Financing Question

W

wwe diva Maria

New member
Quick question for ya. I'l be purchasing a C50 hopefully sooner than later here. list is $6,799 (hoping to get a deal in the fall). Now i'm 21 (22 on 9/1) and am wondering what i should be looking to save as a down payment. I know ea situation is diff but what do you guys think i should be lookin to save for a down payment. I know there's other people out there in my situation (early 20's, no to lil credit) who finance bikes. I've heard anywhere from 10 to 20 percent. I already got my insurance picked out, Progressive @ $359/year. Any advice or input?
 
Quick answer for ya'.........but probably not the one you wanted to hear.

Since you are in the North Country this is not likely to be your only transportation, and
Since it appears that you already have one bike, and
Since you are only 21.........

I think you should save up until you can pay cash. :bluethum:
Buying expensive "toys" on credit is a BAD habit to start that early in life.
REALLY it is.
 
I have a C50T, financed by Suzuki, at 69.00 a month for the 1st 2 years, then it will go up to just over 100 a month, but, I pay 100.00 a month anyway, so that won't be the case for me. I also had a trade, that took 1000.00 off the price, so I will pay even less when the 2-years are up.... So, I will have an extra 1600.00 paid before the promotion is up, then I get the credit card from HBSC. I can also pay on-line with no fees...

Insurance was 100.00 more for this bike than my Vulcan, due to it being NEW and the extra hardware. I went with foremost, they were cheaper than anyone else I tried. I payed about 280.00 this year, that's up 100.00 from last year when I had the 03' Vulcan 800 Classic.

Try Foremost...
 
The $69 a month payment plan is generally on a Suzuki revolving credit card type deal at 6.95% APR. You have a low interest rate for the first 36 months and after that the interest skyrockets (21%+). If you cannot pay it off or refi in 36 months then its generally a bad deal.

There is another financing plan where they will give you 10.95% fixed which may be better.

I personally went with the 6.95% Fast Lap deal since I will be refinancing onto a another card in about 12 months at 3.9% fixed for the life of the balance transfer.

If you choose to finance through a bank or credit union they generally consider motorcycles to be luxury "toy" items and therefore usually only qualify as signature loan type deals and usually the interest rate is around 9.65%
 
When I bought my M50 a few weeks ago, I put $1K down. I am 23 and I do not have good credit. My monthly payment is ~$150. More down equals lower monthly payment. Remember, you'll still be making those payments when there's 12 inches of snow outside.
 
I have great credit and the most Suzuki would finance me for was $5k. It mainly had to do with already having credit balances for my ATV and other charged items. It all depends on your income to dept ratio. I only owe $69 a month for the first 24 months (no interest) and then it goes up to whatever. I'm paying over double that each month to knock out the principal before the interest kicks in.
 
I financed mine here in Canada over 7 years to keep it under $100.00 a month. A year later I had to renegotiate a mortgage on the house so I rolled the bike cost and house repairs, new roof etc into the new mortgage at 4.75% and presto! no more motorcycle payment!

Cheers, Boston
 
I'm about to give financial advice based on incomplete information, so keep that in mind. Also, I'm not licensed to give financial information to people, so keep that in mind too.

How much are you saving per month to buy the bike? Is that comfortable, or do you want to drop it down a bit? I'll assume you are saving $100 a month, and can continue to do so comfortably after the purchase. After you subtract for the insurance, you have $70 a month left. What will $70 a month get you? Assuming an APR of 7% and a 36 month loan, you can only borrow ~$2,300. That means you should wait until you have $4000-$5000 to put down. By contrast, if the bike is $6500 and you put down $1,000, you will have to pay $170 ($200 with insurance) a month for the 36 month term.

Experiment with these numbers on a website with a loan caluclator and find something that fits your budget. Remember that if you think its going to be a bit tight, it will be very tight. My strongest recommendation is to pick a payment plan that you think will be easy to maintain, because anything other than easy is hard.

As to were to go for financing? Credit Unions, Banks, Dealer/Mfg financing, Insurance agents...lots of places will lend you money. Shop around. You need to know the APR, the term and the amount borrowed. From that, you should be able to get to the payment. DONT talk about payment with the Dealer, talk amount financed.

As to Insurance...lots of options there too. Progressive, Geigo, Foremost will all insure a stand-alone motorcycle, but if you also have an auto, check with Allstate, State Farm, American Family etc. (whoever you have the car with) as they are likely to write motorcycles also.

Remember to keep your emotions in check, and if you can't afford it yet, wait. You already have a bike that works.
 
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