Not so "budget" way of paying off car!

[luvsJack]

Well, we were able to use our tax refund for last year to pay off the rest of our credit cards and were working very, very slowly to pay down the car. But now it is all paid off!

I would be more excited but the insurance paid it off because ds totaled it! He wasn't hurt at all, nor was the other driver. Just a lost guy in a van made a slam on the brakes turn and ds hit him in the rear. (yep, ds's fault. The cops weren't even totally sure it would be considered a legal turn--you would have to know the area but its not an actual cross over on the highway but is part of a "get on" ramp that crosses the southbound lane and goes to the north bound lane, so its not really gradual enough to make a safe turn from the highway. But a rear end accident is a rear end accident.)

So now we are going car shopping on Saturday. I had hoped to pay my car off and save a lot of money before buying another, but with the economy effecting dh's job, we had not gotten that far.

Now our mission is to find something that is good on gas and hopefully we can get a smaller payment than we had. I HATE car shopping. I think I have a distrust of car salesmen and hate when they have to tell me all the great things about the car that I don't necessarily believe anyway. (no offense to salesmen out their).

Oh, well maybe the better, cheaper car is just out there waiting for me to come and buy it!

[aka-mad4themouse]

I'm glad that your DS is uninjured. Both of my kids have been rear-ended when stopped - DD while stopped for a school bus and DS when stopping for a light. It's so scary when you get that call, "Mom, I'm okay but..."

[luvsJack]

Yes, it is a terrifying call!! We are so thankful that he wasn't hurt.

[bjscheel]

Well good luck! Our van was "paid off" when we hadn't even had it a month! It was burned up in our garage fire. Fortunately the insurance paid it all off and then some! We got a van I like a lot better- DVD player, nicer color, doors work better. And our payment is lower, mainly because this time we traded in the car. (Sure was a good thing we didn't trade it in the first time- we needed it!)

Hope this works out as well for you!

[auralia]

a rear end accident isn't always the guy in behinds fault, my hubby merged and a guy hit him in the reare because "he didn't want the guy behind him to hit him when he stepped on his breaks so he just kept "going fast" and the cop accepted that and saild hubby was at fault!!!! the south is so backwords

[Chicago526]

Have you considered buying a bondo buggy for cash? Something ugly but that runs well? You can then save what you would have been paying in car payments for a better car or for repairs on your "new" car if needed.

I own a '98 Saturn. It's got over 150k on it and it still runs (and even looks) great. It's probably only worth $3k to $4k. If you can scrounge up that much, you may find something that will work well for you.

[Shmily1]

DH bought me an awesome "new" convertible with only 60,000 miles last Friday night off of Craig's list for $5000!!! I love it!! It's almost like one I had a few years back. I had three payments left and someone hit us head on... you could say it was paid off too!!

[Sleepingbooty]

Well, good news that no one was hurt, but bummer about losing the car. Honestly, if it were me, I'd save up a couple grand and buy an older car just so I wouldn't have payments. Then, while you are driving that, put aside what you can, and when you have a few thousand more saved up, sell the beater, and put the money together with what you've saved and trade up. Keep doing that for a few years, and you'll be able to pay for a very nice late model used car with cash. This is what Dave Ramsey recommends.