u/Ragepower529

Okay I’ll play the other hand, I don’t seem to have enough Bilt cash, right now I’m sitting at 70 bilt cash, and loading up my Costco shop card so I can go ahead and redeem 100 Bilt cash for $100 hotel credit.

Me and my GF use the card together for basically everything we can.

So far I’ve probably redeemed almost everything I can every single month besides the blade and the black credits.

Like nothing is better than visiting a city or a place for 2 days and only spending like 100ish on a hotel in the burbs. So every month is use $100 bilt cash on that, we use $70 on cash to points credits, we use the $25 dining credit, and my GF also takes a monthly fitness class. Not to mention we always try to have the points at 3x till we used all 5 boosters.

Like I needed bilt cash earlier this year so I ended up prepaying the HOA dues till end of year also.

I’ve had the urge to upgrade for a couple of months now. Started talking about it with coworkers, kept coming back to the same car, and eventually decided the smartest thing I could do was just rent one before committing to anything. Took a 2025 Toyota Camry XLE on Turo for our vacation, 4 nights 5 days, $476 total.

Short version: it’s a really nice car. But it actually killed the urge to buy rather than fed it.

I drive a 2009 Lexus ES 350 with 174k miles on it. Yeah I know, the ES is basically a rebadged Camry anyway, so take everything I’m about to say with that in mind. It’s got the real wood trim which is a nice touch, but it also has plenty of plastic and at 174k miles everything just feels worn. Loose controls, that lived-in quality you’d expect from a high mileage 15 year old car. The Camry felt tight and modern by comparison, the technology especially was a noticeable jump. The lane keep assistance, adaptive cruise, all of it is genuinely great. But then again it’s not exactly hard to steer your own car. And if I really want all of that for a week, Turo exists. Renting for 3 or 4 vacations and road trips a year is still a fraction of what a monthly payment costs.

But I ran the actual numbers anyway just to see.

The trim I want is the XLE AWD with the Premium Plus Package. That’s the advanced driver assistance version, not the sport one. All in you’re looking at $42-43k out the door. And good luck actually finding one. Within a 100 mile radius there are maybe 3 in stock with that trim, and that’s before you even start caring about color. Hopefully Toyota’s $800 million Kentucky factory expansion comes online soon so I don’t have to wait another 2+ months for the “privilege of buying one.”

All of this happened over the span of a couple weeks. Rented the car on vacation, got home, started running numbers, was talking about new cars with coworkers again one day and that evening my phone buzzed with a Chase pre-approval notification. Genuinely did not go looking for it, modern technology just knew. Got offered $40,000 at the following rates:

•	60 months: 5.72%  
•	66 months: 5.77%  
•	72 months: 5.82%

Pretty solid. I could probably do better at a credit union but I’m not buying a car so I didn’t bother going down that road.

With $10k down on a $43k car, financing $33,000 at 5.72% for 60 months puts the payment at about $634/month. Then I pulled a live quote on Progressive to see what insurance would actually cost. Currently paying $333 for 6 months on the ES, bundled with homeowners. Bought the house at 24, 800 credit score, bundle discount, cheap insurance who would have thought. Adding the 2026 Camry Hybrid brings the total policy to $1,332 for 6 months, meaning the Camry itself runs $166.50/month.

So here’s are my numbers

2026 Camry XLE AWD Premium Plus:

•	Loan: \~$634/month  
•	Insurance: \~$166.50/month  
•	Property tax year one: \~$125/month  
•	Total: roughly $925/month

My 2009 ES 350 right now:

•	Loan: $0  
•	Insurance: \~$55.50/month  
•	Property tax: \~$6.50/month  
•	Total: \~$62/month

That’s an $863/month difference. The Camry gets 46 MPG versus my 22-34, so maybe I save $80-100 a month on gas. Doesn’t exactly move the needle. Not $863/month worth of needle.

So the plan is to keep riding the ES. Just put new tires on it a couple months ago so I’m committed to at least another 55k miles out of it. I’m fine eating repair bills up to $800-1,200, that’s still a fraction of what a car payment would cost me. I draw the line at a transmission or engine though. That’s when the math finally flips and the Camry conversation gets serious again. (Or I just buy another es 350 with 60-80k miles on it. And use this one as spare parts )

The Turo rental was still cheaper than one car payment. If you’re on the fence about a big purchase, just rent it first. Worst case you’ve spent a few hundred bucks. Best case you save yourself from a decision you weren’t ready for.

I’m glad I talked myself out of a purchase people are surprisingly pretty supportive about buying new cars. I mean, my parents called me an idiot when I told them what my plan was. I also know deep down inside I do not want such a large monthly car payment it’s a great car. But not 900 a month great. 400 dollar a month great yes maybe even 500 dollars a month great. ( total with payment taxes and insurance)