Modern Buddy

Hi all! I am curious as a 22-year old college student (translates to still living at home and without a ton of money) interested in getting a buddy 125 down the road. Do most people just save up and buy the scooter outright (if so then this path would take me a while to get to!), or do any of you make installed payments? And if you do, what seems to be the median amount you pay? Is their interest and a certain financing percent? Okay, thats all i have for now-but i'd greatly appreciate any feedback. Thanks!

Saved up and bought my buddy outright.

For something in that price range I would pay it all up front. In a best case scenario you would already have all of the cash sitting in an account making you $$, either through interest or investments.

For it to be worthwhile to pay interest on a loan you would have to be confident that leaving the balance of the cost of the scooter in that account will beat the amount of interest you pay. It can be done but it's probably not worth the risk for that amount of money.

Now if you're offered an interest free loan you should obviously take it. That's how we're paying for my MP3. I know my accounts can beat a 0% gain.

I bought my Blur outright.

In my case, i have one year of payments left on my car, and had been saving up to buyoff the loan early. At this point on my loan, im paying primarily principle balance now, most of the interest is already paid off. So i decided rather than buying off the car, and dealing with a new loan for the scooter, that I would just buyout the scooter now and finish paying off the last year of my cars payments. If i went the other way, it would be at least a year or two after paying off the car before i could justify buying the scooter without another loan.

You can't finance a Buddy via Genuine or most dealers; you'll have to get it through another company. So payments and interest will vary by downpayment, APR, etc.

I generally think it's better to buy these scoots outright. They're not all that expensive, and it someone is unable to save up enough to buy one, they may have as difficult a time making monthly payments. Also, it's just not worth taking on interest and paying so much over retail for a scooter.

Of course, that's my opinion and everyone handles their finances differently. Some people will take on a loan they can pay off to help build credit history. But since you live at home and didn't say if you have a source of regular income, you probably have other priorities.

Others are buying a scooter as their primary vehicle and scooter payments are much less than car payments. (Of course, I only paid cash for used cars for the first 20 years I drove, so it's not as if a car payment is inevitable.)

Interest on a 3500 dollar loan is not all that expensive, you can get 7-8% on personal loans right now no problem. Its not that big an investment to get into a personal loan for the cost of a scooter. The part that bites people is when they already have a loan on another vehicle (like in my case) and are pulling double duty every month on vehicle payments.

Heck, I just ran the numbers:

2 years @ 8% on $3500 = $157.24 (x24) = $3773.36
3 years @ 8% on $3500 = $108.95 (x36) = $3922.20

Ok, so 2 years would cost you $273.36 to borrow $3500
and 3 years would cost you $422.20 to borrow $3500

Really it depends on your personal situation.

If you want to own it outright and can wait, save up and do so. If you want it now, get a loan.

Personally I'd just save up and wait it out. The Ducati dealership in Seattle told me yesterday they've sold a record amount for June, have 1 shipment coming in next week that are mostly spoken for and then nothing until August.

With demand for a scoot being extraordinarily high this summer, probably the best route is just to save up and wait for the big shipments of 09's in late August. No interest to be paid, and you'll have the chance to outright own the latest model. Plus any reason to work on personal finance is a good one in my book.

My dealership had financing through GE Financial with 0 down/0 payments/ 0% interest for 6 months. The only problem is if you don't pay it off in 6 months, they charge you 24% interest for the 6 months prior and from then on.

I went through my bank and am getting 6.9% for a 5 year loan with no early payment penalty (we in no way intend to let this drag out for 5 years!) It just works for us, plus I wanted to build my credit as I too have only bought used cars with cash.

$1,000 down and $69.00 a month @ 8% interest.

Don't wait...

i got a loan from my bank for 3500 at 4.9% for 3 years =105 a mounth i was spending 80 every 3 weeks for gas in my truck i spend 7 for 3 week in the blur it pays for it self. if you have the cash then yes just buy it but getting a loan is not bad and if your young then its a good way to build credit.

Don't forget to factor in full coverage insurance if financed. That can increase your costs significantly in some states.

Dennis

I have found that full coverage is not the expensive part, the insurance gets expensive when you get medical and uninsured motorist coverage. I got 100/300/100 with comprehensive and collision with a $500 deductible for about $130/yr through State Farm(with whom I have my car and home insurance)

Paying in full is the ideal. And for those who can, YAY! I appreciate good financial management.

To second the GE financing plan...they have different specials running at any given time. Ours is 0% interest for the life of the loan as long as we pay by the due date. No minimum payment and no finance charges, either.

The thing is, you really have to research the loan programs. As you can see, we all have different programs and interest rates. Pick the one you can most comfortably accommodate into your budget.

I paid for mine all up front.(used my tax return) The place I got it from does the financing through sheffield. They have a 6 month no interest right now..but if you dont pay it off by then..they will charge the interest. I didn't want to worry about payments..so thats why I chose to pay it all up front. As far as insurance goes..it really depends where you live. I have seen a crazy difference in rates..like the person who said his insurance with state farm is only $100 and something a year..well, I have state farm for my homeowners insurance and both of our vehicles..and I have a perfect driving record..but it was $500 and something a year!!! I have progressive..and it is $187 a year..and that is with a $1000 deductible..That is still expensive to me..but the best I could find..I would have loved to get the $500 deductible..but oh well:)

Going in debt is part of the American way of life.

hehehe

The average household has $8K-$9K in Credit Card debt?
I've never been close to that number, even when I was broke...

Amy, the quote that you got from State Farm must have medical and uinsured motorist. That was the price I was quoted with those additional coverages. However, the reason most people have medical on cars is for people that they will be driving around (your normal healthcare will take care of anything that happens to you), and uninsured motorist will repair your vehicle provided the other driver doesn't have insurance. This is important when considering a $25,000 car, but really, is it neccesary on a $3000 scooter? Plus, even if they don't have insurance, (provided the wreck was their fault), you can go after them for damages through the court system.

you guys are great-i wasnt sure if even a couple of people would reply but i got a huge turnout! Thanks very much! I think we can all agree the ideal path to follow is the all up front purchase, which i think i will continue to focus on. I myself am trying to avoid being another American in debt. I save money living at home-but im going into my last semester at sjsu paying tuition without loans, on my own. When i finish i'll have no debt, hopefully start a great a career, and have plenty towards a new buddy! Thanks again all, you make me feel very welcome here-have an awesome day!

used my leftover scholarship money and bought my buddy in cash

well that works too!

I don't borrow money for anything but housing and education; however, when I did the math I realized that riding the buddy would save me $100 per month in gasoline (back in the good old days when gas was a mere $3.50 per gallon). If I borrowed the money I could use my gas savings to make the payments while keeping my corolla out of the junkyard.

Then I got p!ssed off about having a loan and saved up the money to pay it off anyway.