want to check into a home equity line of credit loan. It's a little different than a second in that your given a line of credit to use at your discretion. It can ease you payment because it extends the load period from 7 to 10 years. The interest rate is a lot less than conventional loans and the interest can be written off at the end of the year. The only concern is that the rate is based on a prime rate as published in the Wall Street Journal (currently 4.25) that could bite you if it greatly increased.

I went with E-Trade and utilized their online application (I have a high school friend that is a vice president at a bank and he suggested E-Trade). Within four weeks I was able to pay the bank off and start deducting the interest. I can't remember the exact figures but for a 14,000 dollar loan at 4.25 percent the minimal payment a month is around 60 dollars (note if your only paying sixty dollars a month for seven years you will have to come up with 14,000 at the end, so use discretion wisely).

I also went this way because of the current economy and my job status. If I do get laid off I can reduce the amount I'm paying per month until I can find another job. I'm currently paying 300.00 a month.

z-man
 
I've got a plan which may work for you.

Just so you know I can completely understand how tough it is when you have to get low payments. My fiance' and I are both 22 now and in school so we can't afford much. We have to be real smart in managing/manipulating to afford anything nice.

Here's what we got and how we did it. 2002 1500 4X4 w/bucket seats. Our payments have been and will always be $500/mo unless we can refinance again if rates drop. We will have paid for 69 months when we are through.
We LEASED the truck on a 36mo/ 12,000/yr contract with $2000 down to get the initial $500 payments and after 9 months we called GMAC for our total payoff(remaining lease plus value of truck) and it was around $27,000. Then we found a bank with the lowest rates and took out a 60mo loan for the value and bought out the lease.

It worked out great for us. When all is said and done we will have paid around $32,000 for a truck with a sticker of $34,500, and yes that includes interest!

I'm not sure what kind of interest you can get, but we get "special" loan rates so you would probably be at least 3% higher. If anyone does the math here you will notice an unbelievably low interest rate would be required to make this work, but that's what we got, I didn't make any errors here if you were going to ask.

So leasing isn't always a bad deal. We only did it temporarily to make the payments lower until we could buy it for a price that would give us the same monthly payment, but extended the term by less than a year. If we had bought the truck at the time it would have cost us at least $2500 more by the end of the 60months.

With the deals out there now(0% and such), you should be able to get into a new AV for around $500/mo for 60 months.
 
hmmm...well $385 a month here....course a 95 Tahoe trade in...and 14k down.... i make double payments...so should be paid in another year or so
 
Wow, you folks are FANTASTIC!

This is great stuff and I'm shocked to see it all quite frankly. Seeing responce like this makes me want to be a supporter here. Truck first though! :)

Ok, you all took the time to right to me so I'll respond to as many as needed here.

1) AtomTaz, yeah used seems good considering I'm finding used AV's with 10-15K miles discounted $10K. However, thats without any incentives and a little warenty so that has me somewhat concerned. But we have been looking completly at used AV's to this point.

2) chrisntam, 0% is 0% and thats great. I believe the dealers around here are doing some of that right now.

3) Limerick, top end truck? There is more expensive everyone seems to be after those escalades. For me, this is THE truck for us. It's prefect for what we need and there is no other that would do. I'm just trying to do whats best for us 60 months is a long time to be with a payment that might be a future hardship. It's not right now but we're going to start a family and we still want to travel and do things.

4) jgwatsonjg, OMG sweet deal for you! Thats the kind of luck I need lol!

5) brmiller, FANTASTIC information! I'll certianly take your advice to heart. I heard about dealers tailoring to a monthly payment before and have been warned against giving them any information untill you have their best price. Where theres a will theres a way! :)

6) NW_Nick, I thought about that, and did some initial financing research. People first.com gave me 5.9% and the dealer was sure he could get me 3.9%. I didn't check my local credit union yet but figured 3.9% was darn good.

7) AVid, I admire your strength! This is killing me lol.

:cool: z-man, AWSOME information. We do own a home but we've only owned it for 11 months now. Part of why we are tight with cash atm is because we purchased this house with a 3% down payment. Our house payments are $936 per month. We were hopeing to deal with it for two years then refinance out of PMI that would drop our payments by almost $300 per month. So how would a home equity line effect that? Would we even qualify?? We don't have much in equity built up I'm sure! But I like what it does for you as you explained in your post. Having the ability to pay more on a payment some months and less on others is a great benifit. I would like to look into this more!

9) Pluto, I've been dang scared of leases. Previously the milage limit wouldn't have worked for me, but I'm driving less miles these days and with a gas hog I'm sure I wouldn't use it to the point of putting on too many miles hehe. Another good option I hadn't thought of, and thanks!




Well, I'll share all this with my wife and see what she says. We make good money together gross home income is over 50K and we're only 26 and 25 years old respectivly. Our credit is good to excellent. We do have some ugly debt we're trying to unload. 4K in credit card debt but we're getting there. Thanks for the good information!!

-Darvin



 
I guess I look at it a little differently. If I have $30k cash laying around the last thing I'm going to do is spend it on a new vehicle. A classic maybe (an investment). I go 60 months with the lowest interest I can find (usually my CU) to keep payments low, and pay extra when I can. Usually paid off in 3 1/2 yrs. Current payment is $249. I only owed around $3k on my '01 Sierra and with all the rebates and GMS pricing I financed less than 1/2 the cost of the Av. I've seen used Avs recently as low as $23k, with low miles even. Albeit Base model 2wds. Good luck and I hope you can work something out. Everybody should be able to own an Avalanche. : )
 
My payment is $464.69/mo. with 0% financing for 5 years.

