I've been wanting to get my son into 4wheelers for a while. He is 11.5 yrs old, about 5'5" and 140lbs and has ridden an old Honda 185S three wheeler that used to be mine when I was his age. He does o.k., still a little timid due to the fact that the 3 wheeler is at Grandpa's house and he only rides it when we go there. Unfortunately only once in the last year! Usually more than that. The kid won't even fit on the 90 the Suzuki recommends either.

I have no doubt that the Z250 will be plenty of bike for him durring the next 3 years. I think it would be best if I got a second bike too so my wife or I could ride with him. I was thinking of getting another Z250 so the bikes are matched and he doesn't have to push himself too much to keep up with me. The Z250 would work great for my wife too since she has a hard time with clutches.

From what I understand the bike may or may not be enough for me depending on my riding style. I'm not too concerned with that right now because I want to just have a good time with my son and teach him the proper way to ride. I'm sure in no time he will be pushing the Z250.

Now that you have my life history here is the $49 question. Has anyone ever used the $49 payment plan and then sold their bike at the end of the 3 yrs to pay off the loan or traded in the bike towards a bigger bike? I've noticed that these bikes don't depreciate a lot and I was wondering if trading up or selling at the end of the term would be an option. I understand you may loose some money this way but I don't want to chunk down $6500 for two bikes or have a high monthly payment when I could use that money for other things.

I haven't seen the full Suzuki terms for the $49 mo option however I did notice that if you miss a payment the interest rates skyrocket. Making the monthy payments on time wouldn't be a problem. Has anyone seen the full terms of the agreement? Is anyone able to post the full terms? I already read the terms on the web site so no need to post those.

Sorry this post is so long but I would like to get some of your educated opinions before I go to the dealer.

Thanks

 

i got my z400 for 39 $ a month it is fixed for 2 yrs so u need to pay it off before the 2 yrs or it goes up to 18% hope this helps..

 

Try to find other financing - bank or credit union. The $49 per month plan is not enough payment to keep up with depreciation plus, as you've noticed, a simple thing like a late payment can bump you up into the high interest range. Also the $49 plan is tied into the 'zuki credit card. Once you get the card IF you make any other charges on it the interest changes.

Basically the $49 /month plan is simply a lure to get you to buy - do your best to finance elseware.

Jaybee

 

Thanks guys.

I kind of figured the financing was horrible. I was hopping that with the low payment I could sell it or trade it up for a minimal differance at the end of the term. The used quads I've seen are close in price to the new ones.

I'm a man that believes money should be used to make money. I didn't want to tie any up if I didn't have to.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I asked the same thing over on the Kawi forum a while back here's the thread: http://forums.atvconnection.com/mess...d1=good%20deal My dealer tells me that Kawi and suzuki use the same company to do their financing.

I ended up going through a local credit union for 5.5%, if you go 3 years paying only $50 a month you are pretty much only covering your finance charge, I'm not sure where you get the idea that someone is going to pay as much for your 3 year old quad as you did when it was new but that's simply not the case. After 3 years you will be "upside down", (owe more than the value of the quads) and you will have to come up with some cash to get out of them.

When I called State Farm to get insurance they told me that they also do financing on ATVs (that's wierd) and that they could have got me 5.0%, might be worth looking into.

 

If you believe money should be used to make money, I'm sure you would agree that money should not be avoided to lose money.
Don't really know the prices of the z250, but to throw out round numbers, if you are buying something that costs $5000 and sell it in two years for $3500, you paid $1500 for the use of it. If you do the low payments and of the $49 you might be paying $10 towards principal, so you have the $1500 depreciation cost, you've paid $39 a month towards nothing, and have built $240 in equity, so you paid $2196 for the use of the toy. If $700 is nothing to you, it's worth it. If it's a lot of money, I'd come up with a different plan.

