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The monthly payments on a $100,000 car depend on the loan rate and term. Find out how much buying such an expensive car would end up costing you.
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A $100,000 car is undoubtedly an expensive vehicle, but there are some situations when you either want one or need one (such as if you have a large family and need a large SUV with three rows of seating and tons of towing capacity).
If you have the money in your bank account and can pay cash for such an expensive vehicle, then there’s nothing wrong with buying one as long as you aren’t compromising other important financial goals to do it. But, most people don’t just have that much sitting around in a savings account to pay cash for a car.
So, if you buy a $100,000 car, just how much would you spend on it if you took out a loan to make the purchase? Here’s what the monthly payments on a $100,000 car would look like.
This is what you’d spend on a $100,000 car
At the end of 2022, the average APR on a new financed car was 6.5%, per Edmunds. But the interest rate you would pay now might differ from this amount. Both the interest rate and the length of your auto loan repayment term determine what your monthly payments would be.
The table below shows what the monthly payments and total interest costs would be on a $100,000 vehicle, assuming you put 10% down ($10,000) and borrowed $90,000 to buy it.
Total interest: $9,486.55 Per month: $2,134.35
Total interest: $12,448.60 Per month: $2,197.16
Total interest: $15,463.82 5 years Per month: $1,698.41
Total interest: $11,904.66 Per month: $1,760.95
Total interest: $15,657.20 Per month: $1,824.88
Total interest: $19,492.53 6 years Per month: $1,449.44
Total interest: $14,359.96 Per month: $1,512.89
Total interest: $18,928.34 Per month: $1,577.99
Total interest: $23,615.40 7 years Per month: $1,272.05
Total interest: $16,852.35 Per month: $1,336.45
Total interest: $22,261.74 Per month: $1,402.76
Total interest: $27,831.78
As you can see, the payments are pretty high — even if you pick a loan with a long repayment timeline and even if you get a pretty low rate. Since you should typically try to keep your transportation costs to about 10% to 15% of monthly income (including loan payments and auto insurance), you’d need to make a good amount of money to be able to afford a car that comes with a $100,000 price tag.
How to keep your car loan costs down
If you do decide to borrow for a $100,000 car, you can try to reduce the monthly payments and total interest expenses you get hit with by:
Making as large of a down payment as you canImproving your credit score to help you qualify for the most affordable rateShopping around for your loan to get the best financing
What you don’t want to do, though, is stretch out your payoff time unnecessarily, as this significantly increases total costs and you could also end up owing more than the car is worth, which isn’t a great financial position to be in.
Choose the shortest loan term you can reasonably afford, get the best loan rate and terms that you can, and make sure you can still do other important things with your money before moving forward with buying such an expensive car.
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