Monthly Payments?

Hello Folks,

I just had a nosey question. Roughly how much do you guys pay for your BMW (330ci)? What was your down? And whats the interest rate? I was browsing the bmwusa.com website and used the finance calculator...

And it basically said this for a 2002 BMW 330ci (MSRP $41,560)

"The estimated finance payment is based on the following: $481 per month for 36 months, $26,000 total cash down payment, $0 net trade-in allowance. Estimated finance payment excludes personal property tax, sales or use tax, title, insurance, maintenance and license fees."

Does this seem right? I feel with a $26,000 down and an excellent credit... it would be lower. But I have never bought a BMW, so I wouldn't know. My last car I bought cash.

Also, is the 6.45% standard? Or can that be negotiated?

Thanks for all your help.

-- P² ... Hoping to buy a 2k3 BMW 330ci

You can definitely get a better rate. Try to negotiate with them... Say that you can't close today cause you have to go out and find a competitive rate.

With exc credit.. your APR should be around 5-6% NO MORE THAN 6%!!

Awesome. Thanks for the advice. I'll see how my negotiations go.

i told my sales rep i wouldnt buy unless i got a rate lower than BMW's. why pay 7.9% when i have excellent credit. well he shopped around for me and got me 6.1% which i was happy with. If you want a low rate try Eloan, i think its maybe one of the lowest rates ive seen, but the thing is that many dealerships dont accept it because its a pain for them. Eloan sends you a draft check that you sign to the dealer which they send to Eloan and they get there money in like 3 months. My sales rep was cool though, he said they would take it (3 other BMW dealerships said no) but i told him if he could find something close to Eloan i would go with that which he did. As far as my payments go:

total purchase price: $40,535
down payment: $21,000
interest rate@60 mo. 6.1%
monthly payment: $369

My total monthly payment is like $991.

The first finance manager I spoke with said the BMW rate was 6.9%, I beat that thru my credit union. But when I later spoke to a different finance manager, after I got my credit union loan, he said he could have gotten me 5.45% percent. So it pays to insist that they do better; you can get you a rate below 6%.

After the last time, I'm not sure I'd put such a huge downpayment down on a car. My first e46 I put down 10k (which is a huge one-time layout of cash for me, I like to horde my money and keep lots of semi-liquid cash). Two years later, I was only able to get enough for the car to cover the remaining balance of the loan. That means the car had lost a little under a 1/3 of it's value in 2 years. Not that I think cars are an investment but I'd like to see it hold more value than that.

I'm more comfortable with a higher monthly payment so that I can keep more of my cash around for other things.

But I remember the days when even if you had excellent credit, new car loans were up at 8.5%. The idea of paying 5.5% on a car loan makes me want to use somebody elses money.

Originally posted by obLu
After the last time, I'm not sure I'd put such a huge downpayment down on a car. My first e46 I put down 10k (which is a huge one-time layout of cash for me, I like to horde my money and keep lots of semi-liquid cash). Two years later, I was only able to get enough for the car to cover the remaining balance of the loan. That means the car had lost a little under a 1/3 of it's value in 2 years. Not that I think cars are an investment but I'd like to see it hold more value than that.

I'm more comfortable with a higher monthly payment so that I can keep more of my cash around for other things.

But I remember the days when even if you had excellent credit, new car loans were up at 8.5%. The idea of paying 5.5% on a car loan makes me want to use somebody elses money.

Your point is very well taken obLu, but I'm a university student who works part time... (and pays for tuition!) I really cannot afford insanely high monthly payments...(like .Gravedgr.'s $991 for M3...I would/will do it if/when I could afford it) I do however, own a 2001 Toyota Highlander which I (16k) + my parents (12k) bought cash...last May (total ~28grand). Now, I'm hoping to sell my Highlander for about $22k - $24k ... drop maybe $2-4k from my wallet ... and walk away with a brand new 2k3 BMW 330ci. Now, simply because I have a great down payment opportunity did I even think about buying a BMW.... otherwise, there is nothing wrong with my luxory SUV

Anyway, I was hoping that by being able to put a nice down payment...I could afford a $200-$300/monthly payment...

Again, your point is very well taken.. that I could spend someone elses money ... and keep the ~$26k in my pocket...

BTW, please don't ask why I spent ~$28k on a Toyota Highlander. I had some personal family issues to overcome But those now out of the way... I'm going back to my BMW roots!

There are many factors, including liquidity needs, cost of capital, etc, not to mention the liability of buying a car as expensive as a BMW and taking the chance that it gets hit, is a bad car, etc...

However, looking at it from perhaps an overly-simplistic perspective, it makes very little sense to pay someone 5.5-6% to borrow money so that you can keep that money in the bank and earn <1%.

I paid cash for my car back in Aug 00 much to the horror of the dealer's finance department - they thought I was nuts. I sold highly appreciated stocks to buy the car. I have no payments and consider myself very lucky. (Nasdaq was above 4000 at that time if you can believe it!)

another persian in here.....well im sure you know how to get to the best possible price and payments ...becuase its in our blood...and we got my 330ci for 38k plus tax and licenses ....10k down and about 600-700 a month or so i ahve to double check...dont get your car from oc they are a bunch of rip offs from what ive heard..our interest was really low becuase we did all the paperworks while the econcomy was down with the whole 9/11 thing

your monthly payment depends on the amount of money you borrow from the banks obviously...take my loan into consideration....i only had to take out a $7 k loan for my car and the monthly payments are $175/month. dont ask what my interest rates is though. i got ripped off. i was in such a hurry to buy my car the day i first saw it, i went to the closest bank and took out the loan...guess they thought they could screw me over cuz im a college kid without my parents with me( they lived in a different state at the time) well it worked. definatley shop around.

Payment amount is solely interest and principal so everyones is going to be different depending on how much they financed, 6.45% is pretty decent, my credit union gave 5.75%, check around.