Opinion: Amount of Car v.s. Annual Income

sirricealot · Post by **sirricealot** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:48 pm

I was just curious what people thought on this topic. I currently owe about 10,000 on the cobalt and trade in value is in the 8k range, suggested retail around 12k. I have been itchin to get a newer car recently, this is the longest i've kept a car(2 years 6 months). I found a few cars priced really good and I did a budget and I will still have a lot of wiggle room after increasing my monthly car payment $250.

My question is,

Income v.s. total amount on car loan.

I'm looking at 2010 Camaro 2SS Coupe's that after adding inequity into the total price im looking at around $30,000.

Income is about $50,000 and I rent for 625 a month, don't plan to buy a house. It was either a house or a car and, I just can't choose a house over a car when im fine with where im living.

Am I trying to get too much car? My dad always says I should stick with what I have blah blah blah, but then again he's one of the stingiest people I know. Always if it's not broke don't fix it. I'm debating whether I should keep the cobalt and pay it down more(suffer

), or go ahead and get the newer car that's more of what I want.
I settled with the Cobalt because I needed to get out of my Monte Carlo and the Cobalt had low miles. My Cobalt has gone up in value at least $1000 since I've had it 2.5 years and put 30,000 miles on it.

Opinions please!

P.S. I live 6 miles from my job and stay home quite a bit.

Waffles · Post by **Waffles** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:56 pm

Do you know what your car payment would be? My gut says a $30k car might get you in a little over your head(depending on the rest of your bills).

sirricealot · Post by **sirricealot** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:01 pm

Waffles;298814 wrote:Do you know what your car payment would be? My gut says a $30k car might get you in a little over your head(depending on the rest of your bills).

I decided on 550 max. At 72 months im looking between 510 and 540 on a 32,000 loan including tax. The car im looking at is 26990 and it's SRV is around 32,000.

Phate · Post by **Phate** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:07 pm

I'm just kind of a pain in the ass when it comes to these things, but basically owning a car isn't worth it. The costs of the car, mainteance, insurance, taxes, blah blah blah sucks. Renting is way cheaper.

Also, I really don't like any new cars. Fucking expensive to work on.

Just my .02

sirricealot · Post by **sirricealot** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:11 pm

Phate;298816 wrote:I'm just kind of a pain in the ass when it comes to these things, but basically owning a car isn't worth it. The costs of the car, mainteance, insurance, taxes, blah blah blah sucks. Renting is way cheaper.

Also, I really don't like any new cars. Fucking expensive to work on.

Just my .02

Renting as in leasing? I decided years ago I never really plan to pay off a car unless its like a project car. Always having that car note will force me to keep full coverage insurance as well as recurring loan for maintaining credit. I've got a friend with a GTO and another with a Charger, feelin kinda left out with a Cobalt lol. Plus I make more than they both do.

Phate · Post by **Phate** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:22 pm

I rent a dodge minivan from Enterprise every month, for the whole month. It's like $400. No taxes, no insurance, no mainteance. Just gas.

sirricealot · Post by **sirricealot** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:24 pm

Phate;298818 wrote:I rent a dodge minivan from Enterprise every month, for the whole month. It's like $400. No taxes, no insurance, no mainteance. Just gas.

That doesnt sound too bad

Waffles · Post by **Waffles** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:34 pm

So I am doing a little thinking out loud.

So 50k a year Your take home works out to be roughly $3000 a month(maybe lower depending on 401K, insurance, etc.

Car payment is 550
Rent is 625
Insurance ??
Bills ??
Living ??
Savings ??

Not knowing the situation beyond that, I really cant estimate. I know I make more than 50K a year and I would not even think of owning a 30K car, but thats just me being a cheap fucker.

sirricealot · Post by **sirricealot** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:41 pm

Waffles;298820 wrote:So I am doing a little thinking out loud.

So 50k a year Your take home works out to be roughly $3000 a month(maybe lower depending on 401K, insurance, etc.

Car payment is 550
Rent is 625
Insurance ??
Bills ??
Living ??
Savings ??

Not knowing the situation beyond that, I really cant estimate. I know I make more than 50K a year and I would not even think of owning a 30K car, but thats just me being a cheap fucker.

Yeah I don't mind paying a lot for a car as long as its cheaper than my rent. My left over monthly after all my bills is about 1100. I also get 1500 every 8 weeks as left over from school funds. And my job reimburses me up to 2500 a year, so technically my income is well above 50k. I've already started cutting back on purchasing stupid stuff as well as eating out less. I don't go out partying or stuff like that and am gonna stop drinking. Insurance going from a 06 cobalt ss to a 2010 camaro ss is only about 25 more a month for me. Fuel isn't a factor since the speed limit to work is 55 and i have a motorcycle I can use in nice weather. Fuel hasnt been a factor for me since I moved closer to work.
I have thought about requesting a different shift at work(which I probably can have) and getting a part time job just for the exercise but I'm not sure if I wanna work 12 hours a day lol.

sharpie · Post by **sharpie** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 3:35 pm

I thought you were buying a vette?

I'd work on getting out of debt and not more in debt but that's my opinion. I'd pay off the cobalt or get something and not have a car payment.