[TinyFish]

I'd like to hear people's thoughts on buying cars. There seems to be a wide range of opinions on the best ways to go about this and I think it would be interesting to compare viewpoints. Here are some possible subjects to compare:

How often do you buy cars?
Some people drive cars for years, some want the latest styles. We prefer to run cars 'to death', but a sudden accident can change that plan. Also, at what point do you decide a car is 'not worth fixing' if it needs repair due to wearing out?

Do you buy used or new?
I notice Ima has mentioned several times that she always buys new, but then keeps the car for a long time. Other people advocate used cars. Myself, I kinda split the difference last time and bought certified used from a dealer. That way we got a reasonable assurance of condition along with some savings off of new, albeit not as much as might be possible buying elsewhere. We haven't had any problems with the two vehicles we bought (OK, the windshield wiper broke on my truck, but when I showed up irate at the dealer they quickly put it right for free). Of course, we have all known people who buy used cars that have issues from day 1!

How do you negotiate for your cars?
I always find this part challenging, but I think I'm getting more and more used to it as time goes on. I read an interesting book called something like 'Why do smart people make dumb money choices' that had a lot of info about negotiating for cars and I plan to re-read it the next time I buy.

How do you finance your cars?
The last time we bought, we got very good financing. My truck is paid off and the FishGiver's car will be paid off in January. Next time I think I'll 'go one better' and try to pay cash. Do people here keep a 'car fund' besides their emergency fund? We were in a bit of a bind last time because our only car was totaled and we needed a vehicle to get to work, not the best of situations. Since it is possible this would happen again, or that a car would suddenly stop running (we hope to drive these into the ground), it wouldn't necessarily be possible to plan ahead and save up just before you needed to buy, so we might need to hold the money for a long time. I'm thinking depending on interest rates, this might not make financial sense.

Hopefully, it will be a long time before we buy a car again, but life is uncertain. It would be interesting to compare everyone's views on the matter.

-TinyFish