I have a 2004 toyota tacoma Ive been looking to upgrade. I get a nice little bonus every year around this time. I just got mine and I managed to get out of credit card debt all the way and also get a few other things paid for. Now that my credit card debt is gone, I can take on a car payment, although I dont really want to. Theres my first predicament,.....New vehicle itch vs monthly car payment. Now heres what might be the tipping point: My trucks tires have at best, 6 months left on them. So I can either..
A) Go ahead and spend almost a grand on tires and wait it out a year, then take my bonus next year and trade my current vehicle in for a 2014 or 2015 tacoma (which boasts an average of 5 or 6 more mpg), and I will have a much lower monthly payment, or at least I would have to borrow less.
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B) Just go ahead and save the grand on tires and just trade it in for a 2013 and then pay off a big chunk of the loan when my taxes and the next bonus comes along.
I know A) is best,...but its just that itch!!!!!!
I guess the best question would be, how do tires effect trade in value? How much difference in trade in value be between a 10 year old truck with six months left on the tires compared with an 11 year old truck with 6 month old tires?
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ToddPhin and Fishweiser like this.
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Yeah thats true, so if I traded it in next year, I will have basically wasted a grand on tires, plus my truck will have depreciated 5 or 600 bucks.... jeese man......what to do, what to do.... LOL!!
Fin D likes this. -
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My uncle has a saying "I don't buy new tires, I buy a new car instead"......he also has a cash machine in his ***.....
Lastly if you have no debt, just roll with the same truck for a while and bank cash no?? How old are you? Any other debts? School loans etc?Fishweiser likes this. -
So lets see....
lets say the new truck is 30k, right now with my truck I might get 10k out of it for a down payment. With no extra down, That would be 20k borrowed, which with no interest (just figuring no interest to make the math easier) at 5 years, my monthly payment would be 333 bucks.
now if I waited a year, and my truck depreciated 600 bucks, that would be $9400, - the $1000 on tires, so that would be $8400 on my trade in, then I add 10k for down payment, that would be 18400 down, that would be 11600 bucks borrowed. at five years that would be 193 bucks a month.
333-193 = $140 difference a month. Now if I use my bonuses each year and pay it of in 2 years... 24 months would only be $3360 between the 2 options!! now, if you take the depreiation of the vehicle and the wasted grand on tires, ....$3360- 1500 = $1860!! $1860 divided by the 60 month loan term would only 31 bucks a month!! So for only 31 bucks extra a month, I can have a new truck now as opposed to waiting a whole year and going through the trouble of getting new tires!!
Hows that for new car logic! :tongue2: -
Buy new tires, keep the old ones. Then put the old ones back on when you go to trade in your vehicle.
Then if the new tires you bought aren't compatiable with your new vehicle you buy next year... sell them on Craigslist.
That's what I would do at least.MonstBlitz, Fin D and Fishweiser like this. -
Hey, now thats a really good idea!! -
I never did a car deal that I didn't win....Paul 13, MonstBlitz, Boik14 and 1 other person like this. -
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I had the same dilemma a few weeks ago. My 06 Camry needed new tires, the sunroof wasnt closing properly and the power seating wasnt always functional. To fix everything would have cost over a 1000. I knew the trade in value on my car was pretty good, about 6K, and I knew if I waited longer I would be selling a car that had depreciated another year. I went ahead and bought a new Toyota Highlander. I managed to get 7 for my trade and used truecar.com to save about 9K (after taxes) on the sticker price of the car I wanted and get it down to what the website said I should be paying.
finyank13 likes this. -
I'll have to keep truecar.com in mind when I pull the trigger, I appreciate that!
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finyank13 likes this.
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New tires mean nothing to a dealer. Neither does Kelly Blue Book value for that matter. Take it from me. I just traded my vehicle in, which incidentally was a 2004 Toyota Tacoma with 2 month old tires! The guy literally told me he didn't give 2 ****s about the new tires. In the end I got $3,000. A dealer will give you jack **** now, and he'll give you jack **** next year too, so don't worry about it.
My advice on cars is it's always better to buy them outright where possible. Financing a depreciating asset is never a good idea, but when it comes to cars sometimes it's unavoidable.
