how do you guys pay for cars?

Yep, If I was to lease a car it would be done under an ACN (like your LLC). The tax breaks are good if structured correctly.

However, my car was paid for in cash. and so is the service, and the insurance and the rego.. and the list keeps fucking going on and on =.=
 


Sharksfan said:
For a personal car I tend to agree.

For anything related to a business -and if you have an LLC or an S-Corp and a REALLY good CPA - you personal car CAN be for "business" - then leasing takes on a whole different perspective :)

Pre-tax expense $$$ > Post tax expense $$$
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you don't need a 'really good' CPA- you just need one that realizes that this is one of the biggest audit triggers and thus to either a) be much less aggressive elsehwere or b) you'll have to defend yourself at some point in the future which will cost you ________ dollars.

OFTEN you're much better off avoiding this trigger, especially on cheap (sub $100k) cars or where you're being aggressive elsewhere with much deeper discounts
 
Most used cars suck. The prime of a car is 5 years & after that you are going to have problems every now & then. Pay cash and buy new if you can afford it. There's nothing wrong with a monthly payment either if it's within reason. Just because you're making 10k/mo for the past couple of months dont get stuck with a 1k monthly payment. Factor in other costs like insurance, cash for potential accidents and repairs, tickets blah blah.
 
..or you could buy that BMW that's 2 years old for < 20k. Leasing is just burning money. So what if the car goes down 20k in the first two years? Retards that get a new car every 3 years use this to justify paying retarded prices for a car. Instead just buy a car slightly used car and put 200k miles on it. Instead of paying 50 cents a mile or more, you're paying 10 cents per mile.
 
2 pages of buying a car.... if you aren't "balling" you shouldn't attempt to buy a "balling" car try to be responsible and straighten your priorities b/c most people if an offer goes down or a traffic source tells you we cannot allow you to run site X anymore that cash flow is gone
 
A 22/yo driving a "balling" car would look like he borrowed the keys from his balling dad because his real car is a 1987 Yugo or something. LOL
 
papajohn56 said:
wouldn't it make sense to buy slightly used after the depreciation hit?
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You'll most likely be stuck with a worthless car. Seriously, don't expect to buy a car at 50K miles and expect it to be worth anything remotely considerable by 150K.

I was like the OP in college and bought an Escalade with a 5 year loan. I had it paid off for about 2 years when I did the cash for clunkers this summer. I was happy to get the $4500. I doubt I would have gotten much more than a G selling it. For those seriously doubting this, Bluebook value has absolutely nothing to do with folks that show up cash in hand. I know from experience.

If you're going to get a car you can't afford, lease. People that hate on leasing have no idea what it's used for. Most of these people buy every 5 years when they finally paid off the loan anyways. They would be saving alot of money leasing.

If you want a reliable a car for 250K miles that gets your from point A to point B, thats a good time to buy. If you're in college and have no idea what your finances are going to be in a few years, leasing may be a better option.

But seriously, you will regret after a few years when the "baller" feeling goes away and your just jumping into a vehicle trying to get from point a to point b, and you realize all the other things you could have done with your money. If you're trying to get laid, work on your personality.

But hey, we only learn from experience.
 
CPAPIMP said:
I love how sub $100k are "cheap" cars...<rollseyes>
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They are, in terms of the benefit of writing the car off and leasing usually not nearly being a benefit at all.

Now- you want to talk owning a half dozen exotics and sure, you'll find many of those owners are *NOT* buying them personally and are playing all sorts of (legal) games <car dealerships, partnerships with others who own car dealerships, not titling the cars personally and only keeping them for X period of time, blah blah blahetc> to reduce expenditure, this makes sense.

Buying a 335 and leasing it and trying to write off 100% is a joke. AND a huge audit flag. AND it's likely never going to back out financially.
 
Uncle Tony said:
Most used cars suck. The prime of a car is 5 years & after that you are going to have problems every now & then. Pay cash and buy new if you can afford it. There's nothing wrong with a monthly payment either if it's within reason. Just because you're making 10k/mo for the past couple of months dont get stuck with a 1k monthly payment. Factor in other costs like insurance, cash for potential accidents and repairs, tickets blah blah.
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there is an incredible sweetspot to snap up 2 year old lease returns of cars which are still fully warranteed for another 2-3 years, drive them for 2 years, and then sell them (still under warranty) and rinse/repeat.

