Car Buying Tips During Uncertain Economic Times

It's time for the b a q a a b a q a, which is said the b a q eight man day to b a q eight with definite the b a q a A. If you've got questions, we don't necessarily have answers, but what we do have it's just smart opinions that we just share casually. Not for you to necessarily take every little piece of advice, just entertainment person purposes only. Okay, okay, so your grandma. But if you'd like to ask us questions, you can slide in our d MS at I G. Brand and

But we don't we have some updates, right, mandra.

Oh, we have. First of all, we love listener up So if you sent us a question in the past, it helps if you, you know, remind us where we found that, where to find that original.

Question episode that it was, you know, etc.

The episode you know, even just copy and paste here's what Well, my first question was because how many years have we been doing this for a lot? But this lovely listener, let me see, Oh, she's anonymous, so we'll keep her anonymous. But this is the original question for y'all who may may or may not remember. It's a career question. She was a contractor at a fortune five

Yes, but that time was like there to prompt you to get your credit together. So the next job can hire you.

I love it.

We've been on in a little bit, not legally, but you know, so, I wanna do some money questions this week.

Yes, put you in the hot seat.

Okay, hot flee? How flee? Okay? All right, So let's.

Look at which one do we want to do first? The longer one? Sure, all right, I will read it for you, serve it to you in a silver platter. All right. This question comes from listener who wants to be called Sandy. All right, So Sandy says, I'm looking into buying a car later this year. It'll be about thirty thousand dollars. Okay, Sandy and Tiffany, what do you

So thirty thirty k would be a twelve month emergency fund.

No, thirty k is like the cost of her of the car.

No, no, but I'm looking at it further down. She explains that she's stepped free. But she said, but thirty thousand would be a twelve month emergency fund.

Oh, that would like that's enough to last her for a year.

Yes, gotcha?

Okay, yeah, So I'm just because she just was sharing kind of like her bare bones living expenses, which is important to know. So basically, should she take one year's worth of savings to buy this car cash?

Yeah?

And I say.

So, I just recently bought Supergirl a car. My stepdaughter, Alyssa, she was at school. I know, she's so big now, and we were asking ourselves this very same question. So I don't know if you know this, but back in the day, like it used to be that cash was king right, that if you went with cash, you actually had a better deal.

That's not the case anymore.

That like, if you buy a car with cash, now that more and more dealerships, you really don't make money off the car, like the actual physical car.

They're making money off the financing.

And so if you let's just say a thirty thousand dollars car, if you're financing, might be thirty thousand after you know, like let's just say that includes the tax and fees and blah blah blah. But if you say, oh, I want to buy cash, You're like, oh, then it's thirty seven. You're like wait, what when did me buying cash become a penalty? So one, cash doesn't do what it used to do. That oftentimes there's actually a penalty now,

Maybe it's the average cost of a car these days, which seems so high, like a used car.

Yes, I'm wondering if she's buying want, assuming she's buying used at thirty.

So this is what I would say at this point, this was me. Now, I would put probably finance a car. I would put down a significant down payment, and I would commit to so because you're financing, you'll be able to negotiate them typically a better deal. Not always, but

Yeah.

But honestly, all the rest of your numbers look really great. The fact that you're maxing out everything you make it really good money. Your debt free, which is great. I know some people like us oftentimes don't like to carry debt. And there's a guy which I would highly recommend Sandy on TikTok so this is who helped Alyssa and I get mentally ready to negotiate at the at the car dealership, almost said drug dealer.

Okay, I know, And so his name is.

I don't know him or anything, but I just follow. His name is Billy the car Kid, and I yes. I really love about Billy is that he used to be a car salesman for many, many, many, many many years. And the tips that he gave us. She and I listened to like at least thirty forty minutes worth of like, you know, three or four minute clips of tips.

And it was so helpful. And what I really like is that it empowered her. When we went to the dealership.

She was using the tactics that we listened to in the car to ask, well, what about this, Like for example, Billy said, you know, so they're going to say thirty thousand on the website, you have to know like what your end number is at the bottom, because that thirty thousand doesn't include registration, it doesn't include feed, it doesn't include all these other.

Things they're going to add on to it.

That's going to add at least five to sometimes seven eight nine thousand dollars onto the bottom line, and to not actually nickel and dime each line item, but instead, you know.

Once they give you the spiel, you test your the car you like it.

And really work on that bottom line, how close can we get this to thirty two thousand, you know, and then let them do the math, you know, like, well maybe we could get you a better interest rate, maybe we could get you were better And so he was just really instrumental and healthy helping us feel really comfortable. We were able to get the car she wanted at basically the price that she wanted. My budget was about fifteen thousand, and we got it for sixteen to five.

So I felt really good about it.

