You paid half the car off on the lot? That’s not a great use of cash. I mean in most markets. In most markets cars depreciate not appreciate like they have and the stock market rises not falls like it has. So I guess good move!

True but consider cars aren't a significant purchase for many people. At least to justify the maneuvering to maximize gains. Is it really opportunity cost if you didn't have another use for the cash and could replenish it fairly quick?

The point being made is that if you have 10-20k sitting around that you "have no use for," you should probably invest it in an asset that appreciates in value.

My point is that it's not always worthy of an investment at all. It's just a purchase. It's coming from operating funds. The maneuvering to take out the loan, choose which investments, tax consequences, when might you need that liquidity available again (do you really want to lock it up until retirement?), establishing investment accounts that may not already be established, and all these decisions are, or can be, such an over optimization. Especially if this is a rather immaterial amount of money to you personally. And even if that is a material amount of money for you, you're probably actually better off with the non-ROI producing peace of mind of having your transportation ownership be secured and out of reach of creditors. So, it's hard to make a blanket statement like that.

Exactly

Re-read what I said. They always offer 0% or a discount. The discount + standard rates works out to cost less.

I got 1.9% on my Golf 4 years ago with absolutely $0 down. Even the plates and registration got rolled into the loan.