Buying buggies

[xjkrawler]

But if you don't have the cash and the means to save for one then is it really a "must" or "need" to get one? Especially On something you don't use but maybe once a month or less?

What happens when you yardsale the rig? Now you have to make payments on something your not using that requires more money to fix....




No thanks I don't need the stress I'll stick to my paid for Cherokee that doesn't cost me anything to sit for a month or 2

A lot like the folks on the lake with the $100k wakeboard boats that use them 3 months out of the year and pull the kids in a tube.... Don't even use the boat for what it was designed for. Kills me.....

 

[Metal Head]

I'll keep my 1/2 ton Chevy 4x4 truck and my Samurai. I hate payments, and I don't need or want anything that cost upwards of $50k. I can have just as much fun.

 

[CHASMAN9]

SHUGGA MOMMA.

 

[Draco]

Pretty simple for us....Wife and I have good jobs, one vehicle payment, modest house, don't give a **** if others are impressed with our ****, don't go out and eat very much, no real vacations, and NO kids.

Prolly spend way too much on this hobby in some folks eyes, drop in a bucket for others....But we both enjoy it. Neither of us grew up with much of anything. I think that pushes us to spend a little more on toys than we normally would. We never had the opportunity to grow up with stuff we wanted and it transferred into our adulthood. It really showed on Christmas this year. My 2 nephews got a **** load of stuff for no other reason than "Man, that would have been a cool toy to have." It went in the truck if either of us said that. Prolly a good thing we don't have kids...Wouldn't be worth a ****. ;D

All in what you want and how bad you want it. You can find a way. Whatever works for you...Do it. **** this pay cash for everything mentality. Good for you if you can...Not all of us born into money or born lucky. If it makes you happy....Do what you want. Like said above: If I never financed anything, I wouldn't have anything.

 

[wont work]

You could all do like me and take you 8 years to build a buggy. I owe $0 on it and have what I think are good parts. I don't have the best or highest prices stuff but good for what I wanted to do.

 

[KyTrash]

You could all do like me and take you 8 years to build a buggy. I owe $0 on it and have what I think are good parts. I don't have the best or highest prices stuff but good for what I wanted to do.

I'm half way there, almost 4 years now.

 

[TacomaJD]

Re:

I'd just assume to not even get into the hobby at all as to take that long to build/pay for something lol. I don't even like my rig being down the few months it's gonna take me to pinch pennies in order to get the front end linked. :****:

 

[mtnride]

Cash is king. NEVER finance toys.

BOATS!!?? I used to be a first mate on a motor yacht ported in Guntersville. The owner was a multi millionaire out of Huntsville. The vessels, that I worked on in a 10 year span, ranged from $2-5 million. They are nothing more than very big expensive toys. I know those of you who own boats,think they are expensive toys, but these things were on a different level. And they were ...... financed.

We are selling out boat this spring. I plan on doin a lot more wheeling, which I love. Nothing financed for me on wheeling but where is the financed toy line really drawn? My wife think it's nuts to consider financing and off-road project. The boat argument is the best I've come up with.

 

[John Galbreath Jr.]

The boat argument is the best I've come up with.

That is what broke me on financing. A long time ago, you may not have been born! Shortly after we got married, we financed a Ski Teaque. $5,000. It was May 1979. My wife worked for the bank. It was on a signature loan for 13%, the highest interest rate we had seen in a long time. I had the loan as a 90 day loan, as I was going to re-up when the rate dropped. I had to find an assumable mortgage on the house we bought in March 1979, so we could close on a 9% loan. At the end of 90 days, I went to the branch manager's office and she said the rates did not go down, what did I want to do? Really! How high could they go? Give me another 90 days at 17%. Well, at the end of that 90, I re-uped again on 90 days at 21%. We are now past summer and the boat is sitting covered and not used. At the end of that 90 days, the interest rate was the same. I threw my Master Charge card on the desk and told her to cash me out. It was only 17.99%. Took us a while to pay off that boat. Jimmy Carter was the president during this high inflation period.

Well, after that, my lesson was taught to me. I have only had two personal loans since. Those were two home mortgages. Never financed a car. Never financed another toy.

Not exactly correct, in 1989, I had a mortgage on a strip shopping center, a 15 year loan. The interest was $330 per DAY. Dad told me it was time to lay it on the line.

I am now 56 yeard old, retired. Own my home, 1/2 block downtown, and 1/2 intrest in an 18,000 square foot strip mall on Highway 280. All are paid off, and am completely debt free. And live off the rents.

So, those that finance toys, what is your 20 year plan? Do you have a plan to retire at 55 like I did? The only way to do it early is to only finance things that will give you positive cash flow in the future. And that is houses, and real estate. Most everything else is a declining asset.

Fail to plan, or plan to fail.