So yeah, that's my advice to you is that, like I'm not opposed to you financing and then just paying it off earlier so you don't have to have all the financing fees. Financing will allow you to negotiate a little bit better. Watch the car kids, so you could really feel really empowered. Make sure that there's no prepayment penalty, and happy car shopping.

Did y'all? So you went in there thinking you were going to finance or pay cash, which one.

Well, I ideally wanted to pay cash. But what I found is that the big dealerships I'm talking about, like the name of the car brand dealerships, that cash costs more. But then what I what we found was that the smart because we want to at least ten different dealerships, the smaller dealerships that like you know, like the local dealership, that actually cash still helped.

At those smaller ones.

And so when we were at like she, I wanted her to get a Honda or Toyota. That way, you know, the car would last a long time. So we went to the Honda dealerships. They don't want to hear nothing about nobody's cash. They're like, sure, here's the up up charge fee.

And I was like, Dad, Bill, Billy the.

Kid, I know, Billy the Kid actually said that he was like cash us and do what he used to do. That you're actually going to probably have to finance and just pay it off the next month, so you know, maybe you have one month or you actually have that finance charge and you still get your price, because that's the only way you're going to get that number down. But these local dealerships cash still and I'm not really sure why for them, Maybe because most of these local dealerships.

A little more wiggle room.

But we were able to, like, you know, we were able to negotiate a cash price that made sense, and so that was just kind of an AHA moment for us, Like, Okay, the smaller the dealership, the more likely that cash will need something. The bigger the dealership, the more likely that in order to get your price, you're probably gonna have to finance, even if you want to pay cash and just paid off later.

But I really encourage you.

It was he has these like five step five ways to buy a car from home. So one thing that Alyssa and I did is that so we don't get wheeled and deals when we got to the dealership, is that we made a lot of phone calls ahead of time, got some numbers ahead of time, done a little research ahead of time. So by the time we came in we felt like more empowered to say no, no, no, even like getting them to text you some of those

So what's the price? So what about this?

And so that way, when I come in and everybody forgets the numbers, I'm like, well the text doesn't forget.

So Billy the Kid got me all the way together. It's go ahead. Yes. So I was so excited. I was like, it works so.

Such an infrequent negotiating I'm the negotiation queen, but I don't negotiate. I think I've bought. We've bought two car in the last decade, like anyway. But the one thing that I love that you mentioned is just shopping around for your financing and getting pre approved, Like you can call your credit to walk in there with a certain

So Billy the Kid, one of the things he said was to say, like, you know, I'll finance with you, especially if you know you're going to pay it off later. But if not, I mean I know already that my credit union said five percent or four point you know, five point six percent.

And then they'll go back because he said, what they're always.

Going to do is that when they go to run to see don't let them run your credit. You don't have to unless you're like, okay, we're ready to move forward. One of the things he said was that they're the banks just because a bank offers. So a bank might offer eight percent financing, and the margin is way better on the eight percent than it is obviously on the five percent financing, but maybe the six percent financing.

The margin for them is like someplace.

In the middle, you know, And so they're always going to hit you with the financing option that that that bank gave them. Where they get better. They have to have a better margin of earning for themselves. And so if you kind of push back, then they'll go to the second best bank, and then if you really push back, then they'll go to the third less bank, you know for them, So just know that like whatever first numbers that you're I like to get them on the phone.

Like, yes, yeah, they pro thought they were. And it's great that Alyssa was involved too. Yeah, such a good step mom.

It was so cuye because I was really going to be like, Lista, don't say nothing. I'm gonna take care of so I'm in there. She's like, no, I'm talking about the bottom line price.

I looked at her like, see, I have never been the better car. I remember when we negotiated a car we got when I was pregnant. I was like about to pop with Rio and I was so good at negotiating because I was I did not want to be there. I did not want to re get it buy a car. And it was like I remember the I was just I just would I was just sat there like if we were having like really long conversations, and I could just tell the guy was like, get out of my dealership.

We should.

I love that. All right, Well, congrats to Alyssa and her new her new HRV, her new responsibility, her new burden. This is what being y'all all want to be all growed up and.

Cars keep them up, that's what I saw. I don't keep them out and says you got two jobs. You know Lissa work. She works at foot locker at chugg Echee's Boy.

Her daddy would be so primal. All right, well, let's take a quick break and we'll come right back. We have another question. Let Tiffany put Tiffany in the hot seat today for y'all's money questions. We'll be right back and we are back to the ba QA. If y'all forgot already. What Please go to our Instagram brand a Mission Podcast. You can submit your questions there to be answered on the show or sorry to be entertained on the show, because we don't answer things. We just entertain,

Well, first, I hope you are feeling better, and so I'll say this, like, let's just I'm gonna rewind back. You can't do this now, but just if this should ever happen again, when you kind of know when you're probably.

Not going to be able to pay a credit card.

