Vehicle payment

customboss · October 18, 2025

Boys point of the video I posted is for the younger Cats here. Starting or sustaining a family and being Gen Z you are currently behind 8 ball. Toys will smoke you and having unsecured debt is almost insurmountable for this group of young folks. Costs are high and they grew up in general not worrying about a thing but being fed a line of BS through media and cell Phones that they don’t need to be frugal.
Everything but petroleum is skyrocketing and leveraging your family with the hope and prayer of keeping both your jobs and getting schooling or training for the kids is a given is really naive.

I paid cash for 3 daughters to go to undergraduate because my wife compromised on that ( me said no). All 3 ran with the degrees and make more than their husbands.
I was given nothing but it took me 50 years to recover since 9.5 years was making sub min wage in Navy and Army.

Until I made $100,000+ a year consistently I could not keep up. Married 1979- 2009 and she NEVER had to work. I flew professionally and simultaneously did science. Worked my ass off like each of you older guys did. I’m 65.

Im worried about the generation behind me and what we leave them for a playing field economically.

Edited October 18, 2025 by customboss

customboss · October 18, 2025

@diyer2 and I grew up in Midwest on farms. We knew how to fix things and trade without getting skinned. We also worked our asses off.

That survival Instinct kept me from borrowing $$ from age 18-30 because from farming I knew what money cost and how much loading interest on it puts you behind 8 ball. Saw a lot of family farms die 1974-1990.

Edited October 19, 2025 by customboss

diyer2 · October 19, 2025

Thanks for the compliment custom.

We haven't had a car payment for 35 years. Last car we financed was $5k.

My dad decided to move to the city and leave farming. Glad he did.

KARNUT · October 19, 2025

I keep hearing here about the high cost of goods. Especially automobiles. In reality it’s more a matter of choice. My social security for instance has a cola. My wife and I can live on it. We’re living the upper middle class life. My old business has raised salaries with inflation there’s parity. There hardly turnover so it’s in line with the industry. My niece a second year teacher is making 72K a year. Some people make bad choices. Never buy a house, buy a bunch of toys. Coffee at Starbucks. Eating out instead at home. Not saving for retirement. I’m Mr average. I started savings in my 40s. Did the house latter. My house is way bigger than I need. I’ve been hearing the same song and dance. I bought my first house during the Carter administration at 13 percent interest. My first car was 3K. My pay was 4.50 per hour. We ate out maybe once a month. Life is tons better now. I have kids living it with nice houses and cars with average jobs. It’s better now more choices, cheaper cars, many more job opportunities much better health care. If you’re not making it where you’re at move. Yea, we did that too.

newdude · October 21, 2025

On 8/9/2024 at 11:32 AM, KARNUT said:

What is your comfort zone in regards to your vehicle payment? How often do you trade in? If you’re upside down do you roll that in? And how does that compare to your spouse? … I never put any money down. I buy only when there’s a discount. For 40 years my business paid for my vehicles because I drove many miles for the business. I bought only year end or discounted trucks so I had different brands. That allowed me to have collector cars as my personal vehicles. My wife drove performance or sport cars usually for 5-7 years. The last is a 2011 Genesis. She still has her last sports car an Acura Intagra Type R. My retirement truck a 2014 Texas Edition GMC cost me 27K. It was discounted from the mid 40K. A big sale on 12/31/13. The dealer called me at my office needing one more sale. My ex son in law worked there at the time. All the stars aligned. It was our personal highest payment for a vehicle to date at 400$. Several years later and several more vehicles later my last new vehicle came in at 500$ per month. I’m in a different situation now being retired. I don’t see buying another new vehicle. I turned a different leaf. It happens when you get older. I’m going to run them longer. My wife still drives her 2011 it looks good. I just put 20K miles on my Avalanche in four years. That model will go 300K easy. The trip vehicle the Odyssey is just barely at 150K. I’m going with longevity. As far as payments. Unless it’s a screaming deal at 0 percent it’s cash here on out. There’s only a few brands I’ll buy going forward. We’ll just leave it at that.

