Looking over the list of chores I set out to accomplish this weekend, I realize that no where on that list was “Buy A New Car.” However, after taking Dawn’s advice over at Fighting Foreclosure on How to keep your car on the road, that’s exactly what I did yesterday.
I dropped the van off Friday night for my service appointment on Saturday. I received the dreaded phone call 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning. The transmission in the van is failing. And it’s going to cost $4,100 to install a rebuilt one. This, on top of the $2,000 in additional repairs Honda recommended I get 2 months ago pushed me to the edge. Time to buy a new vehicle. (I have to stop and give Scott and his boys at Firestone mad props for diagnosing the transmission first, and not changing the oil or diagnosing the steering wheel issues, saving me $75.00 in unnecessary maintenance and diagnosis charges. You WILL be seeing me again!)
Without going into all of the gory details of my seven hours of shopping for a new car, let’s just say that I walked away from the first dealer who was offering me 15.5% interest and I struck a better deal with the next dealer who offered 9.95% interest. I know that it’s still a crappy interest rate, but I do have less than stellar credit.
I hope it’s worth the next 5 years of payments. I hate car payments.
Now to start on that monster list of chores….
Ohhh, but its so pretty. Is it brand new or new to you?
It’s a 2006 – so new to me.
Very nice
Congrats, inspite of not wanting a car payment I’m sure you did a great job in shopping around. You’ll have to post about how you came to your decision. In the next 2 years I’ll probably be in teh same boat.
We just had to do the same thing last week. Our transmision went in the minivan, along with a whole bunch of electrical problems.
My interest rate is the same as yours, I am just going to try my best to make extra payments on the principal and pay it off sooner. End thought..i need the van to get to work, and the kids need it to be safe where ever they go
kelly
We just bought a new car for the Mister. We did the cash for clunkers and got a good deal on the sedan he wanted. I think the saddest part for me was letting our old truck go. It was so good to us and still ran like a champ after 11yrs. I’m not looking forward to the next few yrs of car pymts, but at least he has something he wanted.
Congrats on your new shiny baby, and enjoy the new car smell. LOL
Sometimes that is all you can do. I got my manual out last week and am planning on spending some time and money on my buggy to keep her running, but at the cost of fixing yours, it looks like you did the right thing!
I have also had nothing but GREAT experiences at Firestone. When they knew I couldn’t afford the services they were providing they knocked the price down 10%. Which is awesome of them. This has happened at TWO different Firestone’s in two different states. Until I have a bad experience, I don’t plan on taking my car anywhere else. =)
And I think there is something to be said about a balance between how much money you put into a car and when it is time to get a new one. I think that $4k is where I would draw the line as well.
Nice vehicle, Jenn! That’s a CR-V, right? Those are really nice and great on gas…at least that’s what I’ve heard. Can’t wait to take a ride in the shiny, new grocery go getter!! lol
[...] van’s transmission was failing and I ended up having to buy a new car. Two days later, I got the blue screen of death of my computer, indicated a hard drive crash. [...]
[...] Big Weekend Plans from two weeks ago? The ones that I didn’t get done because I ended up buying a new car? Well, I’m going to try again. Since the new car is at the dealer getting detailed and [...]