Well, those problems my DH was telling me about proved to be costly. We put over $3,000 into the car back in August and this time around it was going to be over $1,000 with no telling how long these repairs would make her last. The poor car has been a trooper and given many years of faithful service. This was my very first car and it has a special place in my heart. A 1999 Saturn SL2 I bought new when our first child was just 6 months old. It has over 170,000 miles on it now and is a real eyesore since someone decided to use it as a canvas for their "keying" while I was in school a couple years ago. I am sort of sad to let her go, but that is what we must do. We're going to place an ad on Craigslist as well as put it out on the street with our contact info and we'll see if we can get a couple hundred dollars for the poor old dear. She does run, and maybe someone who has a mechanical sense will pick her up and make her new.
We went today and got hubby a new 2009 Civic LX at a great price. We pulled $3,000 from the EF as a down payment. of course, our car insurance will be going up as well, but since I used a good amount of this year's tax refund to pad the Freedom Accounts, we have plenty to meet the new obligations.
Time to start up that EF mountain again!
New car = depleted EF
April 4th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
April 4th, 2009 at 11:56 pm 1238885801
April 5th, 2009 at 12:51 am 1238889105
This is a good time to buy a car if you're in the market for one.
April 5th, 2009 at 06:30 pm 1238952648
April 5th, 2009 at 06:34 pm 1238952867
I always say around the forums we have driven some OLD cars. But I have never put $1k into any of my cars. I definitely think it was time to move on. (Those decisions are probably easier when you barely paid $1k for the car in the first place though).
The civic is a great choice. You are going to drive it forever and save up cash for your next car, right?
Of course reminds me, I am anti-trade-in but the dealer offered my $500 trade-in credit for the 1993 Saturn in 2006 - we took it. (The offers on my Mustang, on the other hand, were laughable. SOld that one private party for 5 times as much). Sometimes it doesn't hurt to ask... Good luck getting cash for it!
April 5th, 2009 at 11:51 pm 1238971889