Do you finance your sled or pay up front?

[joshkoltes]

Well I'm glad I'm ugly

But remember there are lots of good used sleds out there with low price tags
http://billings.craigslist.org/sno/4018740148.html

 

[Leaf27]

Well I'm glad I'm ugly

But remember there are lots of good used sleds out there with low price tags
http://billings.craigslist.org/sno/4018740148.html

I agree 100%... I will never buy new. I bought my 2012 Pro in Jan 2012 used for 11000. had 400 miles. I saved at least $4000 from buying from dealer. The big thing is the tax, I pay enough to those retards, not going to get more from me on my toys.

 

[polarisfornow]

I've always paid cash on my previous sleds but in those days my other expenses were pretty minimal. Now I kinda like having 15grand in the bank and just financing about half a new sled. The funny thing is that on my 13 I paid cash straight out the door. 11200 if I remember right. I still haven't made that money back up in my savings. On my 14 I'm putting down 3500 and I'll never even miss the 150 a month it costs to finance it.

 

[allied1]

If you invest $12K in the stock market rather than pay cash for a sled, then finance a new $12k sled for 1.9% interest and then take the entire piece of sh!t apart and sell it part by part on here, then you could pay cash for one with a clear conscience with out having to take any sh!t from anyone about being rich or stupid or poor!

 

[Matte Murder]

Save up and pay cash. If you want the maximum amount of toys over your life time pay cash. You only have to save up the full amount once and then trade into a new or new to you sled from then on. Financing stuff just turns you into another source of wealth for the banks and super rich.
There is another side to phatty's idea. Take $10,000 and put it in the stock market. End of year it's worth $7000 because the professional traders eat stock market newbies for breakfast. $10,000 sled is worth $3000 when you didn't insure it because you had so many other payments and you had a wicked crash. Net cost for that years riding is $10,000.
I've been buried in debt. It's ugly. Both personal and business debt and it took me about 10 years to climb out of it. No toy is worth that kind of stress and I love my toys. And just so you know I practice what I preach. I've been saving for my next truck for almost 5 years. If I can't afford to pay cash I do without. I'm not saying I'm better, smarter or anything else. I just have some experience with money and debt.

 

[GoBigParts]

Save up and pay cash. If you want the maximum amount of toys over your life time pay cash. You only have to save up the full amount once and then trade into a new or new to you sled from then on. Financing stuff just turns you into another source of wealth for the banks and super rich.
There is another side to phatty's idea. Take $10,000 and put it in the stock market. End of year it's worth $7000 because the professional traders eat stock market newbies for breakfast. $10,000 sled is worth $3000 when you didn't insure it because you had so many other payments and you had a wicked crash. Net cost for that years riding is $10,000.
I've been buried in debt. It's ugly. Both personal and business debt and it took me about 10 years to climb out of it. No toy is worth that kind of stress and I love my toys. And just so you know I practice what I preach. I've been saving for my next truck for almost 5 years. If I can't afford to pay cash I do without. I'm not saying I'm better, smarter or anything else. I just have some experience with money and debt.

I agree Matt. I am stil working on being debt free. I am not there yet. It just seems to make life in general more simple. Phatty is most likely correct on the 100 year average on return on your investment. However, to get this average you need to be invested for the long haul. Meaning this money is in a fund spread across many types of stocks to get this return. These mutual funds and 401K funds are not liquid cash. You have to wait until you 59.5 years old to get your money or pay a huge penalty. I think you would be hard pressed have you money in a fund you can just pull out of any time you want and have them pay you 8.5%.

 

[sureman]

I pretty much finance the whole thing thru polaris 0% interest .. and then put every extra penny towards it I can.. I have generally paid if off within a year.. now I just need to figure out how to sell the old ones.. thats the big PITA!!

 

[phatty]

I agree Matt. I am stil working on being debt free. I am not there yet. It just seems to make life in general more simple. Phatty is most likely correct on the 100 year average on return on your investment. However, to get this average you need to be invested for the long haul. Meaning this money is in a fund spread across many types of stocks to get this return. These mutual funds and 401K funds are not liquid cash. You have to wait until you 59.5 years old to get your money or pay a huge penalty. I think you would be hard pressed have you money in a fund you can just pull out of any time you want and have them pay you 8.5%.

IRA, 401K, and other retirement funds are investments that get penalized if you withdraw before retirement age.

Mutual funds you can withdraw out of anytime, and you can sell stocks at anytime. I realize that high schools and colleges do a horrible job of educating the average joe on how to invest. Frankly they dont teach anything about it. I realize it is super scary for newbies, and most people don't know how or where to start. But you can make money and you can make way more than 8.5% (you can also lose money as stated). Take some classes on investing. Then work with a broker the first couple years till you get a good feel for it. Watch trends in the world, news, be active with your investments and they will pay off.

