| reducing car or eliminating car payment |
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Datsun72
New Member
Cash: $ 0.65
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Joined: 11 Jun 2014
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| reducing car or eliminating car payment |
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Hello, new to this forum. Currently my wife and I have 2 cars and both have notes. 1 vehicle is leased the other is financed. We both need cars but would like to reduce or monthly payments or try to eliminate one.
Before my wife got her car, she had a car in which it was paid off. She got into an accident and we got her another car with a note, we couldn't find a similar car with what the insurance paid out so we had to get a newer car. We were thinking about fixing her car but it needed tons of work and she had about a 50 mile commute daily and I felt it was not safe for her. Now I am contemplating taking part of my monthly savings combine it with her monthly portion and pay off the car as quickly as possible. It would be a short term sacrifice but a long term relief.
BTW we tried selling it and no luck and buying something with cash but no luck
Any thoughts?
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Wed Jun 11, 2014 6:13 pm |
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oldguy
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Location: arizona
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Welcome!
You have to ask yourself why you want to prepay the loans. Lots of people want to prepay debt just because it's there - or because grandma said that debt is bad.
But whenever you prepay debt, that means that the money is NOT going to some other place - such as your 401k? Is the loan expensive? Are you paying lots of interest?
I always keep our car loans for the full term, the interest rates are cheap so it is a small price to pay for the use of the money.
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Wed Jun 11, 2014 9:42 pm |
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Datsun72
New Member
Cash: $ 0.65
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Joined: 11 Jun 2014
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I would like to free up the cash so we can save for our place. The interest is reasonable for my credit @ 6.5%. The monthly note is $357(including interest) plus another $150 for insurance and don't forget the other car note @$550. Basically our monthly note plus insurance is for 2 cars $1057.
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Thu Jun 12, 2014 6:02 pm |
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Wino
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Location: Dubai
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quote:
...so we had to get a newer car.
No, you wanted to get a newer car. Don't confuse wants with needs. Your wife would have done just fine with a cheaper, paid-for car. Most people go broke buying things that lose value: cars, ATVs, boats, trailers...
Buy what you can afford, and don't make statements that you HAD to buy that because of XYZ. That's just deluding yourself.
My instance: DW had to have a new Tahoe. I was not able to convince her otherwise, yet I don't say, "I had to buy the new Tahoe because...." Instead, I admit it was a dumb purchase, but one I can pay off. Were it my car, I would have gotten a 6 year old Toyota or Jeep, depending on the used car price and I would have paid cash. The one thing I don't delude myself on is that I was forced to buy it. I capitulated to her desires, and probably unwisely.
The first thing you need to do is stop lying to yourself.
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Sat Jun 14, 2014 6:57 pm |
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Datsun72
New Member
Cash: $ 0.65
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Joined: 11 Jun 2014
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No available cash at the time. Insurance money went to other obligations.
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Mon Jun 16, 2014 1:17 am |
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soybean
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Location: Ohio
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quote:
Originally posted by Datsun72
No available cash at the time. Insurance money went to other obligations.
Is this your response to Wino's post? If so, it makes no sense whatsoever.
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Mon Jun 16, 2014 12:49 pm |
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oldguy
Senior Member
Cash: $ 751.85
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Location: arizona
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I'm going to side with wino - you're rationalizing your desire to over-buy new cars. It's a common problem, near-new cars are a status-marker - so people say "we need reliable cars", 'we can't sell the car", "there was no cash", yada. So they buy way too much car to keep up with the joneses. In fact, most family financial problems start with new cars.
The cost of ownership of cars varies greatly - Leased cars often cost $5000/yr, new cars cost about $5000/yr when you trade every 3 or 4 years - it is the "newness" that is expensive. You can do the opposite, let someone else lease a car for 3 yrs and pay that $15,000. Then you buy the 3-yr-old car with only about 45,000 miles on it and drive it another 150,000 miles - your cost of ownership will be only about $1500/yr - way less than the $5000/yr that you are now paying.
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Mon Jun 16, 2014 3:12 pm |
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faugaun
Contributing Member
Cash: $ 6.70
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My car is 18 years old (not for sell) 270k miles and still chugging, about 20k miles ago a ball joint failed and the wheel fell off....anyways I towed it had the ball joint on both sides replaced and gonna drive it till the wheels fall off again. Cha Ching loving this pink slip 
BTW my plan for replacement will occur when it costs $0 to replace it with a brand new vehicle and its getting pretty darn close at this point.
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Mon Jun 16, 2014 3:53 pm |
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soybean
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quote:
Originally posted by faugaun
BTW my plan for replacement will occur when it costs $0 to replace it with a brand new vehicle and its getting pretty darn close at this point.
Hmm, I guess you didn't read oldguy's good advice about buying cars.
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Mon Jun 16, 2014 6:08 pm |
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faugaun
Contributing Member
Cash: $ 6.70
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quote:
Originally posted by soybean
quote:
Originally posted by faugaun
BTW my plan for replacement will occur when it costs $0 to replace it with a brand new vehicle and its getting pretty darn close at this point.
Hmm, I guess you didn't read oldguy's good advice about buying cars.
$0 per year is better than $1000 per year....
Basically I'm waiting for cost of oil to increase enough and efficiency of electric vehicles to improve enough, such that the monthly cost of purchasing the new car is less than the savings in fuel costs.
Currently with federal/state stimulus on ev current oil prices and current efficiency I'm only shy $50-$100 per month of the break even point.
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Tue Jun 17, 2014 3:18 am |
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