Consider it leasing but letting someone who bought into the 'new is better' mentality take a huge depreciation hit. In the case of the last car I bought the previous owner lost 60% in 24 months yet the prior generation inferior model from 6-7 years ago with 100k miles are still selling for only about 30% less than I bought the car for.

Find barely used cars where the depreciation curve has flattened significantly, buy, enjoy, and reap huge savings.
 
Dulce said:
You'll most likely be stuck with a worthless car. Seriously, don't expect to buy a car at 50K miles and expect it to be worth anything remotely considerable by 150K.
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'slighty used' to me is under 2 years old and under 20k miles. Given most people put between 12-15k miles per year on vehicles (probably half for IM'ers w/ no commutes), you've got years before you hit 50k miles.
 
Sonny Forelli said:
OFTEN you're much better off avoiding this trigger
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I 100% agree.

I also happen to commute city to city every other week, 3 1/2 hours one way. It's faster to drive than to fly since my home city only has a small airport.

Keep a mileage log and you're good.
 
Why would you want to buy an expensive car if you have to lease it? Paying monthly installments seems sad to me, because in my eyes a car is something you should EASILY be able to afford. If it's gonna empty half your bank account then you're wasting your money. I bought my first car for roughly $4K. I had $80K in the bank at the time from AM, but I really had and still have no intention of getting a luxury car. A car is a depreciating asset. Put your money in assets which will yield a return. Pretty much all I make goes into property development projects, and I'm satisfied with the returns. One day I will get a sick car, and I know when I do get one it'll be bought with chump change.
 
SEO_Mike said:
In all seriousness man, buy something that runs and will get you from Point A to Point B safely. Other than the "flash factor" what's the difference between a $5000 Honda Accord in decent condition and a $50,000 BMW? Not much. When you boil it down, they're just modes of transport. Take the money you'll save by not burning it on a "luxury" car and put it back in your business. You'll thank yourself for that later when you pay cash for your dream ride.
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Taking this attitude is the difference between ending up properly wealthy, and looking back in 15 years thinking "I used to make such a lot of cash in IM back in the day. Where did it go?"

If I'd learned this 12 years ago, when I was banking off the dotcom boom, I'd probably writing this reply from my sprawling estate in Tuscany right now.
 
Has anybody ever had a visit from the repo man? That's what happens to ex-ballers who can't make their payments. It happened to an ex-bf of mine, and a car repossess means your credit is shot for years.
 
Ive made a million $ this year in AM, I just paid $20k in cash for this, its a used Audi a6, cost about $60k new 4 years ago.

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My neighbour works a normal mid-management job and drives a brand new BMW, I see him everyday and it makes me smile.

Save your money and put it into your business, while life is for enjoying, faking it with a car you can't afford will only hurt you in the end.
 
There's a big upside to financing a car no one has mentioned. Your credit score. All else being equal, it goes up a good bit if you have a car financed and make the payments on time. With the low or no interest financing available, definitely finance (a car you can afford).

No offense to anyone who has posted in this thread, but paying cash for everything is usually a sign of a scarcity based attitude. People are so "scared" of the idea of having to make payments that they want to pay everything off, when the truth is that borrowed money is cheap and you're better off NOT paying cash for anything.

Why the hell would you want to payoff a car or house when you can borrow the money for 5%? Surely you can figure out something else to do with that cash that will make you more than a 5% return.

Financing and leverage are great things when you use them properly. Most "ballers" don't pay cash for stuff (until you start talking about people with 9-10 digit net worths)
 
dsiomtw said:
There's a big upside to financing a car no one has mentioned. Your credit score. All else being equal, it goes up a good bit if you have a car financed and make the payments on time. With the low or no interest financing available, definitely finance (a car you can afford).
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I improve my credit score by having a mortgage and paying my bills on time, dunno about you.
 
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