How do I determine which car financing offer is the best deal?

Simple use this calculator to figure out how much you will be saving on your loan principle over the time.

Then use the same calculator with reverse engineering use the total principle ( the amount you should be saving over time ) to figure out how much your bank will be paying you.

P.S its called home loan calculator but can be used for any loan

http://www.ebadcreditlenders.com/index.php/home-lo...

Since you are set on throwing away money at least do it for the least amount of interest due. 36 months with a 0%.

There is no such thing as 5% interest on a straight savings account... so forget that idea. Unless you are extremely savvy on the stock market and know what you are doing you can't make 5%...

Just like the others... I am not fond of the idea of throwing money out the window. The car will lose up to 20% of it's value the moment you drive it off the lot. That is a fact.

A used model that is just a year or two old would save you thousands and paying for the purchase in cash... saves even more in interest. Add to that the lower insurance premiums because you are not required to keep full coverage... and a decent used car is what a "rich" person would go for. Because they go for value and don't care about the BLING factor.

First, don't expect to get 5% on your money. Second, 0% and low interest financing is baked into the price of the car. If you paid cash, the price would be better. Third, not financing and paying cash (especially during these times) is your best option. Fourth, absent paying cash your best option is opting for the shortest term and largest down payment as that way you're less likely to find yourself upside down (owing more than what the car is worth). Look around you at all the people losing their jobs, declaring bankruptcy or having their cars repoed. Best to buy a car you can afford to pay cash for.

You are going to finance a USED car that sells for more than $25 K? Really? That's crazy.

You don't factor in the return on your savings. You can't get more than about 2% at best right now. In any case, if you have the $25,000 sitting around earning interest, then pay cash for the car.

It is foolish to finance a depreciating asset.

Math is your friend and a spreadsheet is the tool your friend is going to use to help you.

If you don't know how to use a spreadsheet, find a class/someone else to help you.

You can model this question in a spreadsheet and once you can do that, it opens up a lot of opportunities for you. For example, buying a house has a lot of the same questions the car purchase does, so this spreadsheet will help there as well.

Do not trade your car in that's the worst thing you can do. They will not give you nearly what it is worth. You can sell it yourself and apply it to the down payment also, check the kelly blue book and see what you can get for selling it yourself. Think about it there not going to give you much for it because they have to resell it. And thats less of a down payment for you and more interest to pay on the difference.