He's talking about the difference between that monthly payment and paying cash for cheap used car and not having the payment. If you spend $2000 on a crappy car that you maintain yourself, that monthly payment seems like throwing money away. The whole point of the piece is that's not even close to the whole story.
Also, the decision isn't necessarily between brand new car and a 10k used car. If you're buying a two or three year-old car, it's probably over 10k.
Not necessarily. If dealers get a kickback on the financing, they can actually charge less for a financed car then a cash one.
This is also a good tip -- if you go into buying a new or used car with financing lined up, you can tell the dealer that, but tell them you'll go with them if they can give you a similar rate because you might get a better price.
I guess if you're comfortable with dropping $10k in cash for a decent used car, then you'd save money, but when/if you can finance a new car for very low interest rates, why tie up your liquid cash like that?
> For those families, a new-car payment is a burden — but it’s one they can predict and live with. It sucks to “throw away” $300 or $400 every month, but it’s never a surprise and in exchange they have freedom from surprises.
How exactly is paying $300-$400 monthly for a new car "throw away" money? It's going towards the ownership of a useful piece of property. Maybe the author is talking about leasing? I don't know.