How to Buy a Car

Just got the title to my car in the mail yesterday along with all the loan paperwork. My loan total was for $9927.30 and I made $11,312.03 in payments....that's $1384.73 in interest over the course of 2 1/2 years. That doesn't sound so bad on a $10,000 loan, but I could have definitely used that money elsewhere. My father never made car payments. I remember in 1985 when he took my sister and I with him to buy a car and let us sit in on the negotiations. I didn't think much about it at the time, but it was a really good lesson. The salesman was running numbers and when he finally stopped scurrying around, my dad said "So how much is it if I write a check for the whole amount today?" I just remember the guy's jaw dropped as my father wrote a check for $10,000, walked out with a good deal and no car payments. That's what I'd like to do next time, and as I'm planning on driving this car until it falls apart, I think I should have the money saved up by then to do it.