South Africa has a debt problem.

Hopefully this post helps some of you not fall into the same trap so many are.

Unless it's your first car, or you already own your home and are buying it cash, it's really not something to celebrate, you've just made a terrible financial decision.

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Let's take some example numbers if you finance R200k (See Pictures)

6 Year + 30% Balloon-payment Scenario:
You finance R200k over 6 years with a 30% Balloon payment
You end up paying a total of R308,000 and STILL owe R60k when it's over.
Once that's paid off, you've paid almost double for the car.

6 Year Scenario:
You finance R200k over 6 years
You end up paying a total of R290,000 or 42% more

5 Year Scenario, No Balloon:
This one is quite common
You finance R200k over 5 years
You end up paying a total of R273,000 or 34% more

In all these scenarios you're losing big time.

Buy a car that is good enough for what you really need, or if you already have a car and want a new one, save up and buy it cash.

Unless it's a mortgage on your first house, avoid debt like it's the plague it sets you back a LOT in the long run.

Rules for Posting Surveys

Surveys, questionnaires, and research requests are welcome on r/South_Africa as long as they follow the rules below. Posts that don't comply may be removed, and repeated or serious breaches can result in a ban.

The rules

1. Use the "Survey" tag. All survey posts must be flaired with the "Survey" tag.
2. Be relevant to South Africa. The survey should have a clear connection to South Africa, South Africans, or topics that matter here.
3. No disguised adverts. Surveys that are clearly just market research for a product or a lead-generation funnel for a business will be removed.
4. Give an end date. State when the survey closes.
5. Publish your results. Once the survey closes, share a summary of the findings, either as an edit or comment on the original post, or as a new post linking back to it.
6. Keep personal info optional. Any request for personal details (email, phone number, name, etc.) must be clearly optional, never required to submit.
7. Stay around to answer questions. You must actively respond to questions users ask in the comments for at least the first 2 hours after posting your survey.

Required disclosure

Your post must clearly state:

• Who you are: your organisation, or your role (student, academic researcher, business, hobbyist, etc.).
• Purpose: what the survey is for.
• Length: roughly how many questions there are and how long it takes to complete.
• Personal details: whether any are collected, and exactly which and if it's POPI compliant.
• Data handling: how responses will be used, where they'll be stored, and when or how they'll be destroyed. (POPI compliant, https://popia.co.za)

A note on enforcement

Surveys that follow all of the above are welcome. Posts that break the rules may be removed, and users who repeatedly ignore them or act in bad faith may be banned. If you're unsure whether your survey qualifies, message the mods before posting.

Credit: Anica Kiana