If it were me the decision wouldn't be so much about when can I afford it, but when do I actually need a new vehicle. I wish I still had my 2004 Tacoma I could have put 200,000 more miles on it. But this small army (kids) I've produced required a bigger vehicle. New cars are nice and enticing, but car payments suck. And once the new car smell goes away, the car payment is still there.Fishweiser and Boik14 like this. -
In the end, it really is a phenomenal tool to getting the best price. -
Basically you put in the make and model you want and in the end you print out certificates that the dealer will honor (this is more for Fish, not you MB)....
The car buying experience has and is being done now on the computer....prices negotiations etc, I mean do you really need to test drive it?....my buddy just got a 13 Honda Accord and started the negotiations and ended them a day later with the car being bought. No hassle, no back and forth...it eliminates THEM getting YOU in the showroom and then they fleece you...
Also Fish you have an 2004? Just sell it yourself....you will make more then trading it in... -
A little off topic, but I have to laugh at what the dealership's sales manager said to me when I showed him the Kelly Blue Book trade in value of my car. He said, "That's fine. Go find Kelly and have him give you $4500 for your truck."finyank13 likes this. -
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Buy a used Jeep Wrangler. You'll have a 2nd vehicle for life that never goes out of style, is fun to drive, and cheap to maintain. Then once it's paid off you can worry about buying a new daily driver. That way you keep the miles down on your daily driver, have a fun vehicle to putz around in, and have something that maintains a source of equity.
Personally, I'd rather build up a small stable of timeless automobiles rather than spend $400+ per month for life on car payments and having nothing to show for it b/c of repeatedly trading in one payment for another while losing $thousands in depreciation and trade in value in the process.
For my own taste I'd go something like:
1. Jeep CJ7 (which you can work on upgrading and personalizing over time)
2. '74-'76 Vette (last years of the sail panel roof)
3. and as my income grows I'd move up to a '96-'98 Porsche 911 Targa (it debuted the retractable glass roof and was the first generation to off a 6 speed gear box)
So within 12 years you'd have these 3 classics, with the first two paid off:
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Do you like to wear tight cutoff jean shorts Todd?
To the OP, didn't really understand your comparison about this year vs next year's options. You're putting in an extra $10k next year (on top of your trade in value). Of course that is going to make your monthly payment lower.
And if you're going to trade in the vehicle, tires not much of a difference has previously stated... if you sell private party however, the difference is obviously greater. -
A few suggestions.
You may not be able to borrow later at the rate you can borrow now. Shop around. Rates are low.
Don't trade your vehicle. The dealer will steal your trade. It will just put any extra money it gives you on your trade back on to the purchase price. Have it detailed. Buy a new set of cheaper tires. Sell it privately. You will come out way ahead.
Read one of the many books out on how to negotiate with a dealer. Find out the dealer's real dead cost (not "invoice;" read about holdbacks and dealer incentives). If it has to be a Toyota Tacoma, you're giving up a lot of options that competitors can give you.
Edmunds tells you the average that people are actually paying for the same vehicle in your area. Below that is a good deal.
Find a vehicle equipped the way you want on the lot and negotiate for that specific vehicle. Go at the last weekend of the month in a month when the model years have just changed. If you're keeping the vehicle for a long time, negotiate for the earlier year's model. They usually carry incentives.
Be personable and likeable when you negotiate. Even if you see right through the dealer tricks, keep your sense of humor. And remember that the dealer has to make a profit to stay in business... You just want to keep it as reasonably low as possible. -
finyank13 likes this.
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But another thing to keep in mind about buying cars: Always negotiate the dealerships best price on the vehicle before you even mention a trade in. If they know you have a trade in they'll play shell games with you to make you think you're getting a better deal than you really are. Then negotiate the trade in price separately after you have their absolute best price.
And I've said it before on here, but when a dealer says "What can you afford to pay a month?" Ignore them and say, "Give me your best price". A sneaky dealer can sell you anything in almost any monthly price range. -
Jesus Christ, a Tacoma cost 30k?!?
You know that brand new Tacoma you've been looking at? Save your $, wait a year and buy that same truck with less than 10,000 miles for 10k less next year when the new models come out.
With all the extra cash go bit a jet ski to pull behind that thing!!!
...or save it for child's/future child's college fund. -