Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering

New car: buy with cash or 0% financing
Some things you missed in your analysis:   How will financing change your insurance costs?  I.e. what is the difference between the insurance that you would buy for yourself and what they require?   Note that it is possible that your insurance preferences are more stringent than the financing company's.  If so, this isn't a big deal.  But what's important is to consider if that's true.  Because if you'd prefer to drive with only the legal minimum insurance and they insist that you have full coverage with no more than a $1000 deductible, that's a significant difference.   Remember that you don't have $22.5k for six years.  You have an average of $10.5k (($22.5k + -$1500)/2) for six years.  Because you make payments ($24k) throughout.  So you start with $22.5k and subtract $333.33 a month until you reach -$1500.  That neglects both investment gains and potential losses.   It's not the $333 payment that will freak out mortgage companies.  It's the $24k debt.  But that's offset by your $22.5k in assets at the beginning.  And the car of course counts as an asset, albeit at lower than its sale value.  I.e. from the bank's perspective, paying $22.5k for a car out of savings is almost as bad as borrowing $24k for a car.  Both reduce your net worth.   Watch out for hidden fees.  In particular, 0% interest can often change into higher interest under certain circumstances.   If we assume a 7% return for the six years, that's about $1400 the first year and less each year after.  Perhaps $4500 over six years.  But you aren't going to get a 7% return if you keep $24,000 in a bank account in case you have to pay off the loan.  Instead, you'll get more like 1%, less than inflation.  Even five year Certificates of Deposit are only about 2%, right around inflation (1.9% for previous twelve months).   You can't keep the $24,000 in a securities account and be sure that it will be there when you need it.  If the market crashes tomorrow, your $24,000 might be worth $12,000 instead.  You'd have to throw in extra money from elsewhere.  Instead of making $4500 at the cost of $1500, you'd have paid $25,500 for $12,000.  Not a good deal.  So for your plan to work, that $24,000 needs to be in an account that won't fall in value.   You either need to compromise on the idea of a separate account that is always there when you need it, or you have to accept rather low returns.   Personally, I would prefer not to have the debt and not to pay extra on the insurance.  But that's me.  The potential investment returns are not worth it to me.  If you give up the separate account, you can make a few thousand dollars more.  But your risk is higher.