Get Better Gas Mileage From Your Hybrid
July 28, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Cars, Spending and Saving
The unusually loud portions of my TV watching have had me thinking: Why does every car commercial boast about mediocre gas mileage? My current ride, a ’96 Saturn, is getting better gas mileage than 99% of those in its class. In fact, I did a little research on MPGs using fuel efficiency reports on fueleconomy.gov and I found that there were more models in production in the 90’s with better gas mileage than produced in 2008. Sure the years of Geo Metros are over, partly because we don’t want to die in a fender bender, but this is the new millennium. Shouldn’t our fuel economy reflect the advancements made in transportation technology?
Should You Lease Or Purchase A Car?
June 23, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Cars
If you are wondering if you should lease or purchase a car, here is a link to a decent calculator to help you make the decision.
Calculator: Lease vs. Purchase a Car
What Would A Money Crasher Do? If you choose to follow the 11 principles of a Money Crasher, you would never consider leasing a car. I don’t think it’s ever worth it, because there are a lot of fees and if you end up buying it at the end of the lease, you’ll spend more money than if you had purchased it in the first place. I’ve read a bunch of articles about the justification of purchasing a new car rather than a used car. I don’t buy it. I’d buy a two or three year old car any day over a new car, because someone else broke it in and took a bunch of depreciation with them.
Using A Car Buying Service To Negotiate and Purchase A New Car
May 7, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Cars
I just read this article on Yahoo Finance, courtesy of Bankrate about using a car-buying service to shop for a new car. I’ve heard of this, but I’ve always been a little skeptical about the service. What if they don’t get you any deals? Do you get your money back?
The way it works is you give all of your information to the company including credit information, (scary) contact information, and information about what type of car you are looking for. Then, you shell out a couple hundred bucks, and they go shopping for you. Apparently, they are supposed to negotiate the best deal possible for you to get the new car. According to the article, some companies can negotiate prices close to invoice. However, sometimes the price they give you isn’t the “out-the-door” price.
How To Avoid Being Upside Down On A Car Loan
May 5, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Cars, Credit and Debt
What does being upside down on a car loan mean?
It means that you financed a car with little money down, and now you owe more money than the car is worth. This is very easy to do, because cars depreciate at a rapid pace for the first 3 years of their life. Let’s be honest, they depreciate rapidly their WHOLE life. You can list a car as an asset in your balance sheet if you want, but you’re kidding yourself. It’s not an asset or an investment. It’s an expense. No, I’m not a Robert Kiyosaki follower. I treated cars this way before he wrote “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. He even calls your personal house an expense, which I strongly disagree with. But anyway, getting upside down on a car loan is extremely common, and many people don’t find out until they try to sell or trade the car a few years after the purchase. So, how can you avoid getting upside on your car loan? Here are a few tips.
Hyundai Is Coming Out With a Luxury Car For the Rich Bargain Hunter
January 8, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Cars
I read an article today in USA Today about the new luxury car coming out soon by Hyundai It’s called the Genesis, and it will boast a V8 engine, loads of safety and luxury features, surround sound also found in the Rolls Royce, and look similar to a BMW. I have a Hyundai Sonata, and I’ve been very impressed by it so far. The engine has a lot of power, it rides smooth, and it’s fairly fuel efficient for a V6. I was skeptical about Hyundai before I bought it, because of the stigma Korean cars have had in the past, but I must say, Hyundai has come a long way. It’s more affordable than Honda and Toyota, and it’s bridging the quality gap very quickly.
Reader Question About Being Upside Down On A Car Loan
October 10, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Cars, Credit and Debt
Some of my most popular articles with the search engines are my articles about what to do when you’re upside down on a car loan. It’s one of the most searched phrases in the personal financial category. Being upside down on a car loan is extremely easy to acheive given the way cars depreciate and lesser amounts of down payments that people are putting down nowadays. Also, it is has become a very popular practice to roll negative equity into a existing car loan, which only compounds the problem.
Here is a reader’s question about car woes and my advice to her:
The Top Ten Least Expensive Cars of 2007
October 8, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Cars
Yahoo Finance brings you the Top 10 Least Expensive Cars of 2007
- Chevrolet Aveo
- Hyundai Accent
- Suzuki Reno
- Kia Rio
- Chevrolet Cobalt
- Toyota Yaris
- Ford Focus
- Suzuki Aerio
- Mazda B-Series
- Suzuki Forenza
Which Ones to Stay Away From
Reader Question: Should I Pay Off My Car or Trade It In and Lease Another Car?
September 4, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Cars, Credit and Debt
Here is a question submitted to me from one of our readers. He is having trouble with being upside down on a car loan. He makes $42,000 a year household income. I will post the question answer it based on what I would do if I were in his shoes.
My Experience With Buying a Car From a Dealership
July 18, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Cars
My first experience with buying a car on a dealer’s lot came a couple of weeks ago. My 1995 Nissan Altima had come to its end. A big, huge, hairy truck plowed into the Altima in a parking lot and pretty much totaled the car. It was actually a blessing, because then I didn’t have to spend the money fixing it up to make it pretty enouh to sell. I’ve always had clunker cars up until now, so buying a car at a dealership was a very new experience. I don’t like buying new cars, so I went to an “up-scale” used car lot, if there is such a thing. My wife and I went back and forth to different dealerships looking at full-size sedans and a couple of small SUVs. We started looking at 2006 Hyundai Sonatas because they were in our price range, they looked nice, and they are a very smooth drive. Plus, we could get a Sonata with a V6 engine that was in our price range. I was ang. little skeptical about buying a Korean car with the track record it has had in the past, but Hyundai has definitely separated itself from Kia by a mile. Many reviews by magazines like Motor Trend and Car Buying Guide say that Hyundai is getting closer and closer to Toyota and Honda type quality. I know, it’s hard to believe, but all you really need to do is drive a newer Hyundai, and you’ll see what they are saying. So, we found the Sonata that we really liked. It was a nice, midnight blue color, had about 30k miles, and the interior was very clean. And so begins the adventure. Here are a few things that I did to help prepare myself for negotiating and buying my “new” used car.
The 11 Principles Series: Educate Yourself About Buying Cars, Real Estate, and Financial Products
July 10, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Cars, Consumer News, Real Estate
Educating yourself is the key phrase in this installment of the “11 Principles of a Money Crasher” series. If you want to save money and ultimately be wealthy when you retire, then you need to be an educated consumer. Educated consumers get better deals on the large purchases made during the course of one’s life. I’m talking about cars, real estate, boats, and also insurance products. Insurance is a HUGE expense over the span of one’s life, because you will ALWAYS need to carry auto, homeowner’s, and health insurance. There’s also term life insurance, long-term disability insurance, and renter’s insurance that people pay every year. The people that just randomly point at a car or an insurance product are the ones that get ripped off. I’m not saying that you need to become the ultimate negotiator and take courses at your local community college about insurance, but you need to get familiar with these large purchases. The power of the internet has made it so absolutely no one has the excuse that he or she could not do any research on cars, real estate, insurance, or other big ticket items. The information is there at your fingertips. If you decided to cut your internet out of your house, you can STILL get it for free at the library. This article would be brutal to go into great detail about these big ticket items, so I will give you a brief overview of each and reference some of my most popular articles in these subjects for you to reference.