 

[onetoncrawler]

That is what broke me on financing. A long time ago, you may not have been born! Shortly after we got married, we financed a Ski Teaque. $5,000. It was May 1979. My wife worked for the bank. It was on a signature loan for 13%, the highest interest rate we had seen in a long time. I had the loan as a 90 day loan, as I was going to re-up when the rate dropped. I had to find an assumable mortgage on the house we bought in March 1979, so we could close on a 9% loan. At the end of 90 days, I went to the branch manager's office and she said the rates did not go down, what did I want to do? Really! How high could they go? Give me another 90 days at 17%. Well, at the end of that 90, I re-uped again on 90 days at 21%. We are now past summer and the boat is sitting covered and not used. At the end of that 90 days, the interest rate was the same. I threw my Master Charge card on the desk and told her to cash me out. It was only 17.99%. Took us a while to pay off that boat. Jimmy Carter was the president during this high inflation period.

Well, after that, my lesson was taught to me. I have only had two personal loans since. Those were two home mortgages. Never financed a car. Never financed another toy.

Not exactly correct, in 1989, I had a mortgage on a strip shopping center, a 15 year loan. The interest was $330 per DAY. Dad told me it was time to lay it on the line.

I am now 56 yeard old, retired. Own my home, 1/2 block downtown, and 1/2 intrest in an 18,000 square foot strip mall on Highway 280. All are paid off, and am completely debt free. And live off the rents.

So, those that finance toys, what is your 20 year plan? Do you have a plan to retire at 55 like I did? The only way to do it early is to only finance things that will give you positive cash flow in the future. And that is houses, and real estate. Most everything else is a declining asset.

Fail to plan, or plan to fail.

very good advise Mr. Ramsey ! haha

I agree on never financing toys either - I bought and sold rigs and parts to make a little extra here and there and saved every dollar I could to build all the rigs Ive had or bought.

 

[bobo]

All in what you want and how bad you want it. You can find a way. Whatever works for you...Do it. **** this pay cash for everything mentality. Good for you if you can...Not all of us born into money or born lucky. If it makes you happy....Do what you want. Like said above: If I never financed anything, I wouldn't have anything.

Neither my wife or I were born into money or "born lucky" whatever that means. Both our families are low end middle class who have worked their entire lives. We both have good college degrees in high demand fields and we both used student loans to pay for school (a bad idea in retrospect). We should have worked more & taken longer in school to come out free of debt. Student loans & a financed new car (after graduation) for the wife were the straw that broke the camels back for us.

Its all about how much risk you are willing to take and all debt comes with an element of a risk. No one knows what tomorrow holds. Most people would be surprised how much money you can save if you aren't giving a bank/banks its monthly stipend.

But to each their own.

Jeremy

 

[ranger11]

Re: Re: Buying buggies

So what do you do when your neck deep in debt? Quit paying and start over? Keep pushing through? Yeah I know I was young and dumb.

 

[CHASMAN9]

I agree with John G and his whole Dave Ramey persona, but, I started off small to get what I have today. Paid $1100 for a 1969 Bronco and built it up in my basement for the next 4 years and then sold it for $10k. Bought- built- sold. Repeat as necessary. Now I have what I have and feel good about my history of ownership. Most of us didn't take down a $100k built buggy our first go round, we bought what we could afford at the time, spent our hard earned pennies (without telling wife all spent) and went on.
If I could have back all the unnecessary money spent from my buggies, I could probably buy y'all your own buggy, but that's trial and error and what keeps businesses and dreams alive these days. So for the ones with high dollar buggies, what did your first go rounds look like? I bet not what you run today

 

[TacomaJD]

Re: Re: Buying buggies

Lol it sounds like those against financing have been screwed over a time or two and now paranoid and shun it. Before you finance, you should be able to assess 100% of everything it will take to pay the loan back. Take that and put it in perspective with your current bills, wages, what the future looks like with your current job, etc, and make it happen.

But like I already stated, everyone's situation/options are different. Financing is for some, and isn't for others. In my situation, I'm obviously not against it. But I know where to draw the line without getting in over my head. Such as the fact of in 1.5 years, I could be totally debt free besides my home mortgage (which I don't know any 26 year old that wasn't born rich that has a home that's paid for). But reality is, I'll probably get my current loan paid down to nearly nothing sometime early next year, already have something else I want to buy (likely another motorcycle) and finance another loan (less than current loan) to buy it and borrow the little extra on top of it to pay off the principle of the current loan. New loan set up for either 2, maybe 3 years, depending on how much I borrow. Highest interest I've ever had on a signature loan is 9.X%, maybe 10.X, but as of late, they are usually around 6-8% on signature loans. I guess half of it is having a good bank to do business with.

