Mom Is Buying A New Car
My mom is getting a new car, which has been a several month process culminating in this question coming up on Facebook
Being a math teacher, and specifically getting to teach students the math that matters (all of it) but in this case applied math. I helped her crunch the numbers, figuring out whether it was a better deal to lease or buy depending on her situation. I explained and compared rates. With her credit score she should be well on her way to getting the best financing available, but some opposition research showed which dealers offered the best auto loan rates for new vehicles. (Hint: The Credit Union Won!!)
One important equation I have talked about with my students, that came up here as well was the Cost of Credit. She wants to minimize this while keeping her payments reasonable. That is the key to deciding one of the other important factors, time to repay. Naturally the shorter the term of the loan, increased monthly payments but lower total paid due to interest savings. Making use of other tools, like these calculators from some Credit Unions and other financials really helped crunch the numbers quickly.
Cost of Credit = Total Paid - Loan Proceeds
We discussed taxes, and the effect rebates have, and got a real handle on the numbers that she should be seeing when purchasing the vehicles. We were able to do all of this on a lovely walk at 1000 islands nature preserve and listening to one really cool jam band at The Source Public House.
Wish her luck tomorrow as she works on closing the deal on her new minivan.
Good luck! Sounds like she didn't need a Facebook post since one of her children is a math teacher who clearly loves to make math applicable. Hopefully you can use this as a story problem for your students, too.
ReplyDeleteOf course I did!
DeleteI am always very happy when math can be used in daily life! All those years I spent studying it do occasionally pay off! Hope your mom is able to find a great deal on just the right car.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck! And what a great example for your students that math really does matter!
ReplyDeleteCan you please help me the next time I need to do real math? These are always the times I wish I paid better attention in math!
ReplyDeleteI would be more than happy to! Just let me know when. :)
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