How many Prius owners paid cash vs loan for their car?

[Loveit]

I have only bought one brand new car in my life and paid cash for it. (Back in 1977.) Now I am saving again for my next brand new car: the Prius. This next car will probably be my last car, if I don't have any smash ups! If I save to pay all cash for it, it may take about a year and a half. Should I pay all cash for it or go the loan route? If I go the loan route, does anyone have any good suggestions or helpful tips/ideas?

[tazman]

Paid cash here. If you go the loan way, try and shop around for the best interest rate. The dealer is not always the lowest.

[BobZ]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(loveit @ Aug 14 2006, 09:52 PM) [snapback]303290[/snapback]</div>

I have only bought one brand new car in my life and paid cash for it. (Back in 1977.) Now I am saving again for my next brand new car: the Prius. This next car will probably be my last car, if I don't have any smash ups! If I save to pay all cash for it, it may take about a year and a half. Should I pay all cash for it or go the loan route? If I go the loan route, does anyone have any good suggestions or helpful tips/ideas?
[/b]

I paid cash too

[jimmyrose]

Cash. My wife is NOT a fan of debt. And yet she still married me...

[EricGo]

Cash.

For loan rates I always check Penfed.org for a competitive baseline, and often the best. Before you ask -- anyone can join for a couple $ contrib.

[wmhunter]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(loveit @ Aug 14 2006, 07:52 PM) [snapback]303290[/snapback]</div>

I have only bought one brand new car in my life and paid cash for it. (Back in 1977.) Now I am saving again for my next brand new car: the Prius. This next car will probably be my last car, if I don't have any smash ups! If I save to pay all cash for it, it may take about a year and a half. Should I pay all cash for it or go the loan route? If I go the loan route, does anyone have any good suggestions or helpful tips/ideas?
[/b]

I paid cash, but that didn't mean anything to the dealer; the car was full list price, anyway. But at least, I didn't have to be on the waiting list. The car had just come in from another dealer, in a dealer swap for something the other dealer wanted, so it wasn't presold. Otherwise, I would have been on the wait list for at least six weeks.

All that said, if you decide to get a loan, see your bank first. They generally have interest rates about as good as dealer/manufacturer financing, and can be a lot easier to work with, since (I presume) you have a deposit account with the bank. On the other hand, there are times when dealer/manufacturer financing runs interest rate specials, with very low rates. Whether Toyota does or not, however, I couldn't say. All of their cars seem to move well without special financing deals, such as, let's say, Ford might have.

My first post: Twelve-day old Prius, white, package 4, 35 mpg on the first tankful. I think I'm in love.

Kindest regards,

Bill Hunter

[j24816]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(loveit @ Aug 14 2006, 06:52 PM) [snapback]303290[/snapback]</div>

I have only bought one brand new car in my life and paid cash for it. (Back in 1977.) Now I am saving again for my next brand new car: the Prius. This next car will probably be my last car, if I don't have any smash ups! If I save to pay all cash for it, it may take about a year and a half. Should I pay all cash for it or go the loan route? If I go the loan route, does anyone have any good suggestions or helpful tips/ideas?
[/b]

I'm reading the reply's and thinking "of course, pay cash...foolish not to". But the tax credit will be long gone in 18 months; you can still get the $3150 credit if you run down to your dealers by the end of Sept.

My CU has car loans for 6.5%. With an 24 month payoff on a $26,000 loan, you would pay $1,797 in interest. Pay it off in 18 months and your interest cost drops to $1358.

Get a $3150 tax credit. I would guess your gas bill will drop in half compared to your 1977. A rare case where taking on debt for a depreciating asset makes sense.

Have fun in your new Prius!

[tumbleweed]

I think in your case it depends on how soon you need or want the new car. I really prefer to pay cash for everything though, less hassle.

If you decide to use a car loan be sure to shop around. Credit unions are pretty good places to start. I just checked one I belong to and they have new car loans at 3.25% up to 36 months, 4.75% up to 60 months. You can earn more than that in a money market fund or on line savings account such as ingdirect.com.

[AuntBee]

Pay cash if you can. Paying interest sucks.

[galaxee]

well we could stand to build up some solid credit history (great credit scores, short credit history) so we can get a better deal whenever we buy a house. and it's not like people like us would have enough cash laying around to buy a car. so we got a loan and pay as much extra as we can, whenever we can.

however, if i had the money i'd say screw the interest. i hate paying for the privilege of having a debt like that hanging over my head. i hate owing anything to anyone.