That is a good long life for a car body driven on salted roads in winter.

You don't give us much data to judge your car. If it has less than 100,000 miles on it, parts like the engine, all its belt driven accessories, transmission, and radio likely have more value than junkyard price for the entire vehicle. However, you will have to market these items yourself to get that value. You may find that it is cost effective and convenient to let the salvage yard do the marketing and disposal of fluids.

A 2.5% loan seems fair enough; How much can you save by getting a lesser rate? Not much.

1) Is 2.49% a good rate? Or is there another place I can go that would give me a better rate?

It is a high rate. Add up the total interest. You cannot invest and get a return that good on the price.

2) I'm thinking of buying my car in New Hampshire to avoid paying sales tax. Is this a wise strategy?

Always. Plus the property tax is high and annual unles the car is 15-17 years old. Good money is buying new engines, transmissions, interiors and paying 25 bucks a year for a tag.

3) My old car is a 1990 Jetta. The only reason I'm dumping it is that it is seriously rusted on the floor, especially under the driver's seat. But the engine is still good. I took good care of the car but didn't realize that the bottom had gotten some serious rust. Other than taking this car to a junkyard, is there anyway I can get anything for it or is this wishful thinking on my part?

Buy a dead engine southern vehicle and swap the engine and useful parts.

Alternatives given. careful what you wish for.

2) I'm thinking of buying my car in New Hampshire to avoid paying sales tax. Is this a wise strategy?

Registering an out of state car into your home state may mean paying a "use" tax. Your DMV site would spell that out.

Go to the library and check Consumer Reports--they do an issue on "which are the best used cars to buy." and explain a lot about buying a used car. Worth a read, and won't cost you anything.

You can't be serious. Our car loans in Canada are between 19 - 21 %.

As you may know from an ealier post, I was about to buy a black 2015
Camry LE with 21K, for $13,500, but it had had a major accident. Also,
it was being sold by a small dealership, Boston Auto Sales.

Well, now I'm posting to see whether the Camry I bought this past Tuesday is an improvement.

I bought a gray 2016 Camry SE with 40K, for $12,700. It has had no
accidents, according to CARFAX. It was a rental. I bought it from the
pre-owned department of a Lexus dealership. Since Lexus and Toyota are
related companies, the car got a really good check, I was told.

Since the bumper to bumper warranty expired on the car at 36K, I bought
warranty for it: 60K or 5 years. I also bought a clear coat protection
plan, and GAP insurance.

Finally, I was told that I can bring the car to the Lexus dealership any time for a cleaning for the lifetime of the car.

I hope this was a good deal. I'm a bit afraid to ask. :)

I called the dealership where I bought the car, a few minutes ago, to get more details on what I got when I bought my car:

Extended warranty: I paid $2,800 for it. The warranty will last for 60K
or 5 years (whichever comes first). This warranty is on top of the 41K.
He said that unlike my 1990 VW Jetta, the 2016 Camry comes with a lot of
technology. It's conceivable that something could go wrong and the
warranty is there to protect me.

Clear coat protection: I paid $1,295 for it. It will last for 7 years.
it covers the inside and outside of my car. For example, if I get a
stain on my seat which cannot come off, the warranty will allow me to
get new upholstery. Another example: If there's bird dropping (or
anything else) on my car which cannot come off, I can get a new paint
job and new clear coat.

GAP insurance: I paid $895 for it and will last for 6 years. And it covers my insurance deductible up to $1000. The reason this insurance is useful for me , I was told, is that I did not put any
money down so I already have a "negative equity." The GAP insurance
protects me if, for example, the car gets totaled.

Finally, I was told that I'll be getting literature
in the mail for my extended warranty, clear coat protection and GAP
insurance.

Please excuse me. This is only the second car I've bought so I'm very new to all this. As I said in an earlier post, I paid $12,700 (plus the above expenses) for my 2016 Camry. My previous car was a used 1990 VW Jetta which I bought in 2001 for about $1,700. I kept it till last Tuesday when I traded it in and got $200 for it. :)

I'd really appreciate any honest feedback. Just trying to get a general sense as to whether I got a decent deal.

