"Wait! Before you make another car payment...!"

[Zelda01]

I bought a new car in 2010 (facepunch me now!), and paid off my loan a while back.

I got a flyer in the mail from the dealership recently saying: "Your current vehicle payment:  $____; 12 months remaining on your loan.  Estimated new vehicle payment on a 2014 model: ($12 less per month)."

Then yesterday I got an email from the dealership:  "I'm looking at your contract that shows 12 payments left, and the payment is $307.  Please call me back before you have to make another payment!"

I emailed her back:  "Thanks for the info.  I also received the mail flyer.   I paid off my car a while back, and plan to keep it a long time.  So no plans to buy a new one."

She wrote me back:  "Thank you.... If you change your mind..." 

:)

[RWD]

I've got one of these via e-mail before. The payment usually only comes out lower because your loan term starts over and they'll use some equity from your trade-in. If you don't get blinded by the lower monthly payment and run the numbers you'll find that it's typically a horrible deal.

Congrats on paying off your car. If you keep it long enough (assuming it's a relatively economical model) it shouldn't end up being a too big of a financial mistake in the grand scheme of things.

[LadyStache]

I get things like that in the mail quite often as well. I paid off my car a few years back and the fliers always say my payment will be equal to or less than my current payment... which is interesting because my current payment is 0. :)

[Zelda01]

RWD - I ran the numbers, like you suggested.  They would make $4,000 to $5,000 off me, instead of the $600+ I had calculated they made off my when I bought my current car.  Is this possible?! 

LadyStache - Exactly!  Had I been talking to them in person or on the phone I would have said exactly what you are thinking.  "You can't possibly beat my current payment (of $0)"  :) 

Salespeople really have it made when they get customers who think only in terms of monthly payments. 

[RWD]

RWD - I ran the numbers, like you suggested.  They would make $4,000 to $5,000 off me, instead of the $600+ I had calculated they made off my when I bought my current car.  Is this possible?!

Sounds about right. Essentially they are getting you to pay for the initial depreciation of a new car (plus taxes and fees) all over again and hiding it in monthly payments.

[MrsPete]

Real conversation with a sales person who called my house -- it was about mortgages, not cars, but the point is the same: 

Him:  I'd like to help you refinance and help you save money each month on your mortgage.
Me:  Oh, I don't think you can do that.
 
Him:  Don't worry about your credit rating!  We work with people who've been through financial challenges every day. 
Me:  I'm skeptical.  I really don't think you can save me money.

Him:  I'm 100% certain we can!  What's your monthly mortgage payment?
Me:  Zero. 

Him:  No, I mean how much do you pay for your house each month?
Me:  Zero. 

Him:  Let me explain.  How much do you pay each month for your house?  That's what a mortgage is. 
Me:  Zero. 

Him:  Oh, you rent?  Well, in that case, we can help you get a mortgage and get into your own house.
Me:  No, we own.

Him:  But you said you aren't making payments.
Me -- in a normal speaking voice:  That's right.  We own the house outright. I told you you couldn't lower our payments. 

Him:  WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME?  Click -- he hung up on me. 


Some people simply cannot comprehend the idea that some of us AREN'T in debt!

[Zelda01]

MrsPete - "Why are you yelling at me!?"   ROTFL!!  Too funny!

[Self-employed-swami]

My husband had a funny conversation with a real estate agent a little while ago.  We bought our house 5 years ago in November, and the seller's agent called to see if we might be interested in listing with her, since we'd certainly be upgrading our house soon, since we've been in it for 5 years. 

He told her we were still just 2 people and 2 cats living in a 4 bedroom house, with 2.5 bathrooms.  Apparently she didn't know what to say to that.  ;)

I also had an amusing conversation with someone at my mortgage company almost 5 years ago, when they tried to take 3 months worth of payments out on the same day (the payment bounced, because we didn't have enough overdraft to cover that).  I called to ask why our mortgage payment never came out (I didn't even see the bounced payment).  The woman asked me how much our payments were, and I told her $123/week.  She said that wasn't possible, because they tried to take $1599 out, and it bounced.  I told her that was 3 months worth of weekly payments, and she tried to tell me that it was one month. 

I asked her to take a look at the balance on my mortgage (something like $87,000 at the time) and the amortization (30 years) and do a bit of quick math, to figure out that I wasn't incorrect about my mortgage payment (the minimum payment was actually only $87/week, I was making a huge extra payment every week).

She never could figure it out, but her manager sure did.  And when my renewal came up 3 years later, the guy I dealt with said that the problem was run up the ladder to some senior VP.  I got an even better interest rate, because of their mix-up.

[Dalmuti]

MrsPete,  I think I read your transcript of this in another thread not long after I started reading MMM.  It was just as awesome this time.  I'm on a 3.5% mortgage with a pretty low balance, so I've been maximizing investments rather than paying it off, but it's tempting to pay it down just in hopes of having an experience like this!

[shotgunwilly]

Him:  WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME?  Click -- he hung up on me. 

Some people simply cannot comprehend the idea that some of us AREN'T in debt!

HAHA! What a dick.  That's awesome.

[eyePod]

These remind me of the deluge of offers I get to pay my mortgage biweekly instead of monthly. I'll just keep kicking in my extra money each month towards principal on my own thank you very much. I guess forcing someone to do it makes it an easier option than them just doing it themselves without some third party who somehow makes money on the whole process?

[guitar_stitch]

Real conversation with a sales person who called my house -- it was about mortgages, not cars, but the point is the same: 

Him:  I'd like to help you refinance and help you save money each month on your mortgage.
Me:  Oh, I don't think you can do that.
 
Him:  Don't worry about your credit rating!  We work with people who've been through financial challenges every day. 
Me:  I'm skeptical.  I really don't think you can save me money.

Him:  I'm 100% certain we can!  What's your monthly mortgage payment?
Me:  Zero. 

Him:  No, I mean how much do you pay for your house each month?
Me:  Zero. 

Him:  Let me explain.  How much do you pay each month for your house?  That's what a mortgage is. 
Me:  Zero. 

Him:  Oh, you rent?  Well, in that case, we can help you get a mortgage and get into your own house.
Me:  No, we own.

Him:  But you said you aren't making payments.
Me -- in a normal speaking voice:  That's right.  We own the house outright. I told you you couldn't lower our payments. 

Him:  WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME?  Click -- he hung up on me. 

This is really funny if you read the telemarketer's lines in a Peter Griffin voice. 

[Ftao93]

Ha!

We still have some debt.  about 5k in cc debt, but none of it has any interest.

My 'main' commuter bike is a very facepunchworthy motorcycle, though if I keep it for a billion years, 75mpg  helps :P.

Since we paid off all but the one card, our credit scores are great.  We get these all the time.

"You could qualify for up to 25k to pay off higher interest debts!  Only 18% interest after 90 days!"   

Having previously nearly sunk in a pile of 'small' payments at 18-30% interest, that made me scream.

We also get tons of 'diamond' 'platinum' blah blah offers.  I giggle and run them through the shredder every time.  Very satisfying.

[fantabulous]

We also get tons of 'diamond' 'platinum' blah blah offers.  I giggle and run them through the shredder every time.  Very satisfying.

I used to send those back with some (clean) paper trash inserted in the postage paid return envelope, along with the stuff that didn't have my name on it.