 

I dont know much about all these plans and stuff but i pay $121.00 a month for my z. the reason i dont know much is because you have to be 18 to put it in your name. My parents bought it but i pay the 121.00 every month so...................my dad says the 40 or 50 dollar a month thing just ends up costing more money and taking three times as long to pay off so that sounds pretty good to me..............

 

Skip the 250 and get the 400. will save you $$ in the long run, and you will be much more satisfied.

 

yep i agree. when i was 12 my dad bought me a 400. but he taught me to repect it and i did. i think you could do the same with your son unless you know you are gonna get him the 250. definatley buy the z400 for yourself though.

 

Chainman, It is nice to see another Utahn an the board.

You other guys are correct that the $49mo only pays the interest on these quads. I've been looking around here for quads and I must not be looking in the right area because most 3 yr old quads I want are listings for $400-700 less than a new quad. Yes I know that is a big difference (seems like it should be more) but I'm looking at it from the point of repair costs likely equallying out the new/used price difference durring the next 3 years after the purchase so I might as well buy new.

Again, I look at this slightly different than most of you. I'm looking at the purchase more as a rental/lease fee knowing that you lose some money. I believe that buying and renting/leasing are similar, only that one or the other is better depending on the length of the term and what you are going to do at the end of the term.

Originally I was looking at the loans like this. Lets look at three scenarios.

A: If I took out a traditional 3yr loan at 6% on $6500 I would pay $197.45 per month for a total of $7,108.20 over the life of the loan or 3 years. At that point I would own the quads. I would most likely sell them and get a different style or a quicker version. So I just paid $7,108.20 for the quads and I wil loose another $1400 off of the original purchase price of $6500 when I sell them. I end up with $5100 , minus the interest. I paid $608.20 ,for a total of $4491.80 to spend towards my next quads. Basically I would pay out $2616.4 after I reclaim the money from the sold quads. Now keep in mind I could put money down so the numbers would change based upon the down payment.

B: If I paid $49 a month for 3 years ($1764) and then sold the quads for $5800 and paid an additional 700 to pay off the differece in value from the original purchase price before the interest was due, I would pay out $2464 in interst and to make up the price difference.

C: If I have to pay $49 for each quad, it blows my thinking, wich may be the case, I would then pay out a total of $4928 which includes the $700 depreciation for each quad. The Suzuki credit says $49 a month for purchases up to $9000.

Senario B may may have been best not only because it has the least out of pocket expense but it also keeps an additonal $148.45 in my pocket each month durring the 3 yr terms. Yes there is a payout at the end but I am able to invest, save, redistribute or do what ever I want with that money until the payout time. This option does has the most risks because I am not sure what the resale values will be or that I could even sell the quads. The other thing that would screw me over is if I had to pay 21% interest on the loan and that 21% went clear back to the begining of the loan.

Now don't take this wrong. A conventional loan is most likely the way to go depending on the Suzuki agreement. I don't have the full details of the Suzuki financing agreement, that is why I posted the question to begin with so I could see which way would be better and if anyone had tried something like this. When I originally posted this thread I was just looking for the terms.

Chainmans thread was a big help. It pretty much shows that the financing stinks. It does have it's place though for some individuals as long as they can exercise fincancial discipline.

I appreciate the responces you left because you guys have better knowledge of what is happing in the market and better info on the quads. It doesn't appear that the risk involved in the Suzuki financing is worth it for me especially if they back charge the interest to the initial loan date.

The other thing is that my original estimates were based upon purchasing two Z250's. Most of you think that it might be a better idea to purchase one Z250 and one Z400. That changes the figures above and I've pretty much determined not to do the Suzuki financing because the risks involved and payout isn't a big enough of a difference or an advantage.

There is a lot more detail involved in the formulas that I use so don't hack on me. I don't have time to explain or type it all. This post is too long already!

By the way alwaysAZ400, your dad is teaching you the right stuff. I'm glad your listing to him and learning the lessons of finances young.