Thanks!

Cars depreciate so fast that they really shouldn't be considered positive equity unless you paid cash for brand-new. So I wouldn't have bought the GAP ins, UNLESS $1K might be difficult financially for you in an emergency. In that case, you're paying $150/yr for $1K/yr protection. Not a bad deal, but perhaps not essential.

I have the Cilajet brand of clear coating on our Edge, and one issue with this particular product is that you can't just rinse the car off, the way I was accustomed to. If you do, you have to dry it immediately, preferably with microfiber towels (not cheap) because water spots on the Cilajet. I don't know if your brand might be easier to care for than that. We park our car outside and keep them a long time, so I wanted to keep the paint/interior from fading.

You need to read the instructions for your particular coating and follow them faithfully; the warranty can be voided by use of improper products. If you like to keep your car looking good, then who's to say paying the $$ for the coating was a bad idea? One thing I have noticed is the exterior seems to get a lot less dirty than our previous (uncoated) cars!

An extended warranty can be useful in these days of computerized features. We had a Hyundai Santa Fe and the only problem we ever did have was with some of the computer sensors. The extended warranty was useful for minor things as well, so we never regretted getting it.

Had it been a Honda I wouldn't have bothered with an extended warranty, however. Hondas are extremely reliable (my family all own various models). Toyota is also very reliable so it's probably 50/50 whether it was a good idea to buy the EW or not.

But it is very true newer cars have A LOT of computers. We were told the Edge has over 23 of them!

Be aware that all those whiz-bangs eat up battery life. Try not to leave your car more than a week without running it long enough to recharge the battery (such as leaving on a trip and parking in the long-term lots). If the battery is allowed to go completely dead a simple jump won't work.

I'm going to post separately here, excerpts from an article today in the WSJournal about the battery issue. Or, talk to the dealer service dept. once you feel comfortable about the quality of their advice - we bought our Ford specifically because the service dept. we go to, is one of the very few I've ever trusted of ANY mfg.

Long-Term Parking Can
Kill Your Battery. Here’s the Solution

Batteries
can go completely dead if you leave your car parked for days. Here’s how to
ensure it starts after extended downtime

WS Journal Dan Neil Sept. 14, 2017

((excerpted)

Modern cars consume electricity even when they are
seemingly dormant: GPS systems, proximity sensors, antitheft systems, data
links and automatic vehicle-condition “polling” all draw on the battery. The
question: How long can you leave a tech-heavy car parked before the battery
dies?

...As for how long you can leave a car sitting, estimates
vary. “I am in charge of a fleet of 130 Lexus and Toyota
cars,” said Leo Santamaria, a Toyota
fleet administrator. “I can usually leave them outside for two to three weeks
and the battery is fine.” Much depends on the battery’s condition—newer and
bigger is always better—and the elements. Extreme heat and cold can dim the
lights in a matter of days.

.... But that doesn’t solve the long-term
airport-parking-lot dilemma. Aftermarket solar chargers, with foldable,
dashboard-sized photovoltaic panels, plug into cars’ cigarette-lighter sockets.
These devices can help keep the car alive, provided it’s sitting somewhere
sunning itself. However, not all cars’ accessory outlets remain active when the
vehicle is in Park. And a solar charger cannot crank a dead battery unless
attached to panels the size of a football field.

... Owner’s manuals sometimes recommend disconnecting the
negative battery terminal (the black one!).... The worst-case scenarios are: if
the roadside-assistance truck can’t get it going again, the car will have to be
dragged on locked wheels up a flatbed trailer and unloaded at the service
center the same way. And if a lead-acid battery is repeatedly exhausted, it
will no longer hold a charge. It will "brick" and must be replaced.

...So be kind to batteries, and be prepared. You have
three options: the aforementioned jumper cables, which typically cost under
$20; a portable jump starter or battery booster, like the Cobra Jumpack CPP
7500 ($150, cobra.com), which are small enough to fit
in a glovebox; or a plug-in trickle charger/conditioner that maintains optimal
battery charge while the car is parked, such as a CTEK MUS 4.3 ($120, smartercharger.com).