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Mom once pushed me into buying a car from CarMax, but instead of driving across town, I went to a lot across the street from me that I thought was similar. Apparently, CarMax has a great reputation for making trading in your car for a newer one as easy as possible, but they will pay you less for your old car, and charge you more for your new one.
The place where I went kept advertising low payments. I do not remember what it was, just that they required payments every two weeks for forty-two months. Perhaps the two-week part is what kept my brain from doing the math on its own. Twice a month for forty-two months would be eighty-four payments, but with fifty-two weeks in a year, that would be twenty-six payments per year, and forty-two months is three and a half years, so $payment x 26 x ...
Where was I?
My flip phone or Nokia should would have had a calculator. I could have figured it out with pen and paper in seconds.
Why didn't I?
It felt like it took forever, so I certainly had the time. It seemed like all that I only had one form left and...
...28%?!
Nope nope nope!
I have mentioned before the chain of dealerships back in the valley that guaranteed $5,000 (or whatever. It changes from time to time) for your trade-in, or, exclusive to that offer, $5,000 off any new car!
Am I the only one to realize that you effectively give them your car for free?
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