# How fast did you pay off your car? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 11, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-did-you-pay-off-your-car/517114 "2009-11-11T00:18:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-did-you-pay-off-your-car/517114/21 "2009-11-11T19:16:24Z")
I’ve bought two brand-new cars for cash within the last three years – one for me, one two years later for my wife. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-did-you-pay-off-your-car/517114/22 "2009-11-11T19:55:24Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Yep. I paid $2K in cash over a year ago for my new used car. Quick and painless. _Now the neighbors come from near and far As we pull up in our brand new used car…_ I paid my Civic over four years, but was lucky enough to buy the Corolla outright (Grandma died). ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-did-you-pay-off-your-car/517114/23 "2009-11-11T20:00:43Z")
I do NOT make car payments. I pay cash for my cars. Mostly. (There have been a couple of exceptions, like once when I bought a brand-new car. Boy was that a mistake.) ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-did-you-pay-off-your-car/517114/24 "2009-11-11T20:57:38Z")
Another cash payer here. Ms Hook and I haven’t made a payment on anything other than our house (paid off last December, thank you very much) for almost 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-did-you-pay-off-your-car/517114/25 "2009-11-11T21:29:19Z")
I paid cash. Bought the cheapest car on the lot at CarMax. I’ve had it for almost 7 years now, but only put about 30,000 miles on it. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-did-you-pay-off-your-car/517114/26 "2009-11-11T21:42:08Z")
My 3 year old Honda CRV was bought with a 5-year loan. We’ve been prepaying a bit every month, and recently refi’ed to a lower rate with a much lower payment. We’re still making the old payment amount, so we should have it paid off in another 18 months or less. Of course, this will be just in time to purchase a replacement for our _other_ car… Our last 2 cars were bought on 4 year loans. I think we had them both paid off in a tad over 3. I see a car loan’s scheduled payment as the _minimum_ I should be paying down on the thing each month. I think we’ve only had one loan that was paid exactly as planned (a 3 year loan). I don’t like car payments. Paying them off early makes a substantial difference in the cash flow afterward. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-did-you-pay-off-your-car/517114/27 "2009-11-11T21:48:19Z")
My last car I bought used for cash. I’m now looking at the same car, a year older but with low miles (relatively speaking), and will probably pay cash for it too if I can scrape it together. I live in the city and there’s no point getting a shiny brand-new car. It would only end in tears as the bumpers get scraped and the doors get dinged. Plus I hate making car payments. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-did-you-pay-off-your-car/517114/28 "2009-11-11T22:30:46Z")
We financed most of our $26,000 Pilot, and pay a little extra each month, so will have it paid off in 4 years instead of 5. Like the previous poster, we think of the payment as the minnium, and alway pay more. But I hope to not have a car payment again. Once we get this paid off, (or sold and we buy something cheap without any payment), I want to pay myself each month instead so we can buy a new, nice car in cash next time. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-did-you-pay-off-your-car/517114/29 "2009-11-11T23:13:46Z")
Also paid cash. Don’t like the idea of borrowing money to buy a depreciating asset. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-did-you-pay-off-your-car/517114.md?page=1)