Perhaps one of the most prolific stereotypes about those that enlist in the U.S. military is that, when given their first paycheck by Uncle Sam, they run to nearest sleazy auto dealer, which invariably sells them a sports car akin to snake oil at an annual percentage rate so high, it\u2019ll leave them chowing down on a Top Ramen diet for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while it is true in many cases, it doesn\u2019t have to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Paul Garcia, who joined in 2004 and now serves with the 535th Airlift Squadron, managed to finance a number of dream cars \u2014 including a McLaren and a Nissan Skyline \u2014 without a ridiculous interest rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His secret? Waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou always see those memes, those 20 percent Camaro and Mustang,\u201d he told Military Times. \u201cEverything takes time. And it\u2019s about patience, and understanding and knowing you can achieve what you want in due time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Garcia started small after enlisting at 18. His first car was a Honda Prelude. Choosing to buy it used and for less helped him establish a relationship with the bank that allowed him to eventually scale his auto purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI kind of stuck with the same credit union, which ended up continuing to finance,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cAs my credit grew better interest rates came, and higher financing amounts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Garcia purchased the McLaren in 2016, valued at $160,000. He put down $30,000, while the bank financed the other $130,000. But it wasn\u2019t long before he set his sights on another car: a 1999 R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec, which is not available in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing a car aficionado, I love so many vehicles,\u201d he said. \u201cThis one was definitely a dream being that they only made 282 of them worldwide. And it was mainly just in Japan that you know, it\u2019s where the car came from, and it\u2019s such a rarity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to carefully scaling his car selections up from a $10,000 used Honda over the last 18 years, Garcia made a few other shrewd financial decisions. He bought a multi-bedroom house and rented out rooms to fellow airmen, and he invested in a franchise of Capriotti\u2019s sub shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI bought a house by Edwards, and ended up selling, and I bought another home down at Travis,\u201d he noted. \u201cI ended up renting that one out and bought another one. When the time was right, I ended up selling both of those houses and invested in opening up a Capriotti sandwich franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And although Garcia is happy with his Nissan Skyline, he foresees rejoining the McLaren family again someday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI do want to continue to pursue what\u2019s next,\u201d he said. \u201cI think I love the McLaren brand. I love what it stands for, the ideology of its race roots. So I\u2019d love to be able to get back into a McLaren.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Patience is the key to owning the car of your dreams without breaking the bank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-post-observation-post","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,68,12,26,13,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3271],"class_list":["post-67043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-military-culture","category-news","category-newsletters","category-off-duty","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"5OHQ4G6TRRCHPLPPUSE43QGCQ4","arc_canonical_url":"\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2022\/06\/30\/how-this-e-8-bought-a-mclaren-without-financing-at-27-percent\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"observation-post","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n