Taking this back to the original topic...

I've been doing my best to stay under $400/mo. I was $230 on my first truck, couple later due to equity it stayed around $270. Then I had a bright idea to lease since I kept trading every 2-3 years. Got it up to $385 and now down to $339 with $2000 down. The $339 is on an all boxes ticked 2025 Equinox EV. AWD in the RS trim, Habanero Orange for the color.

I've always had a truck other than my first vehicle, and honestly am in a position where I don't need to own one but if I do need one, I have regular access to one. Oh and I did pick up a spare car, a 2009 Pontiac Vibe with the 2.4, 5 speed auto. Sat in a garage for 4 years, lady didn't need it anymore. Solid car, surface rust in some spots underneath at the most. Bought it with 234,XXXmi on it, has 239,6XXmi at the moment. Everything works in it too, and its a moon and tunes car (sunroof and factory Monsoon sound system with subwoofer). All that for $1000 cash.

newdude · October 21, 2025

Back to payments.

I will say, I can't believe at work the payments and terms customers are somehow okay with taking. And some of it is obviously out of their control due to past purchases affecting their credit. But to see someone be okay with $800/mo for a LT with the 2.7 Turbo where I was at $385/mo on a lease is just nuts. Even if I made $100,000 a year, I'd still want a car payment under $400/mo!

KARNUT · October 21, 2025

22 minutes ago, newdude said:

Back to payments.

I will say, I can't believe at work the payments and terms customers are somehow okay with taking. And some of it is obviously out of their control due to past purchases affecting their credit. But to see someone be okay with $800/mo for a LT with the 2.7 Turbo where I was at $385/mo on a lease is just nuts. Even if I made $100,000 a year, I'd still want a car payment under $400/mo!

My highest was 500$. But at 0 percent interest. It didn’t make sense to pay cash. That’s the only way I buy anything with payments. Buying a reliable vehicle and keeping after the payment ends. You can save and pay cash for the next one. You find you don’t spend as much when you’re paying cash. It gets addictive. I always look for deals.

Atlas · October 21, 2025

I've paid cash for vehicles for a while now, including the latest. But, who actually cares? Anyone?

newdude · October 21, 2025

40 minutes ago, KARNUT said:

My highest was 500$. But at 0 percent interest. It didn’t make sense to pay cash. That’s the only way I buy anything with payments. Buying a reliable vehicle and keeping after the payment ends. You can save and pay cash for the next one. You find you don’t spend as much when you’re paying cash. It gets addictive. I always look for deals.

In a couple of the Chevy EV Facebook groups, I'm amazed the people buying them in cash or financing them only for them to say they won't have it 3-4 years later. Talk about a depreciation hit. They definitely fall a lot harder than ICE stuff does, and the rebates and tax credit until now definitely didn't help that out.

The ones that bought to ride it out for 6-10 years I can understand. But even then, the Ultium platform GM has now already has its replacement/next gen in the pipeline. The "new" Bolt for example has an LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) chemistry which is cheaper to build and a lot more life stable over time. Ultium is NCMA (Nickel Cobalt Manganese Aluminum) which is, over time, less stable, has a shorter lifespan, doesn't like to be charged regularly past 80-90% yet has very strong energy density.

So I come back to the idea that those who want an EV, be it an actual want or a curiosity thing of can I live with EV, leasing seems the most sensible path due to how much the landscape of them is changing.

ICE cars, sure, new engines come out, emissions get tougher, but those engines are more lifespan stable than current EV battery chemistries are. The Gen V small blocks for example, debuted in 2013 for 2014 model year, and had a mid cycle enhancement for 2019 model year introducing DFM into the mix. But, its still the same basic Gen V small block. A good bit of kit is the same p/ns 2014-2026.

