Finance a Car To Get the Incentive?

Brought to you by the Everydollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Today's question comes from Tess in Arizona. I'm looking to buy a new car soon. I'm seeing lots of incentives, almost $2,000 off when financing. I have the money saved, so what if, oh boy, George, I financed for the discount then paid off before the first notice due? Of course. Would I be charged interest or any other fees? Is this considered debt? Genius. Okay. Tess, yes, this is considered debt. I don't know how you could say I'm financing and it's not debt. Now what you're saying is, hey, I have the money. What's the big deal? I'm just taking it. I'm being a smart consumer, getting the discount, and then I'll pay it off immediately. Well, there's some things you have to consider here. Number one, when you're financing, the dealer can throw in a lot of different extra fees. They tack on there, but they've distracted you with this little carrot they've dangled, which is the $2,000 off. Oh, yeah. You can hear it. $2,000 off. We don't know. We don't actually know what a good deal is in this scenario until you really look at the numbers and you start ... Once you're at that point, Ken, once you're across the desk in the financing office, the party's over. They know they've got you. Oh, yeah. It's a lot of pressure. A lot of pressure when you get in those offices. There could be prepayment penalties because they know people are going to do this. They say, hey, you can't pay this off within this timeframe. The other thing is the lender, the financing office, loses the commission if you pay it off in a short window. There's a lot of things there to consider. If you have the cash, I don't know why you're messing with that. I think you're going to get a better deal. Honestly, I would run from that dealership. It sounds like you're just seeing this incentive online, but I would go get a better deal elsewhere. A reputable, independent used car dealer, you're going to get a better car there. When you said new car, that's a big trigger for me, Ken. There's only a few people who should be buying brand new cars, and that is folks with a million dollar net worth and no debt. Because the hit you're taking on depreciation is insane. New cars lose 60% of their value in the first five years. I just did a video on this, Ken, on my YouTube channel. Of course you did. It was nine days ago, and it's called, Why Is No One Talking About America's Wealth Killer? It has almost a half million views, and people, for once, are agreeing with me. You're big time. Half a million views. Well, I think it's because this is such a hot topic. Well, of course it is. Everybody's driving around the cars. The car payments. And you know what else they say? Well, Ken, used cars are as expensive as new cars these days. No, not true. It's wiser to just buy a new car. Yeah. It's crazy. That's insane. By the way, you know all this hubbub about electric cars? Have you seen the prices on the electric cars? Insane. Now, you bought a used one. Very, yeah. Mine's 10 years old. Yeah. And by the way, it doesn't look 10 years old. Thank you. I try to take care of it. Yeah. It looks fantastic. But there's this pressure, and there's going to be a whole wave of pressure to buy the electric car. It is all a big, giant collusion, and it's forcing people to really think, well, it's where we're going. We got to get one. Might as well get it. And the next thing you know, they're driving around with the $1,500 car price. Oh my gosh. Because they're thinking, well, one day they're going to force us to drive. First of all, there would be an American revolt if they forced us all. And I know there's some things in California going on. I can't even count that as a legitimate state at this point for all the stuff they're forcing people to do. But in the great state of Tennessee, you drive what you want. But with that, it's your American right to drive stupidly expensive cars. And they're for your ego. Don't tell me they're for reliability and for your children's safety. I just don't buy it. I'm going the other direction, folks. I'm going to be driving. Once I get the kids, everybody's out, I've already got, you know, I got my classic 72 convertible. I love that. A Karmann Ghia. Love that thing. A little air-cooled engine. I'm going old school, baby. I'm just going to put around and put out all kinds of old emissions. Love it. And just, you just take this emission and shove it. You know? That's what I'm going to do. Wow. Old cars. You told them. You can't track me because I'm just along in my little antique. Elon knows where I am at all times. Yeah, exactly. He's checking in. He'll pipe through my car speaker at any moment. Exactly. Another reason why I wouldn't buy an electric car. There we go. Well, all that to say, Tess, I would not do it for the incentive and financing. You're getting screwed. And if you think you're winning, you're definitely getting screwed. Because the dealerships are not losing on these deals. Whenever they're like, well, you're really taking us to the cleaners here. My manager's real upset with me. No, they never even talked to the manager. They went to take a smoke break and came back because they knew they got you in the bag. You know what? I'm so glad you brought that up. You need to do a video on YouTube on that. Like walking through, because you're hilarious. What's actually happening when they do the, okay, let me go talk to my manager. They're back there talking about what money they've put on what football game. Like, I'm really going out on a ledge here for you. Manager's docking my pay for this one. I'm not even making a commission really. What a ruse that is. It's always something. Oh, it's exhausting. Give me a break. I rarely buy cars because it's exhausting. When I do, I don't deal with these dealerships. No, thank you. How do you feel about buying a car directly from a real person? That's where I like to go. You know what? We're actually, we just filmed a video on this. We're going to release it soon on buying used cars, selling used cars, the right way to do it. I think it's great. Now, do your due diligence. Don't buy a used car from a random Joe Schmo and then yell at us when it's a clunker. Get an inspection. You can go to Firestone, get this done for 50 bucks. It'll do 120 point inspection. The other thing to do is actually check the car facts. Check the history. Make sure it has a clean title. Meet them at a police station. Meet them at the bank. Do your due diligence when it comes to these things. But once you do the- The police station? Yeah. That's a great place to meet for any transaction. I mean, it is, but that seems like a little much. I think the grocery store is fine. Well, in your neighborhood, Ken, but in my seedy neighborhood, no, it's fine.