Experts say your total car expenses, including monthly payments, insurance, gas and maintenance, should be about 20 percent of your take-home monthly pay. ... Then a safe estimate for car expenses is $800 per month.
Your total car monthly payment (interest, principal, sales tax, and insurance) should not exceed 10% of your gross monthly income. This is sort of a more granular version of the 35% rule. The 35% (or less) rule gives you a general budget to plug into the search filters on Carmax, Edmunds, etc.
Is a $700 car payment too much? - Quora. Yes and no. If you are buying an expensive car and you can afford the payments that's normal. But if your buying a cheaper vehicle then yes that would be pretty high payments.
How much should you spend on a car? If you're taking out a personal loan to pay for your car, it's a good idea to limit your car payments to between 10% and 15% of your take-home pay. If you take home $4,000 per month, you'd want your car payment to be no more than $400 to $600. ... 60 months if you're buying a new car.
Lower your monthly payments
As a general rule, every $1,000 in the down payment reduces your monthly payment by $15 to $18. You can use our auto loan calculator to see how various down payment amounts will affect your monthly payments.
A $500 car payment is about average right now. The concept of “too much” is going to depend on your income and living expenses, your insurance expense, and other budget factors.
The result is that the car will be a lot more expensive in the end. In the example we've given, a car payment of $400 per month for five years (60 months) equates to $24,000. But the same $400 per month spread out over six years (72 months) is $28,800, while it's $33,600 over seven years (84 months).
Many financial experts recommend keeping total car costs below 15% to 20% of your take-home pay. ... For example, if your monthly paycheck is $3,000, your car payment would be about $300 and you'd plan on spending another $150 on automotive expenses.
When it comes to a down payment on a new car, you should try to cover at least 20% of the purchase price. For a used car, a 10% down payment might do. Part of your decision will depend on where your credit score stands.
The bottom line is this: you can make a down payment as low as $700 if it meets the lender's requirement, but we suggest putting more money down if possible. If you have your down payment ready to go, but don't have a dealership to work with, we want to help.
You have to look at the overal status of your finances. a car pyament should be no more than 10% of your take home pay. So unless you're taking home more than $4500/mo, $450 is too much for a car payment.
Rather than looking at monthly transportation costs, Dave recommends buying cars that cost no more than 50% of your annual income. So if you make $50,000 a year, you should not spend more than $25,000 for a car(s).
Edmunds data for the same period in 2020 shows an average monthly payment of $437, representing a not-insignificant increase of $83 per month. It also shows that the average loan term has increased from 68.1 months to 70 months, meaning used car buyers are paying more over longer periods of time.
A $30,000 car, roughly $600 a month.
So, theoretically, if your salary is $50,000 you could afford a car payment of $430 or less. With a $100,000 salary, you could afford a mortgage payment of no more than $2,500. For those with a salary near $30,000 your home, car, and debt combine should be no more than $1,250 per month.
“A typical down payment is usually between 10% and 20% of the total price. On a $12,000 car loan, that would be between $1,200 and $2,400. When it comes to the down payment, the more you put down, the better off you will be in the long run because this reduces the amount you will pay for the car in the end.
With no other bills, you can afford a $40k car with a yearly income of $12,000. But if you do have other bills ( ie wife and children and a mortgage and student loans) then consider your bills and decide if you can afford a new car. In my opinion it would be insane to spend more than 10% of your wealth on a car.
“It's actually a split, but in most cases, dealers will gladly take your money. Without getting into the jargon behind it, the time value of money states that money in hand now is worth more than in the future due to inflation. Therefore, a big down payment will usually cause a salesman's eyes to light up.
If you're looking to purchase a used car for around $10,000, then $1,000 is a decent down payment. It's widely advised to put down at least 10% of the vehicle's value to increase your odds of getting approved for a loan, and to minimize your interest charges.
It can't be stopped but making a large down payment gives you a cushion between the value of the car and the amount you owe on the loan. If your loan amount is higher than the value of your vehicle, you're in a negative equity position, which can hurt your chances of using your car's value down the road.
So, to afford a $60,000 new car, you need to make around $90,750 a year.
A person making 100k a year is making more than 8k per month. With the average length of car loans being around 6.5 years now that means that for around $2500 a month you can get a 200k car, which is about 1/4 of the person's 100k yearly income.
In general, lenders look for borrowers in the prime range or better, so you will need a score of 661 or higher to qualify for most conventional car loans.