Loan length

[cletus van damme]

Advantages or disadvantge? I am torn which way to go....

[cletus van damme]

Financing approved at 4.2

[cletus van damme]

I can have the truck I want with the payments I can live with but 72 months seems like an excessive amount of time...

[Glacier]

Personally, I go with the shortest amount of time possible. I would not go 72 months unless you are the type to keep your car until the wheels fall off. The shorter amount of the loan, the sooner you may be in a positive equity situation.

[cletus van damme]

Thanks. I was thinking that. I have had my current truck since 1996 and only have 53K miles on it. I have outgrown it, sadly. So I continue to look for the best deal.

[TomKC]

If you can get the same interest rate regardless of length, unless you have no other outstanding debts at a higher interest rate than 4.2%, why not take the loan out for 72 months? Unless there's a prepayment penalty, there's no reason not to that I can see.

 

You kept your last truck over 8 years, so it doesn't sound like you'd be trading this one in any time soon, so the concern about being upside down is much lower, except for GAP insurance, which you'll have to carry a bit longer (though many times it's a flat charge anyway, so it doens't matter how long you're upside down).

[cletus van damme]

The salesman was trying to convince me that 72 would not be a bad thing based on my history with cars. Oddly, I did not trust him. His other argument was that then I could have the truck that I wanted and could also have the financed amount/payment/interest rate that I wanted.

[paladin]

Bear in mind you can finance the car for 72 months and pay it off in 36 assuming there are no prepayment penalties... Might be worthwile to have the wiggle room in case you're ever short in the future.

[hegemony]

36 is best IMHO. Why pay interest for 72 months on a depreciating asset?

 

Even if you pay a 72 off in 50 or 60 months the amortization puts more interest on the early payments...