asking this because my dad is paying $500 per month for the fit. very expensive.

 

There's many other factors to arrive at a number.

How long is the loan and for how much to start with.

 

More important than monthly payment is the interest rate and terms of the loan. $500 a month is not "expensive" if the interest rate is low and the loan is for a shorter term. Plenty of people get car loans that look "inexpensive" on a monthly basis, but in a few years they owe much more than the car is worth.

 

Just under $400 financed entire deal over 7 years...I make a weekly payment of $100. which gives me 4 extra weeks of payments per year. Anything additional to your monthly payment goes to pay principal instead of interest. So by rounding up and paying every week instead of monthly I am paying off the car faster so there is no need for gap insurance, and if money is tight I can miss a payment because after 19 months of paying this way my next payment isn't due until April...car should be paid in 5 1/2 years and my effective interest rate is even lower than the 5 year rate...

 

Jeeez. 7 years at 400/month? That seems REALLY wrong.

That's like 30k +

 

I'm assuming the amount OWED is less than that, but that's the payment he makes so that he can pay the loan off early.

Which is a good idea, but not in the spirit of the thread

 

I would gladly post what my monthly payment is and for how long...but then you would see that in the end, I let Renton Honda violate my anus

 

$279/mo x5 years

 

I pay about 100 bucks a month.

 

298/month x 60 months @ 0.9%. My checking account pays better rates than that.

 

$288 a mo for 5.5 years

 

I am paying 192.00 a month on a five year loan that I am getting ready to pay off in full as soon as I get my tax return. I traded in a 1996 Ford Ranger XLT on the deal with around 130,000 miles and put $5,000.00 down plus paid my taxes. I got a really low interest loan through my credit union which helped but the best part is they were able to break up the payments so I only paid $96.00 every 2 weeks. I checked on the pay off the other day and to pay off in full it will be $570.00 which will save me nearly 300.00 if paid off early.

 

A lazy bit of checking shows that a loan of 17500 @3% for 3 years works out to about 500 a month. If that's about what your situation is, then it's not wrong to be paying that much. If its a longer term or the loan balance (ie amount you paid for the car) was lower then something is up.

 

$0 down, 0.9% financing, $333.32/month for 5 years

 

I had a HUGE down payment... $13.5k (it was the most I could put down, because they won't finance less than $5k)... which left me with about $140 per month payment over 5 years. Yeah, I had originally added an extended warranty... and of course I had close to 10% apr due to my credit (originally 12% before adding the warranty).

Eventually, I cancelled the extended warranty (refunded DIRECTLY into the principal), and paid $500 every chance I got... and my last payment, only 5 months after getting the Fit was just over $1k (to finish it off). Overall, I paid $200 in interest... instead of the $2,000 it would've been had I let it go all 5 years. My interest technically went up once I cancelled the warranty, as that was part of the financing deal (lower apr with the warranty). But, by then... I had paid enough off, that the difference was minimal.

 

$377 a month for 5 years. $2k down payment. Plus $200/month for insurance.

 

$0 down, 0.9% financing, 60 month term. About $15800 the Fit Sport 5mt.
$311.18 per month including full coverage insurance.

 

$3000 down, 1.9% financing, 60 months, $314 a month. Car was about $18k after tax / license minus the down.

 

$247 a month (sometimes I pay more, sometimes less). 3.9% APR through Honda. I think it was 36 months but I could be wron on that since I plan to pay it off after 12 or 13.

I put $9,500 down and financed the rest, partly because my money was tied up in a CD at the time but mostly to establish some credit, since I have almost always bought everything in cash (have had a $500 credit card for a while, but hardly use it). I figure someday I will need a morgage so I should work on it.

By the way, it is funny to see the sales peoples faces when a 21 year old walks in, wants to buy a new car and put almost 10k down.

 

I would love to see their faces, haha. This is the best way to buy things - with the money you have.