That's crazy. I've never known anything but low rates. Wouldn't mind my money actually growing instead of getting lol amounts of interest earnings each year

 

It was a great time to save money. Not a great time to borrow.

 

It ran for a short time and was very fun, I would not talk anyone who wants a SC out of it. I'm just speaking for how I would have felt if I had to pay for it after it blew up. I would not have sold it, as my goal would be not to liquidate but make it better. I saved again and paid cash for the same reason.

I had a completely different account for that kind of stuff that I don't consider "savings" as it is purely for fun. So yes I'm probably projecting on him unfairly as I don't know what he considers savings, my bad. I just figure anyone asking about financing something like that could benefit from a real hand account on what could happen.

Super chargers are the ultimate bolt on

 

i hear that I guess. Personally, I would probably use a credit card to get the points anyway, but not everyone has credit limits that high.

Im with you on having a completely different savings account for car parts/fun toys. I don't do it now, but my income for the last 3 years barely broke 5 figures, so I don't expect to be modding my car much anyways.

 

i paid for my supercharger with cash from side job's so it did not affect me really ...then four year's later i break my ringland off number 7 so motor gets rebuilt with all forged parts and a few thousands later i have a built motor to handle the boost....again i paid with side work

 

Way back when I had a Chase Subaru card that gave me 3% back in $100 increments. The parts counter at the local dealer would let me use it for aftermarket parts. I ended up with a Cobb 3" downpipe, AccessPort, AEM UEGO wideband and Eibach springs for the grand total of $280 out of pocket. The downpipe, wideband and springs were 100% free.

I would always ask my friends for cash when we'd go out and pay everything on my card, and would do the same anytime my Mom had a large house purchase. It was fantastic. Once they discontinued the program, I switched to AmEx for the points / miles, so I do the same thing as long as I have cash on had. I charged the downpayments for the last 3 cars I've bought, and pay most of my household bills through it for the points.

I like the idea of having a separate account for modifications. I'm always buying and selling parts, and use that account specifically to keep track. It's extremely rare that I loan against myself to purchase something, it really needs to be a twice in a lifetime type situation for it to work for me. What I typically do is budget all my expenses into finit amounts ($X for gas per week, $Y for "living" expenses, going out and the like) and whatever's left in my living expense cash at the end of the week gets thrown into that account. Once it's high enough, I spend it on whatever I want and I feel absolutely zero guilt doing it.

 

Sounds like a pretty sound plan. I may have to do some re-thinking with these card issues.
I just use mine to order things online mostly and pay for it when the next bill comes but I obviously need to learn a little more about this.

 

I've made well over a grand off points cards in the past couple years. It's literally free money if you're able to pay it off.

 

Any mod that you have to finance is not the mod you should be looking into.

 

I keep my "toy money" completely separate from any other money matters. Keeps me out of trouble (I hope). In reading through the posts above I see, and also personally know, folks who can manipulate their way through the credit card maze and make it work for them. Kudos to you folks who can do that. I prefer to keep my life much simpler without the financial gymnastics, its just not for me. Keeping it simple and straight forward allowed me to fully retire at 54. I work if something interests me, if it doesn't I don't. Keeping it simple allows me to do that. Going back to superchargers, whats not to love! The idea of getting that much grunt out of a motor with what is, for the most part, a bolt on operation, without tearing into a perfectly good powerplant is terrific. My own experience with an intercooled procharger that I had installed was perfect, reliable, completely problem free with terrific driveability. If I go looking for a really large power increase on my C5, I wouldn't go any other way but supercharging, financed entirely out of my "toy fund" of course. Everyone be safe and well!

 

Wow, loads of opinions here. Let's break it down.

If you spend your cash on a SC now, and some other life emergency comes up, you are screwed because you spent your cash.

If you save for the next year and buy with cash, you get your SC one year later (remember to add in for inflation).

If you buy now with credit, use the money you would have saved with, you keep your pile of cash and get your SC now.

Right now, money is cheap. It will not always be that way. I am a fan of the bank account being fat, and not spending it unless you need to.

That said, I'm not financing any mods any time soon. I financed my car that had a SC on it already. I found that to be the cheapest way to get exactly what I wanted and let the PO take the depreciation hit. However, that comes with a potentially long search for the right car at the right price.

 

Again, understanding the situation before posting would be beneficial.