Tony
Staff member
So I started doing some digging into my loan with my two Kia's and something just didn't add up. But even though I could not put my finger on what it was, I knew I had to do something about these two cars. For those of you that don't remember, last year I purchased two new Kia's, a Soul and a Rio. At the time, it's all we could get approved for and we HAD to have two new cars. My Camaro was on it's last leg (and still is) and my wifes Camaro blew up the engine. So, I purchased two new cars.
Well, again, something just struck me as wrong with my loans. I couldn't figure it out but knew that I needed to get rid of it, ahem, them... I also needed a truck, adn my wife needed a car that was larger than the one that she has now. So I started doing some digging on some different vehicles.
The cars that I finally settled on was a 2014 Dodge Ram 1500 and a 2014 Dodge Charger. This year, Dodge came out on top in every way. So I pulled the trigger. The truck gets 25+ MPG and the Charger gets 28+ MPG. So the mileage is great compared to what I have had in the past.
You know, it's funny. When we started, the wife and I were, what I dubbed, an "F-Body Family" since we owned two camaros. Then we purchased the two Kia's, and now there are two Dodge's sitting in my driveway. Seems we have a pattern going here.
Oh, and did I mention that my truck is a 4x4? Oh yeah.
So I know you are asking, "what was the issue with the loan?". Well, we were on what was called a "compound interest loan". Pretty much, we were going to pay on these cars for 3 years before every paying down the actual car payment. We were ONLY paying interest on the cars. What I saw that I couldn't quite put my finger on was the balance was never going down by more than $5 with each payment. I don't know how I missed this. I thought we were on simple interest, but nope. We were getting screwed.
So why did I decide to take a car that I was upside down on and trade it in on two more new cars? Because the plan all along was to sell the cars after two years and get new ones. Well, when you have a car that is 2 years old with 40,000 miles on it that you still owe 20k on, it's never going to sell. So we had to do something FAST! And that is just what I did. And now, I have an American car and truck and I have tires, oil changes and maintenance for the life of the loan. And when you are rolling on 20" tires, this is a huge bonus. And with the miles I drive, the oil changes are a bonus as well. I also have a full 6 year 100,000 mile warranty. Bumper to bumper. If anything goes wrong, it's just a $100 deductible and they replace it. We are also getting a custom undercoating on the under side of the car and truck as well as a protectant on the headlights and stain guard on the seats.
We did get a good deal on the car and truck, but with rolling over the reaming that we got from the Kia's, the payments were a little higher than I wanted. But still doable. But only if I can keep the hours at the job I have. Which means, I'm stuck in a truck for a very long time. After a year, we are goign to try to refinance and lower the payments a LOT. We just have to make it that long. Sure hope I can. But I think me and Rc are pretty much over for now. Time to concentrate on the family life for a while as well as my job. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to find a way to get back into it. I know I'm going to get the itch pretty soon to fly again. And when I do, I can see a DX9 or something in my future lol.
So here are a couple pictures of the car and truck. I'm pretty happy with the purchase.
Well, again, something just struck me as wrong with my loans. I couldn't figure it out but knew that I needed to get rid of it, ahem, them... I also needed a truck, adn my wife needed a car that was larger than the one that she has now. So I started doing some digging on some different vehicles.
The cars that I finally settled on was a 2014 Dodge Ram 1500 and a 2014 Dodge Charger. This year, Dodge came out on top in every way. So I pulled the trigger. The truck gets 25+ MPG and the Charger gets 28+ MPG. So the mileage is great compared to what I have had in the past.
You know, it's funny. When we started, the wife and I were, what I dubbed, an "F-Body Family" since we owned two camaros. Then we purchased the two Kia's, and now there are two Dodge's sitting in my driveway. Seems we have a pattern going here.
Oh, and did I mention that my truck is a 4x4? Oh yeah.
So I know you are asking, "what was the issue with the loan?". Well, we were on what was called a "compound interest loan". Pretty much, we were going to pay on these cars for 3 years before every paying down the actual car payment. We were ONLY paying interest on the cars. What I saw that I couldn't quite put my finger on was the balance was never going down by more than $5 with each payment. I don't know how I missed this. I thought we were on simple interest, but nope. We were getting screwed.
So why did I decide to take a car that I was upside down on and trade it in on two more new cars? Because the plan all along was to sell the cars after two years and get new ones. Well, when you have a car that is 2 years old with 40,000 miles on it that you still owe 20k on, it's never going to sell. So we had to do something FAST! And that is just what I did. And now, I have an American car and truck and I have tires, oil changes and maintenance for the life of the loan. And when you are rolling on 20" tires, this is a huge bonus. And with the miles I drive, the oil changes are a bonus as well. I also have a full 6 year 100,000 mile warranty. Bumper to bumper. If anything goes wrong, it's just a $100 deductible and they replace it. We are also getting a custom undercoating on the under side of the car and truck as well as a protectant on the headlights and stain guard on the seats.
We did get a good deal on the car and truck, but with rolling over the reaming that we got from the Kia's, the payments were a little higher than I wanted. But still doable. But only if I can keep the hours at the job I have. Which means, I'm stuck in a truck for a very long time. After a year, we are goign to try to refinance and lower the payments a LOT. We just have to make it that long. Sure hope I can. But I think me and Rc are pretty much over for now. Time to concentrate on the family life for a while as well as my job. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to find a way to get back into it. I know I'm going to get the itch pretty soon to fly again. And when I do, I can see a DX9 or something in my future lol.
So here are a couple pictures of the car and truck. I'm pretty happy with the purchase.
but mpg?? over the pond we go smaller and more mileage/gallon