So if ever anyone listening is like, oh my gosh, I lost my job or something has happened, and I pretty much I feel pretty confident I'm not going to be able to pay what I did when that happened to me is I had this thirty five thousand dollars in credit card debt because of a scam, and then I lost my job. But I had this window when I wasn't late yet. So what I did was I still had good credit, my score was still good because I wasn't late, that I opened up two balanced transfer

So I will say that that was.

Such a lifesaver because it allowed that one without the interest, I didn't have to pay any interest, and so it meant that my monthly payments were more reasonable.

And so I did just.

Pay the minimum, you know, like so, but still it was the minimum on the actual balance itself, not balance plus interest.

So that's that's too late for you now.

But I just want to put that out there that if you ever find yourself in this position, like preemptively to kind of get your cards to a less expensive way to pay them off. So that's one, because you know, you could have also too potentially.

Love a balance transfer. I too found myself in credit card debt more than once these past few years, and balance transfers. I'm like, this is why I have a good credit score, so I can restructure my debt literally restructure.

And so if not balance structure, there's also the potential of like, say you have a really great credit union and maybe like getting like a personal loan while your credit score is still good and sure in your debt that way, and if the interest rate is going to be lower. So these are just things to think about because oftentimes we know something is going to happen, and so we can restructure before the thing hits, and then you know, we could write it out.

But now that you're here and we hope that you are feeling better, that.

I don't want you to worry so much about, like, oh my gosh, my credit because credit is one of the easiest things. It's really just a series of tips and tricks, you know. And so as far as raising your credit score, so certainly this is going to be a ding and it will stay for some time, but know that.

Really it's going to be two years.

For it to like really materially matter to your score, and really six months for it for when it hits its hardest. So I want you to think about credit about they like to see experience in history, right, So something that happened to you seven years ago is not as material as something that happened to you six months ago.

And so what you can do is.

To offset, you know, what recently happened by if you have any other credit card that like the balance is low, by paying it off in full every single month. So let's just say you have these two credit cards where you were late, but you have one that's kind of paid off.

Then this is one of the ways I was ready to.

Raise my credit score despite being late late late on some of my other cards, is that I got a new card. I put like my cheapest bill on it. It was like, I don't know, Planet Fitness, nine bucks or whatever, and I paid it off every month in full because as I was getting f's over here, I was offsetting that kind of was getting an A and paying off a debt in full every month over here.

So that kind of kind of helps to offset.

Call the credit card companies and see if they have any sort of program, especially during a pandemic, many of them had. If they didn't have programs. They created programs from people who didn't who couldn't pay. You don't say the position you're in now, like are you able to pay now? You know? So I would call them to see about getting on track. And if it's thirty days, sometimes you could write a good will letter that you know, it's like I've never.

Been late before, you know your situation.

Yes, and then see if like you know, they're able to kind of like you know, they're not like, you know, six monthsly, eight months late, you know, because ultimately the credit bureaus or credit card companies, they don't care about anything about getting their money. So if you're like, I do have your money now, I'm on track. Now can you do this thing for me as long as you they hear I got my money now, many times they're like, okay, here's what I can do.

We could take this off.

We can, we can as long as you have my money, then we're we're in good standing. So just something to these kind of things to kind of think about. I'm trying to think, like, so I would start with calling the credit card company asking for some leniency and grace paying off a credit card in full every month if you have one, if you don't have one, considering it, it sounds crazy if you have the discipline to open

They came and snatched that baby and I had it.

So it took my credit score from like an eight to ozh something down to a five thirty.

And it took me two years.

But I really I did them, you know, I slowly but surely was paying like the minimums on my credit cards. But I had two credit cards that I was paying off in full by putting something cheap on them and opened them up specifically for that purpose because of my friend who was a He was a bankruptcy lawyer, suggested that to me. This is what he suggested his clients

And don't let anybody make you feel like you're alone, because especially in this economy, I'm concerned for myself for others I have just I feel like so many Americans like we're just really close to the edge, like that that the savings that we were able to accumulate. I mean data has already shown this, like the savings that we were accumulating during the pandemic. We've had to tap

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So This one from Barry twenty one to ninety nine says huge Impact by far my favorite. By far, this is my favorite podcast. I love being able to navigate my twenties with the great advice and overall positivity these ladies disperse weekly. I was able to switch jobs and negotiate a salary twenty thousand dollars more than what I was making while staying in the same field. Being able to do that as a twenty three year old black woman in the legal profession, which was a huge boost

Oh my god, very staffing. Keep it going, Staffing.

You more, please, I thought is amazing. Twenty k at the beginning of your career. Girl, all you are just wow. Chef's kiss. They're gonna they're not gonna know what to do with you. Yes, all right? AJ podcasts that I really enjoyed the podcast. They cover so many important topics and then read a check says inspiring and real. I feel at home with this podcast. I learn loads of