Perhaps he has an absolutely amazing investment portfolio. Possible yes, but I doubt it because I heard through the grapevines this guy had unpaid credit bills and has fallen behind in child alimony payments, on top of his $5-6k in monthly apartment rent (yes, $5-6k in monthly rent in a "luxury downtown apartment")

I wouldn't take out a loan to buy a Porsche. As fun as a 911 is, it's still a toy and a maintenance hog. As reference, I also had a Porsche 911 btw (I paid in cash), but traded it in a year later for my wife's new car due to excessive maintenance and repairs on the 911.

If my finances were right and I had child payments to make to support my kid, you bet your **** I would sell the 911, pay off my credit cards, and make payments to feed my kid. My priorities are my kid and finances, not a toy. Then again, that's just me.

 

Even if they aren’t making informed decisions, who cares? What business is it of ours?

The point is this is self elevating on the part of the people who post these types of threads. “Look how stupid these people are”, in other words look how smart I am. It’s tiresome. If people want to finance cars for 84 months...who cares.

 

Agree.. it tends to always go there. I had a feeling I knew where this thread was going to turn when I started reading from the very beginning. Even the thread title implies something negative and is a total assumption on target buyer. Surely no one would do a 7 year loan if the interest rate was lower than what you could get from investing.... or would they? Nah, you have to be a basement dweller.

I'm sticking to my theory that BMW is targeting folks who use Uber/Lyft/Taxi and don't own a car. Lowering the payment enough gets them to think of owning a vehicle and then gets them into the brand. I think the ride-sharing economy is taking a toll on auto sales in a lot of markets. I know tons of people 8-10 years younger than me who don't own a car. This might appeal to them... or it might not. Those millenials are very unpredictable (I'm one year too old from being a millenial...)

I saw a BMW X2 on the road today and honestly didn't know that existed. I now assume BMW has 1-8 model numbers tied up. They're trying to create the ecosystem. Get you in, keep you in. This is one more mechanism.

 

I never once said “look how stupid these people are”. I was just pointing out that it is a different world now. When I was young, the concept of buying a BMW did not exist as being in my 20s you knew you would never be able to afford. Then, the idea of an 84 mo was unimaginable for a car, sort of like how an iPhone was unimaginable. At the time of our first Toyota, it was a one year, 12k warranty. I don’t think you can get a Toyota for 84 mo, but a BMW, just a different world we live in.

 

So for a 50K BMW, that is $595 a mo. Lower than the average car payment at $36ish. You could be right, targeting those who use Uber. I can’t believe someone would use Uber to the point of $500 a month.


And no, there was no implications about the thread title. Never knew one could get an 84 mo finance on a BMW till yesterday. And it must be popular as it was ad on radio.

 

Who cares? Well, for a start, maybe the Repo guys...........

 

A $50K BMW will be $595 a month.

 

Streaming Netflix or Hulu are great now, but will decline once the studios start finding ways to hold back content No more Disney (Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Fox) on Netflix starting with Captain Marvel. How many dvds would you buy in the past?

 

Agreed. I think people are beating up on Jill unfairly in this thread. What she is pointing out is correct....for a car loan, 84 months (7 years) simply would have been unthinkable in my heyday. One of my cousins, in Cincinnati, several decades ago, took out a 4-year loan for a new, late-70s Smokey-and-the-Bandit Trans-Am....jet black with the gold trim. In a world of mostly 2 and 3-year loans (24 and 36 months) for new cars, 4 years, at that time, seemed very long. Now, 4 and 5 years has become routine.

 

Exactly.

As jrmckinley pointed out, the judgement is clear.

The bottom line is, if finance companies had high enough defaults on these loans that they weren't profitable...they wouldnt do them.

Car loans actually have quite low default rates, and cars are easily repossessed which makes them one of the safest assets to lend on for a bank.

 

Folks who use Uber are taking into account the car payment, gas, insurance, and parking (in major cities parking can be a huge expense), and routine maintenance and comparing that to their monthly Uber spend. I'd say if you're spending $500/month on Uber your equivalent car payment is probably $300/month (the math would be $300 pymt + $120 gas + $50 insur).

Someone who uses Uber 16 days/month to & from work (assume work-from-home Friday's) would be spending $30 per day getting to & from their office. That's a very nominal Uber fare. Uber costs me $7 before tip to go 2.5 miles from my house to the nearest rental car place when I grab one for work.

 

Ok. He is wrong.

 

I'll buy that TransAm and they'll make money on the deal..! Love that description.

 

That is an interesting way to put it. I can see where BMW is trying attract the young millennial. But don’t you think if someone chose to do so much Uber, they would be sort of against driving in the first place? I know Hyundai has 84 mo financing. Can’t think of anyone else.

 

We'll agree to disagree.