Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions.
Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers.
Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information.
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers.
We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.
Dear Driving for Dollars,
I’m planning to purchase a new car soon. I’ll be retiring in about eight months. There are several ways I could finance the car purchase: I can pay cash either from my savings or from CDs that will be maturing. Or, I can finance the purchase through a low-interest car loan either from the car manufacturer or through my state pension. What’s the best financial decision?
— Joanne Soon-to-be-Retired
Dear Joanne,
It’s always a better financial decision to pay cash for a car versus financing it if you can afford it. Even at a low interest rate, you’ll be paying more for the car than it is worth and will automatically be upside down in your car loan, at least for a short time. If you have the cash and still have enough in savings to cover unexpected expenses in a rainy-day fund, then your best bet is to use the savings instead of cashing in your CDs at maturity — if the interest rate on the CDs is higher than the interest rate you are earning in your savings account.
Regardless of how you decide to buy a new car, make sure you negotiate the purchase price separately from your trade-in. Also, do some advance research at an independent, car-pricing website to determine what you should pay for your new car and the value of your old one.
Ask the adviser
If you have a car question, e-mail it to us at Driving for Dollars. Read more Driving for Dollars columns and Bankrate auto stories.
Bankrate’s content, including the guidance of its advice-and-expert columns and this Web site, is intended only to assist you with financial decisions. The content is broad in scope and does not consider your personal financial situation. Bankrate recommends that you seek the advice of advisers who are fully aware of your individual circumstances before making any final decisions or implementing any financial strategy. Please remember that your use of this Web site is governed by Bankrate’s Terms of Use.
Share