I went out and purchased for 84 mos an 05 eddie bauer with a sticker of 31,000. With rebates. the dealer took the 4,000 cash back and used it with my 2k down. I was able to get to mid 400's a month....did i get a steal? or did they get the deal?

 

i went ford's own financing website and w/ 72 months under teh conditions described above.but shorter terms...I was shocked to find according to the calculations i am paying WAYYYYYYYY too much. My traget payment should be 433 or so....thats more than $20 from where i am....I ffeel terrible now.....any help??

 

Congratulations on your purchase. You probably got a deal on the price, but monthly payment is irrelevant in getting a good deal, isn't it? What should matter to you is the cost of the car, not just the monthly payment. How much did it cost? What percentage did you put down? Why did you go 72 months? Isn't that a long time to be paying for a car? If you want a shorter term, just pay it off sooner. What is the interest rate? I have been told that if you can't pay it off in 48 months and cannot put at least 20% down, you cannot afford the car. They even say it is preferable to pay it off in 36 months. Who wants to be paying off an old car for 80-something months? Don't think you're saving a bunch of money just because the monthly payments are lower, you are actually spending more money.

More tips:
http://www.carbuyingtips.com/car5.htm

 

the price i got was 33,000 fully equipped...that is including taxes, prep fee etc. 41,000 msrp. I put down 6,000 or 18% of TOTAL cost. I went with 84 months because i was fooled into thinking the lower the monthly payment the better. Interest rate is 6.15%. Just got a call from the dealer saying that they wrote down the wrong VIN number.....that's wonderful...Can I re-do this thing then?? They put false information on the paperwork supposedly so doesn't that mean it needs to be re done? I hope...what do you suggest is a good monthly payment, interest rate, term and total purchase price? Any other help?? thanks much!

 

If you are able to and want a low monthly payment, why not lease the vehicle? I think you will find it will be cheaper then financing it over 7 years. You will also find that in 3 to 4 years you will probably want to trade it in on something new anyway.

 

the lease on the explorer kept coming up more expensive than on the expedition we have/had...wasn't to appealing to be paying more and getting less room...what do you think a 'steal' on the purchase price would be?? 33,000 is about what i paid with all fees taken care of...dealer handling, tax, etc.....

 

I don't know about the deal, but stay away from leases! I mean even if you plan to get another one in a few years, you're just paying interest, and your payments aren't usually low enough to justify, plus your mileage will be limited.

It sounds like you may have gotten a decent interest rate, but as long as there is no "early payoff penalty" you can always refinance. If you are a member of a credit union, you can definitely get a better APR.

 

I think we're confusing monthly payments and transaction prices- mix it all together and all you get is confused. After two posts, I'm confused Here's the most important question- how much did you finance?. There's a breakdown on your contract that'll show the numbers.

BTW- $31K, 84 months @ 6.15% is $456/mo. There's no magic to payments- it's derived from the amount financed, the term of the note, and the interest rate. Since you got $10K off of MSRP, I'm guessing that would have had to include the rebates.

 

I financed the remaining balance...financing meaning that i can't pay it off now so i pay for it in 84 months correct? I know some about cars, but not all of the payment jargon... Yes...my payment is about $456 a month. The thing i am confused about is...Why when i use the online calculators do i get completely different numbers...one said i should be paying $396...(boy would THAT be nice) Guess I got suckered into the low payment thing huh....because if you take $456*84 months you come up with $38,304...which is about 6-7k more than the actual price of the vehicle...does that mean that the dealer jipped me here? They get 8,000 over the term and also the dealer holdback and hidden costs??

I am returning to the dealer in about 20 minutes so any quick help would be greatly appreciated...thanks much !

 

The dealer doesnt get that money, the bank the worte the loan does. The dealer is paid by the bank who now owns your vehicle.

 

Yeh the dealer gets paid in full the bank holds the loan. The deal is between the bank an you so the bank trusts the dealer that your a good credit risk.

 

Oh i think i see now....called dealer and saw that the rates i double checked were wrong and the 8,000 extra dollars was me paying off the loan for the next 84 months. I was confused on the 6.15% thinking that you just tack on 6.15% of the total purchase price to pay the bank.... Been a busy week... The total amount financed was 31,000..which made the price i got total was $33 with all applicable rebates and exmployee pricing....Seems pretty good huh....oh and I use bankrate.com's calculator...are they a good guide?

 

price wise Id say you did ok, rate wise ok. 84 mos is the problem. Put an extra 100 on each payment and you will be done 18 mos sooner and save more than 1500 in interest.

 

Now it makes sense. there's nothing intrinsically wrong with a 84 mo note- just add a little to the payment each month- like others mentioned, it'll lower the cost of the loan and shorten the term.