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[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. The truly scary thing about those

much longer payments, is that the car is under water for the first few years. I've heard too many stories of someone who had a six or seven year loan, totalled the car in a crash a year or two in, and then learn that insurance only pays the actual value of the car, not what is owed on it. So now they need a replacement car and still need to pay off the old one.

People need to figure out that they should only take out a minimum loan on their first car. Then, when it's paid off, put the loan amount into a separate savings account. When it's time to get a replacement car, use that money to buy the replacement. Don't take out a new loan.

When my sons were buying their first cars, each had a sum of money from savings. That was what they had to spend. No loan. Each was able to find a car they liked and could write a check for. And that's how it should be.