Finally decided to pull the trigger and get myself an S2000. Im only planning to get a 05 GPW with 18xxx Miles for $22,550. So far i've only paid full in cash for my previous vehicles. This would be my first loan for a car. My insurance quoted me at 360/month and the loan came out with 9% interest. Should i make a big down payment or should i cash out the S? Its always better to cash it out but it's going to really leave a dent in my account if i do. I was thinking 5 grand on the down payment. So the main question is How much would YOU down if you were buying a $22,550 car.

 

Wow....what is your situation that you pay 360 a month for insurance and 9% for a 3 year old car??

I got 7% on an 8 year old car and pay less than 100 a month.

 

i paid around 2,000 for my down payment. i financed $35,000 my interest rate is 7.15%. my monthly is 554 and some change. i'm covered by honda care and have gap insurance. i'm a first time buyer.

its all about who you know in the finance department.

 

I got in when Honda was having a super low interest rate on all CPO s2000's ...

got my 05 with 12k miles - CPO with lojack and rear lip for 21k OTD at 4.9% for 60 months... put 2k down

 

What's up with your insurance? $360 a month... that's what I pay every 6 months, with all the extras on my policy. How old are you?

 

over how many months...with that amount financed and monthly payment, you're looking at least an 84 month loan.

 

yeah thats gotta be for 84 .. because at that interest rate and that amount financed .. even 72 months is 599.23 ..

84 months = OUCH - if you go the term of the loan .. you are paying 11536 in interest alone ...

 

bought mine in '05 for 21k and change. had 19k mi on her. put 5k down, alot like your situation. i pay $360. every 6 mos for insurance. 9% interest over 4 years= $450./mo payment. in the last year now, lemme tell you, i will never finance for over 3 years again, the last year is a pain in the butt. if you put a decent amount down, you don't need gap insurance, cuz that only covers the amount you owe versus the value of the car. with a big downpayment, you'll always be on top. the amount you owe will never be more than what it's worth.

 

Thanks for all the advice. I think i'll down 5 thousand. For my insurance being so high its because of prior accident and tickets. Had one accident in 05 and i have careless driving in 05 for doing donuts in an empty parking lot. im 23 years old in the military so my agent said he'll work out a better deal since its only going to be a weekend car.

 

well i got mine in spring 2005 with 4,5xx miles on it for 26,500. put down 8,3xx to finance it for exactly 20k, monthly payments were 384 over 5 years (paid it off in 2.5).
i say put down 7,550 to finance it for exactly 15k (or 7,551 for 14999 ha). the lower monthly payments might come in handy if money gets tight, and other than that u can always pay a little extra each money to get it paid off quicker!