So someone who bought a 2015 Silverado in cash in 2015 has plenty of good mechanical parts stability for a long time. Gonna be hard to say that for the current EVs out now, and then older ones that are approaching the 10+year old mark. See 1st and 2nd gen Chevy Volt, Chevy Spark EV, and much more.

Edited October 21, 2025 by newdude

KARNUT · October 21, 2025

9 minutes ago, newdude said:

In a couple of the Chevy EV Facebook groups, I'm amazed the people buying them in cash or financing them only for them to say they won't have it 3-4 years later. Talk about a depreciation hit. They definitely fall a lot harder than ICE stuff does, and the rebates and tax credit until now definitely didn't help that out.

If I went EV, I’d definitely lease. It would only work if my wife wanted to. She doesn’t.

customboss · October 21, 2025

23 minutes ago, Atlas said:

I've paid cash for vehicles for a while now, including the latest. But, who actually cares? Anyone?

The point of my original post video was that 40 and younger folks with families don’t make enough to afford paying interest for something they can buy that ain’t sexy but hauls whatever they need.
All you old farts missed that point I guess.
Emotional growth allows the more mature to think outside self and own experience…..right?

Atlas · October 21, 2025

7 minutes ago, customboss said:

The point of my original post video was that 40 and younger folks with families don’t make enough to afford paying interest for something they can buy that ain’t sexy but hauls whatever they need.
All you old farts missed that point I guess.
Emotional growth allows the more mature to think outside self and own experience…..right?

I think you misunderstood my post. I get what you're saying about families and budgets. No disagreement.

Thank goodness I'm not an old fart.

I was referencing the original post that was inquiring what people's payments are and if they rolled in a prior balance and all that -- does anyone really care?

Oh! Since some people do care, we didn't pay cash for our EV. That's leased. We're in month 24 of 36 and couldn't be happier with it.

KARNUT · October 21, 2025

8 minutes ago, Atlas said:

I think you misunderstood my post. I get what you're saying about families and budgets. No disagreement.

Thank goodness I'm not an old fart.

I was referencing the original post that was inquiring what people's payments are and if they rolled in a prior balance and all that -- does anyone really care?

Oh! Since some people do care, we didn't pay cash for our EV. That's leased. We're in month 24 of 36 and couldn't be happier with it.

It’s really amusing how you two think. Actually it’s just for information purposes to keep things interesting and rolling. We can only discuss oil so much. Some people are buying new cars. According to the CarPro radio show I listen to. They have been hopping at the dealership. It’s a little slow this month so far. So there’s deals. Cheers.

txab · October 21, 2025

Let's look at the site guidelines again:

" Please avoid discussing topics related to religion and politics. However tempting it may be, these topics always get out of hand quickly and there are plenty of other websites where these topics can be discussed."

(Posts should be) "positive, constructive, and on topic. We may delete individual posts that could ruin a good topic thread."

Y'all could email each other for these discussions, send PMs also.

I'll delete this shortly since it's off topic

Edited October 21, 2025 by txab

KARNUT · October 21, 2025

1 minute ago, txab said:

It's "hot" because 3 of you keep replying. Doesn't take much to bump it to hot stage compared to other threads

Let's look at the site guidelines again:

" Please avoid discussing topics related to religion and politics. However tempting it may be, these topics always get out of hand quickly and there are plenty of other websites where these topics can be discussed."

(Posts should be) "positive, constructive, and on topic. We may delete individual posts that could ruin a good topic thread."

Y'all could email each other for these discussions, send PMs also.

I understand the rules. Let’s face it people don’t have to click on a thread if they don’t like. There’s really only a handful of people who make this interesting. We’re colorful and opinionated. Sometimes we need a nudge. Are there really people who get upset when we get sideways? That’s interesting. There’s another GM site the language is offensive. Us getting colorful is mild in comparison. It just makes me wonder. I’m use to being around people state their opinions. It can get tough. This is mild in comparison. I’ll do my best.