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Thanks for all the advice.
I can put off buying for a while.

I looked at one car today and plan on looking at more over the next few weeks.

The one I looked at was a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible with 33k miles on it for $10,995. I asked if I did decide on it, if it would help take some off the price if I just paid cash and he said it would.

I really didn't see much room for my guns in it though, and being a convertible, unless I got a lock box, my handgun wouldn't be very secure in it and I saw no room for a lock box either.

I'll definitely consider surprise_i'm_armed's advice and everyone else's advice too.

AJ80:

Wow, say 10 grand for an 8 year old car?

Hold up here, pilgrim. You could buy a brand new Kia/Hyundai for that with zero
miles on it and get a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty.

When I think of an Eclipse, I think of the former owner as a kid who beat it like
a rented mule. The convertible top is a definite security issue for your guns.

By the way, one of the most money saving things you can buy prior to taking on a
car loan, but especially when buying a house, is "The Amortization Handbook."
The one I have is a compact (4" by 7") dark green handbook, published by Longmeadow
Press. ISBN # 0-681-40053-6.

The Amortization Handbook gives you a much stronger hand when negotiating for a loan.
It contains vast amounts of financial data for various interest rates and principle amounts, as
well as what the monthly payment will be to amortize (aka pay off) the loan over
"n" number of months.

Last November I was negotiating with a Nissan store for a new Frontier. They quoted
me a price, but I had not intended to get that far into a new vehicle negotiation, so I walked
without buying.

When I got home and consulted "The Amortization Handbook" I found out that the monthly
loan payments they quoted me were $70 - 90 higher than the book said they would be.
So they were padding my transaction somewhere. Since I didn't return to the dealer,
I didn't further investigate where they were scamming me.

Knowledge is power in any situation my friend. Buy the above book, or one with similar
data. You'll be glad you did.

SIA

Your engine blew up. That is now a sunk cost. Suppose its worth 4K to you and it would cost 3K to fix. If you could get more than 1K for the car in its current condition, sell it and buy something else. If you can't get more than 1K for it (in this hypothetical situation), then fix the car you have. Economics 101.

Zoomie wrote:Your engine blew up. That is now a sunk cost. Suppose its worth 4K to you and it would cost 3K to fix. If you could get more than 1K for the car in its current condition, sell it and buy something else. If you can't get more than 1K for it (in this hypothetical situation), then fix the car you have. Economics 101.

The original estimate for a new engine was higher than the actual cost. It will only be $1750.

AJ80 wrote:

Zoomie wrote:Your engine blew up. That is now a sunk cost. Suppose its worth 4K to you and it would cost 3K to fix. If you could get more than 1K for the car in its current condition, sell it and buy something else. If you can't get more than 1K for it (in this hypothetical situation), then fix the car you have. Economics 101.

The original estimate for a new engine was higher than the actual cost. It will only be $1750.

If that's the case, and this would give you a few more years out of the car, it's the route I'd go in your shoes.

Kythas wrote:

AJ80 wrote:

Zoomie wrote:Your engine blew up. That is now a sunk cost. Suppose its worth 4K to you and it would cost 3K to fix. If you could get more than 1K for the car in its current condition, sell it and buy something else. If you can't get more than 1K for it (in this hypothetical situation), then fix the car you have. Economics 101.

The original estimate for a new engine was higher than the actual cost. It will only be $1750.

If that's the case, and this would give you a few more years out of the car, it's the route I'd go in your shoes.

It looks like I'll be driving my old car again, but I'll keep looking for a newer car as well, but I'll definitely not be in a big hurry.
I did look at a 2009 Ford Focus for 11k-12k and I'll look at a 2007 Chevrolet Malibu tomorrow, although I'm not really seriously considering the Malibu since it would probably cost about the same as the Focus and doesn't have as good gas mileage.

You could probably have a low mileage used engine installed for less than $1500.

I would never buy a brand new car. The depreciation is absolutely ridiculous.