 

[Nytroty]

Don't all four makes provide this (with good credit)? They almost have to.

My Duramax is 0% financing too. I would never pay an extra dime on that. If I had all the money to pay it off plus another million, I still wouldn't pay it off. Let somebody else's coin pay the interest!

If it is truely 0% then it's a good deal. But i can almost guarantee you that you are paying more with there "0%" than you would if you just payed cash for it. You may have gotten some of the rebates they had going but there is no way you got them all.

 

[dirtysideup]

Why you should never pay cash for toys if you have the dough!

Smart people always have money because they know how to preserve capital and use other people's money every chance they can. If you have the cash for a new snowmobile or any other toy for that matter, the last thing you should do is fork it over to the dealer. I just bought a "$30,000 new to me Beamer" nothing down and nothing a month by holding on to my cash. Not a typo, NOTHING A MONTH. I mean nothing down, as in zero! I got them to roll in the sales tax, license, an extended warranty and I even allowed them to charge me the $125 document fee that I would never pay if I paid cash. They offered me a reasonable price and a reasonable interest rate and I am one of their favorite customers because I didn't feel the need to beat them up to the point where they made no profit. So........., my nothing down nothing per month plan was a win-win for everybody. Want to know how I did it? Just ask!

 

[Jaynelson]

lol

 

[dirtysideup]

Not a joke! The laugh is on you because you don"t believe!

 

[Matte Murder]

Dirty how did you get to be 68 years old?

 

[dirtysideup]

By listening to older wiser people and following their successes. By the way, how old are you?

 

[Jaynelson]

The "payment plan vs. cash" thing boils down to 2 schools of thought in its most basic form.

1) The "you only live once" argument; why spend years saving up when you can buy it today on credit? If you can buy a sled now and pay for it for 3-5 (or whatever) years, that's 3-5 years of riding at a younger age vs saving for the same time period. Halfway through your saving period you get hit by a bus and lose the ability to ride, you missed out on all riding instead of some riding, right? (Now, riding isn't everything obviously, just an extreme example). You DO only live once, and if there is an opportunity to go forth with something today, why wait until tomorrow?

The problem with this line of thinking is, people take it to the extreme. If you are already loaned up on vehicles, house, CC debt, etc, because "you only live once"....should you really tube your entire financial situation/credit rating over one more monthly payment for a stupid snowmobile? Hell no. In my time in the auto industry, I saw people ask for loans that would literally leave them no money to eat. "Well lets see what the bank says." Buddy....even if the bank approves this (which they might)....how the hell do you plan on living?

2) Save up and pay cash for the least cost (no interest) possible. Obviously this is the most cost effective, however, people do forget the opportunity cost of having a big chunk of cash gone all at once. You really need to weigh out what else you could do with that cash...house down payment, any other debt at higher interest rates, investments paying you at XYX rate, yada yada. In general, having cash tied up in a depreciating asset isn't a great financial idea. Buy houses, lease cars kind of idea.



#2 people tend to do better in the long term, however, #1 sure is great if you get hit by a bus at 35 years old. It all boils down to personality. Obviously there is a way to properly blend #1 and #2, however, that requires some math and setting some priorities/goals. Some people (like me) just hate payments and that's a large part of my argument for better or worse. They just "bug" me, leaving the math alone....but that's just a personality thing.

 

[chousercat]

My take on it is if you qualify for a good loan and payments are not difficult for you to come up with it can be a reasonable route to take. For example, the local credit union has recreational vehicle loans at 2.65% for 36months and pays 3.00% on checking accounts up to 15k. That's cheap money if you have good credit. Sure cash is king but if you're responsible about it I don't see any issues with it. Someone on here gave the advice to only finance one thing (other than home) at a time.

Your bank pays 3% on money you have in your checking account? What are you high on?

 

[Jaynelson]

^ I'm guessing he means they CHARGE 3.00% for a LOC up to $15K? Ain't no bank giving you 3.0% guaranteed on a checking account when they can barely get that on a mortgage lol

 

[BigMan]

It says I'm at the end of my Basic Member privileges and can no longer read any posts. I hope I don't have any misspellings in this one because I won't know to correct them after I hit submit..

 

[BigMan]

Yep, I can't I even view my own posts. And I can't upgrade my membership because I'm saving money for a new sled. I guess I should have just financed..

 

[richracer1]

I always pay cash for my toys/vehicles.

Someone else's cash initially then give them cash each month.