I traded in my '99 Cavalier, got $4500 on it which paid that off and had enough left over for the TT&L.

My dad is also a GM employee so my AV sticker price was $32,680 and I ended up with it for $27,881.

But that's how I swung the deal ?;)

Mine's a 2002 Black Base model...

;D

Kim
 
Pluto said:
I've got a plan which may work for you.

Just so you know I can completely understand how tough it is when you have to get low payments. My fiance' and I are both 22 now and in school so we can't afford much. We have to be real smart in managing/manipulating to afford anything nice.

Here's what we got and how we did it. 2002 1500 4X4 w/bucket seats. Our payments have been and will always be $500/mo unless we can refinance again if rates drop. We will have paid for 69 months when we are through.
We LEASED the truck on a 36mo/ 12,000/yr contract with $2000 down to get the initial $500 payments and after 9 months we called GMAC for our total payoff(remaining lease plus value of truck) and it was around $27,000. Then we found a bank with the lowest rates and took out a 60mo loan for the value and bought out the lease.

It worked out great for us. When all is said and done we will have paid around $32,000 for a truck with a sticker of $34,500, and yes that includes interest!

I'm not sure what kind of interest you can get, but we get "special" loan rates so you would probably be at least 3% higher. If anyone does the math here you will notice an unbelievably low interest rate would be required to make this work, but that's what we got, I didn't make any errors here if you were going to ask.?
Click to expand...

Pluto,
Nice going on your deal!

And I did do the math:
69mo. x $500 = $34,500 + $2000 DP = $36,500 ;)


 
I got the same deal as jgwatson....


I bought the last Z66 on dealer's lot Dec 02. It was loaded with all options I wanted and needed and none of what I didn't need. It was also the blue I've always wanted (but hid the innner grin from salesman).

Purchased an extended 3yr/30K warranty on top of standard.

Everything was incorporated into a 5 year/0% financing.

All is said and done, my coupon payments are $521.00 every month on the dot.

All my other GM vehicles I paid off quite fast by making double/triple payments to negate the high interest rates.

Not with the AV--what for???
 
My payment is 520.00 /month at zero percent for 60 months. I put 2 grand down and thats it. Sticker was around 37,000 and got em down to 31 and change. I felt like it was a decent deal - course I was blinded slightly by desire ;)
 
Darvin,
Just a couple of thoughts:
1) The used AV market should see more vehicles start to show up as lease-end vehicles are turned in. The truck is relatively new and the used market "pickings" have been a little slim in some areas.
2) I love the AV, but no vehicle is worth putting yourself in a financial bind.
3) Patience pays off. The only "deal of a lifetime" is on a one-of-a-kind vehicle. If a good deal appears and you miss it, just wait, another one will show up.
4) Use all the tools available on the internet to get all the information you can. An informed buyer will get the best deal.
Just some observations from someone who has bought a lot of vehicles in my 30 years of car buying (and I've gotten better with age). Here's wishing you the best in your search!
 
Darvin

For my 2 cents on this. I did buy my AV used with 21k miles (like new) and gave $29k. It is the $41k completely loaded Z71 with full leather and everything else. I too am on a serious budget (getting married in May) so we do not (did not) have money for a huge down payment and did not want an $800+ payment. Top it all off I was driving a '98 LS Blazer with 130k miles which equals no trade in value. My blazer was 2k upside down which was tacked onto the AV bringing my total to $31k. I went to a bank for the loan and ended up at $550 a month.

Used is the way to go, you can get exactly what you want for way less. Darvin, I am like you, this is the truck I want, it fits me perfectly and by d@mn I'm going to have it, even if she kills me ;D

Good luck, hope you find exactly what you are looking for. ***Personal advise*** Please do not sell yourself short, if you really want the leather or the Z71 or what ever but cannot afford it now, wait. There is no sense in buying something just because it is cheaper or right there in front of you. In 2 yrs after you've made those payments, paid that insurance and rolled along side a 100 loaded Z71's your going be kicking yourself wishing you had went for it. Believe me, I learned that lesson the hard way.

dday
 
My payment is $450.00 that includes the extended warranty. Put $7500. Down, GMS price on the Av and 5.5% thru GM.

Bacs22 ;D
 
LOL... you don't want to be down here trying to finance one of these puppies... I had to keep my payments down to $1,490.00 per month (5 yrs with 30% residual) and so had to tip in $7,000.00 out of my pocket to keep under the finance amount. :rolleyes:
 
Purchased a USED 2002 Avalanche 25,000 Miles mint condition/ Leather/ Sunroof/ Lund Deflectors $ 25,100.00

25,100.00
- 800.00 Trade 1990 Isuzu Trooper (260K)
----------------
24,300.00
+ 1,458.00 6% Sales Tax
-----------------
25,758.00
- 2,200.00 DOWNPAYMENT
-----------------
23,558.00
+ 125.00 Bank charge for loan
-----------------
23,683.00 Amount Financed ( 66 Months @ 6.75 %) = $ 435.69 per/ Month.

I think used is the way to go if you want to keep the payments in order.

Dave

 
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