Thanks for pointing out specifically the difference in interest rates Jaymee.

Even with pristine credit, you won’t get a 0% interest loan on a used car. When I bought my Camry, and later my wife’s Venza, both came with a 0% 5-year loan. The funny thing was that if we wanted to put in a down-payment, the interest rate would have been 1.9%. Go figure.

Personally, I wouldn’t take a 7-year loan on a car, unless perhaps if it was 0% interest. Even then, I’d make sure to increase my savings rate by at least the difference between the 5-year-loan payments and those of the 7-year loan. That way, if I wanted to sell or trade it in after 5 years (which I’d only do if it had severe problems), I’d be able to pay off the loan balance from savings without any effort.

As for people getting sick of a car after 3 years and wanting to swap it for a new one, I have a bit of a hard time wrapping my mind around that. For me, if the car is running well, and I liked driving it yesterday, why would I suddenly be sick of it today? *** shakes head ***