We finally agree on something.

 

I'm not on his ignore list, so he wasn't talking about me.

 

Edited: last time I'm editing your post. An edit should serve as s warning to let it go and move on. You don't seem to have gotten that.

 

I thought about this again and as much as you don't want to hear "drivel from a troll" that gives accurate information, your post is partially true, here goes. There is no such thing as an optimal gap. The engine testing proves that different gaps give different performance and that by increasing the gap by .010 typical gas mileage increase by 2mpg. Do you need another link to the explanation?

 

If you read what I actually said, I stated that HOME and HEALTH insurance are good because of potential 6-7 figure consequences, so I agree with you on those. They are, however, separate from this issue.

And yes, car insurance is also "necessary" for some folks, but not all of them. Idiots with $500 cars and no insurance get a slap-on-the-wrist fine when they total your $50k car because they don't have it anyway, in case you haven't noticed. Then who's on line for paying for your car? Your insurance, who will then jack the hell out of your insurance rates if you claim it.

I arrived at 2-4 grand because that's what an all-encompassing one costs around here and it depends on what type of vehicle it is. And good for you that that one warranty panned out. Do you think that dealership offered it so that they could lose $1700? No, they play the numbers and happened to have lost with you, but won with plenty of others that made netted them a profit even after they lost money on you. It's simple, warranties are not a public service they offer to be nice to you. And this applies to home, health, auto, electronics, everything - every single type of insurance.

 

Do you think that dealership offered it so that they could lose $1700? No, they play the numbers and happened to have lost with you, but won with plenty of others that made netted them a profit even after they lost money on you. It's simple, warranties are not a public service they offer to be nice to you.[/QUOTE]

Really, isn't life kind of like that anyway?

 

Hey OP, did you get a chance to test drive any trucks?

If you were closer I'd let you drive mine for a load of firewood.

 

Absolutely! It is, and that's why I look at the numbers and take my chances because I see it as the most logical choice for me.

You likely looked at the same numbers and thought that you'd rather not take the chances, which is perfectly fine.

 

It's almost depressing to hear your explanation about how things work when I agree and then must realize that what makes sense to you and I doesn't make sense to everyone. I've hear many sales presentations with bogus arguments and it seems so odd that people don't hear it. One of them in the refi bus is to "lower" someone's payment--never mind how much longer you are going to have to pay because I added all of the costs of the refi to the new loan. Please, if this doesn't ring a bell, don't ask.

 

I agree that it's depressing, absolutely. But, refinancing actually does (or "can" I should say) save people money. What happens with those is, let's say it's 2002 and your home loan charges you 8% or something, completely random numbers used here. That 8% is agreed upon because money is relatively "valuable" at this point in time and is a good, solid rate compared to what others are offering. So you're happy not having to shell out $300,00 in cash for your house and the company is happy because they'll be able make a good bit money of of you over the 30 years of your loan.

*As a side note, what you said about paying more over time can definitely be true, and it takes people every day when they agree to 6 year loans for a car at 3% vs. a 4 year deal at 5%. They only look at the monthly payment being lower, never mind the fact that at the end of each loan, the 6 year costs them $30,000 and the 4 year costs them $25,000/

Then in 2012, another company is offering to refinance your loan at 4% because money is worth "less" now. You can now agree to lower your payments and invest the difference in other things, and this new company also feels that they will be happy with the money they're going to make off of your interest over the years because everything is relative.

The biggest thing, for me, with refinancing is that any equity in your home is "dead" money. If you have $200,00 paid into your home, that 200k could be taken out and put into real estate or the stock market and making you enough money to counter act the 4 or 8% interest that you're having to pay for your home loan each month.

Now, what's interesting is that my father has removed a large portion of his equity in my parents home multiple times by refinancing because of the reasons listed above. I on the other hand, when I purchase a home, very well may opt for the security of owning my home out-right and knowing that no one can ever take it away from me. I like the idea of knowing that even in the events of terrible disaster, I can keep what I have because it's 100% MINE. Same reason I'll likely never be taking out a loan to pay for a car, other than to perhaps build up credit if it needs it. I don't like owing someone money.


*all numbers used are merely random digits, not actual costs and numbers. I don't want to do the math for all of them to make them 100% accurate or look up what average rates for a 700 credit score individual was at certain point in time haha.

 

Good, then we actually agree, just on different terms. Case closed for me....