Last Saturday my mom asked to borrow my truck for a couple of hours. I’ve managed to stretch that into five days and counting. I’m not in ANY hurry to get it back. As much affection as I have for Bubba, he’s kind of driving me crazy right now.
This is what went through my head when I got my mom’s car: Wow this is so awesome, I can just open the door and get in and out! Ooh, power windows! Cruise control! POWER STEERING THAT WORKS! Whoa, better watch my speed, it’s easy to let an automatic get away from me. Such a relief not to have to keep an eye on the temperature gauge. It’s so easy to turn and park!!!
I’m ready for a new car. I want this:
But my truck really isn’t worth much at all, so every month I drive it is a car payment saved.
Sometimes being frugal really sucks.
From Lauren:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/07/60-toyota-prius/
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From Misti:
I say throw in the frugal towel and get the new car!!! You’ll never WANT a car payment when you’ve got something that’s already paid for, and sounds like Bubba is quite the hassle!
From Tabaitha:
Whenever you are ready to buy a new vehicle, you should visit http://www.fightingchance.com. We used it a few years ago when we were planning on buying our Mazda 3. It’s a great website that helps with the process and it saves time having to go from dealership to dealership. We bought the packet of information, read thru it and decided on everything we wanted in our vehicle, composed our fax with the amount we were wanting to pay for the car, and sent it out to the Houston dealerships fleet managers. They contacted us and we ended up getting our car for $300 above MSRP and the only time we stepped inside a dealership was to pick up our new car. In and out in an hour tops. I only recommend this method if you are looking to buy a new vehicle. It doesn’t work on used vehicles.
From Chelsea:
I drove my car until it wouldn’t start. It got quite annoying but it was worth it to not have that car payment!
From Scott:
Here’s how I like to think about it:
You can get a new car, with the payment, and no more weird old-car hassles.
Or you can keep the old car with the hassles and do $400 a month worth of other stuff (fix up the dining room, buy your brother-in-law video games, whatever).
Is not having the hassles of the old car + the fun of a new car worth not doing those other things?
From Rae:
I guess that the longer you wait the more you can afford to choose to get a prius rather than some cheaper car which simply has functioning doors… so maybe being frugal is fun? Okay, I am trying to hard. Hm… you’re right. Sometimes frugal just ain’t fun.
From Christine:
Hrm. That really does suck about your truck. One possible justification for getting a new car would be that at some point something really bad & expensive might happen to your truck and/or the cost of keeping it working approaches the amount of a car payment, so it could be better to put that money into a newer car that works and keeps your stress levels lower. :)
Instead of a new car, would it be possible to get a well functioning newer used car?
From Kait:
My car stalls all the time. At least once a month. Also, the gas gauge is empty and it likes to let me know it’s out by dying on the downward descent of a very large hill (now I track by mileage).
I always tell R there is no way he’d put up with my car.
Then he tells me every month is a car payment saved.
I feel your pain!
From Lauren From Texas:
I know what you mean. I seriously am having a love-hate relationship with my car right now, but as long as that sucker continues to run, I’m keeping it!
From Mindy:
I was driving a 1994 Chevy Cavalier for a long time… the driver’s side window didn’t work, half of the locks worked, as with any car, it had its quirks… But it got me places and it wasn’t an extra payment, so I feel you! THEN my husband did some work on it… long story very short, the car began rolling out of the garage, and the driver’s side door bent ALL the way back after catching on the side of the garage. After talking about a new car for over a year, he sheepishly called me outside and said, “Babe.. I think we can go look at cars today.” Not that you should roll your truck down your driveway to see what happens… ;)