Let's Talk Money

[sardia]

sardia - Does the dealer have a prepayment penalty? Mine didn't. So, when I bought my most recent car, I took the $2k cash discount with dealer financing over 5 years. Then, I paid the can loan off in the next few months saving (almost) all the interest. I don't know how this affected my credit score, though.

That's weird, I thought it was an either or thing. You either get 0% financing, OR you get $2000 cashback. They really offered you both? How I think it affects your credit score is you take a hit now for the credit check + the reduced average age of accounts, but then you build the total accounts ever listed, so the credit score is higher then you started after 2 years.

Has anyone noticed that buying higher trims/options makes even the cheaper base cars equivalent in price to the higher based car model? I was expecting a car to be naturally cheaper than a SUV. Maybe it's only after incentives?

[Isaac Hill]

I may have explained this badly. What the dealer offered was $2,000 cashback with 4% interest over 5 years with no prepayment penalty. I took that, then paid the car off over the next couple of months. That wasn't enough time to accrue much interest. They didn't offer both no interest and cashback, but by paying the loan off quickly, I got very close to achieving both.

I don't know what that did to my credit score. But, last time I checked my credit report, this showed up as a paid off loan.

If your dealer offers no prepayment penalty, you may be able to do something similar, even if you can't pay the car off right away. Take the cash back with high rate dealer financing. Then, go to your bank for a lower rate loan equal to the balance on your car. Use the bank loan to pay off the dealer loan right away. You get the cash back, lower bank interest rate, and have two paid off loans added to your credit report.

[sardia]

Alright it's over. I ended up with a 2017 CRV

Spoiler:

(mid level/cost/EX trim) only because fucking Hyundai can't plan for shit. (to be fair,1. the Ioniq was more popular than expected. 2. apparently nobody besides me likes paying for technology option/package) I kinda wish I didn't have to spend so much time test driving, then asking for quotes, then being all demur, walking out, asking for revised quotes the next day, then waiting for a call back to play hard to get, then asking for more quotes. Then asking for rival quotes just so they might match the other guy's quote. Then realizing the guy who offered you the best quote doesn't have a god damn car( Why is it that the demand/supply curve always end up that the dealer is swimming in base level and high costed trim/versions of a car, but never the mid level cost car?). The whole time I'm either yelling or being yelled at by the manager.

Why can't a bank provide a decent interest rate anymore? You'd think a small secured loan with a 50%+ downpayment on a car + short term would be almost risk free. They couldn't even crack below 5%. I've seen loansharks give better rates to deadbeats.

Long rant in spoiler...

In short, I hate the world, but then I drove the car home.
The drive made me feel really good. It was guiding me the whole way home. A 2017 car was the right choice.

[sardia]

I'm planning to go vacation in Vegas in January to take advantage of the smaller crowds, but I don't think the tourists are scared enough to depress prices. Should I wait to book?

[ucim]

Depends. Packin' some heat?

I would expect (based on no actual practical experience) that any fear effects on tourism would manifest themselves within the first week or so, and then fade along with the news cycle. So, if you don't see it soon, it's probably not gonna happen.

In some cases (and/or with some booking methods) you can choose between a cheaper non-cancellable rate and a more expensive one that you can cancel without penalty. You could book the more expensive rate, hold it for a week or so, and then commit for the discount (if it's still available, which it probably would be).

Jose

[sardia]

The tax plan has passed, does anybody plan to reclassify their tax behavior for 2018? I might get around to forming a passthrough corporation, and routing rental income through that. Just a hot take until I figure it out for sure later. Remember, it applies to behavior done in 2018, and filed in early 2019, not stuff you're going to file in 2018.

[ucim]

I'm certainly going to look at it, but it may not be useful in my case. Depends what the tax law turns out to be (I don't think it's anything more than a sketch at this point).

Jose