Like I said, there is no right or wrong answer, just what works best for you when you want something and what pairs well with your current/future wages. As long as you don't keep compounding loans and reach retard-level in debt, I will never be convinced that financing is a bad idea. Remember, for financing something to be a terrible idea, it probably spurred from a terrible idea, initially. All terms and conditions are or should be explained/understood up front before you ever sign your name. This is where the conservative money managing skills come into play I also spoke of. If you aren't 100% sure, don't let the urge or desire of wanting something overtake you and sign anyways. Borrow what you can afford and pay it off.

Financing something isn't a debt-death sentence. It will only be a debt-death sentence if poor judgement and commitment is used. Same as saving for a buggy. You, that save and buy, stay broke all the time (hypothetically speaking) buying the next expensive part for your buggy build, I borrow (less than what you will have in your buggy of course), get to wheel it, and pay it off. Same concept except I get to play now instead of wasting 3 years not playing, but paying. And for what? The $500-$1000 you saved over me in that 2-3 year period on loan interest? I had 10 times that in fun wheeling the 3 years you all were saving and eating ramen noodles. ;D lol just poking fun, don't take that and run with it like some of you ****ers like to do. Merely poking fun, I know most of yall buggy building buncha Robby Bobbys ain't broke. I'd eat ramen noodles if I won the lottery. :****:

Then people say, well what if you lose your job? Well that's a risk I'm willing to thoroughly evaluate and take. An escape plan is always needed, should it ever come to losing your job. #1) You could sell whatever it is that you have financed. Chances are you've paid down the loan enough to where you owe less than what it's worth, so sell it, close out loan, and have a little cash left over to put in your pocket. #2) Always finance a toy that has a desirable resale value. Don't buy/build something that would flat-out not be appealing to anyone if you had to try and sell it tomorrow. #3) don't overpay for something so that you minimalize taking a loss if having to sell unexpectedly.

It all boils down to "don't be an idiot when borrowing money" and likely, it will work out as it should.

 

[TacomaJD]

Re: Re: Re: Buying buggies

I agree with John G and his whole Dave Ramey persona, but, I started off small to get what I have today. Paid $1100 for a 1969 Bronco and built it up in my basement for the next 4 years and then sold it for $10k. Bought- built- sold. Repeat as necessary. Now I have what I have and feel good about my history of ownership. Most of us didn't take down a $100k built buggy our first go round, we bought what we could afford at the time, spent our hard earned pennies (without telling wife all spent) and went on.
If I could have back all the unnecessary money spent from my buggies, I could probably buy y'all your own buggy, but that's trial and error and what keeps businesses and dreams alive these days. So for the ones with high dollar buggies, what did your first go rounds look like? I bet not what you run today

I have thought about starting a thread about "what did you start out wheeling" but most of the guys with badass buggies don't post much here with the exception of a few. Still, some interesting photos would probably surface.....you know, from you old fawkers that's been in the game longer than I been alive

I think old photos of wheeling with early technology are neat to look at.

 

[CHASMAN9]

Re: Re: Re: Buying buggies

I have thought about starting a thread about "what did you start out wheeling" but most of the guys with badass buggies don't post much here with the exception of a few. Still, some interesting photos would probably surface.....you know, from you old fawkers that's been in the game longer than I been alive

I think old photos of wheeling with early technology are neat to look at.

John g had one that ran on Pterodactyl poop ( eventually to propane) and square Racelines.

 

[TacomaJD]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Buying buggies

John g had one that ran on Pterodactyl poop ( eventually to propane) and square Racelines.

Lmaooooo now that is funny ****.

Started the what did you wheel thread in general discussion. Y'all go check it out and blow it up.

 

[Jsanders]

Cash is king. NEVER finance toys.

X2! Its hard knowing someone would finance something and then be willing to go tear the hell of it! Pay with cash, maintain it with cash, if you can't do that I would wait till you can... just my 2 cents

 

[hogasswild]

Hey jsanders was u at the rock yesterday?

 

[wont work]

For those that don't know I'm a welding instructor at a high school and we don't make ****. My mom and wife are also teachers and my dad was a welder/mechanic and I am nowhere near rich but work my ass off to play hard. When I get off I usually go work somewhere else if not at my own shop. My wife and mom get off and go work a retail store they started in a building that was almost condemned and in 4 months me and my brother had it where it passed all city inspection. I'm 30 and have more than I could ask for. All I owe money on is my wife's car and my river house.

Now we are not poor but we can't just go get whatever we want. If we want or need something we save the money and go get it

I say all of that to say this:
I have what I have because I work for them and want them. My great grandmother told me when I was little that if I didn't have a quarter in my pocket why should I expect someone to loan me a quarter. That and the work ethic that my family stuck in my head made me who I am today and makes me work for what I get.

I don't know who said it but someone said they didn't want to wait 8 years to ride and was having fun while I was building. I had a truck and bought a buggy and some other crap during that time that was fun and let me get out in the woods. It may not have been the best looking stuff but I had a good time in it.