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by vkou 3385 days ago
Interest rates on houses are low, but interest rates on vehicles are... Not so low.

Besides, it doesn't matter what the prime interest rate is - the consumer rate is always (prime + markup)%.

2 comments

Eh. Subprime rates, maybe. But I've got two car loans, one under 2%, one under 1%. I feel like I should pay them off early on principle (as opposed to principal), but it would be foolish to divert investment funds to paying them off early.
Assuming you can stomach the risk, if you can get a car loan for 1% and a market return of >1%, then you would be better off taking the loan, investing your money, and paying off the loan later.
With a good enough credit rating, and in tough enough times, you can get 0% loans, no payments for 12 months. Sometimes, the need to dump inventory outweighs the need to make money on loans.

(Of course, if you miss a payment, that 0% rate will jump to 12%.)

Really? Both our cars are financed at < 2%. Cheap auto loans are all over the place.