I went from a car note to a cash car and I'm happy with the decision. After being debt free when it comes to cars I'll never have a car note again. I got a VW Jetta with the TDI diesel motor. It gets great mileage but to be honest I wish I had just gotten a Toyota or something like that. The VWs are really strange to work on and nothing seems to be set up like what we are used to. I got a good price on it but right after I bought it I had to spend $2000 on replacing all the coolant lines, fuel lines, water pump, timing belt, and some gaskets. So my $3500 car went to a $5500 car. Ok I could deal with that. Next my dang fuel pump went out. To get a rebuilt one the best price I found for just the pump was $1400! So then after about $350 worth of labor my car now cost me over $7k! After all that I'm still happy with no note. My car is now making some vibration sound when I brake lightly. Not when the car is heated up and going at highway speeds just low speeds. Anyhow I think my next one will be a Toyota or a Honda. But not until I put as many miles as I can on this one.

gregthehand wrote:I went from a car note to a cash car and I'm happy with the decision. After being debt free when it comes to cars I'll never have a car note again. I got a VW Jetta with the TDI diesel motor. It gets great mileage but to be honest I wish I had just gotten a Toyota or something like that. The VWs are really strange to work on and nothing seems to be set up like what we are used to. I got a good price on it but right after I bought it I had to spend $2000 on replacing all the coolant lines, fuel lines, water pump, timing belt, and some gaskets. So my $3500 car went to a $5500 car. Ok I could deal with that. Next my dang fuel pump went out. To get a rebuilt one the best price I found for just the pump was $1400! So then after about $350 worth of labor my car now cost me over $7k! After all that I'm still happy with no note. My car is now making some vibration sound when I brake lightly. Not when the car is heated up and going at highway speeds just low speeds. Anyhow I think my next one will be a Toyota or a Honda. But not until I put as many miles as I can on this one.

Whatever I decide to get, I'll make sure there is no car note.
Maybe that's why the car salesman I talked to yesterday when I looked at a Ford Focus never called me like he said he would. With no trade in, no monthly payments and no interest rate, he'd only have one number to play around with.

Your probably right. A lot just don't follow up though. I hate the ones that just keep following up though. Paying cash used to get you a better deal but not so much anymore. I think the only time I would finance one is with 0% financing but nobody will do that on a used car so it probably won't happen.

AJ80 wrote:

gregthehand wrote:I went from a car note to a cash car and I'm happy with the decision. After being debt free when it comes to cars I'll never have a car note again. I got a VW Jetta with the TDI diesel motor. It gets great mileage but to be honest I wish I had just gotten a Toyota or something like that. The VWs are really strange to work on and nothing seems to be set up like what we are used to. I got a good price on it but right after I bought it I had to spend $2000 on replacing all the coolant lines, fuel lines, water pump, timing belt, and some gaskets. So my $3500 car went to a $5500 car. Ok I could deal with that. Next my dang fuel pump went out. To get a rebuilt one the best price I found for just the pump was $1400! So then after about $350 worth of labor my car now cost me over $7k! After all that I'm still happy with no note. My car is now making some vibration sound when I brake lightly. Not when the car is heated up and going at highway speeds just low speeds. Anyhow I think my next one will be a Toyota or a Honda. But not until I put as many miles as I can on this one.

Whatever I decide to get, I'll make sure there is no car note.
Maybe that's why the car salesman I talked to yesterday when I looked at a Ford Focus never called me like he said he would. With no trade in, no monthly payments and no interest rate, he'd only have one number to play around with.

Alternately, you could negotiate a lower price with a loan, then pay it all off with your first payment. Just be sure there aren't any early repayment penalties.

gregthehand wrote:Your probably right. A lot just don't follow up though. I hate the ones that just keep following up though. Paying cash used to get you a better deal but not so much anymore. I think the only time I would finance one is with 0% financing but nobody will do that on a used car so it probably won't happen.

Don't the salesmen get more commission if they make more profit on the car?

On new cars, there are 'incentives' for the salesman if the vehicle is financed through the company's financing so the commission may not be as high as the incentive.

GM Card
Ford Credit
Chrysler Financial

The car salesman called me today.
I test drove a Ford Focus, then discussed my likes and dislikes of the car with the salesman.
When I said I would keep looking around to see if I could find something else that I like, I appreciated that he didn't try pressuring me to get the car or anything. He just said he'd let me know if they got anything else in that he thought I'd be interested and offered a handshake. Then I was on my way.
I couldn't find any good place to put a gun in the Focus either.
Anybody know of a car designed specifically for concealing a firearm?

AJ80 wrote:The car salesman called me today.
I test drove a Ford Focus, then discussed my likes and dislikes of the car with the salesman.
When I said I would keep looking around to see if I could find something else that I like, I appreciated that he didn't try pressuring me to get the car or anything. He just said he'd let me know if they got anything else in that he thought I'd be interested and offered a handshake. Then I was on my way.
I couldn't find any good place to put a gun in the Focus either.
Anybody know of a car designed specifically for concealing a firearm?

yes, go here:

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