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Car-related WWYD
Ok, so I'll try to lay this out without an excessively long backstory...
We have two cars. The car I drive is an '07 Elantra that will be paid off in March of 2012. The car that DH drives is a '98 Honda Civic that has been paid off for several years now. Our originial intention was for the Civic to survive until the Elantra is paid off, at which point we'd replace the Civic and continue to have only one car payment.
Well, the Civic is not surviving so well at the moment. Over the past 3 weeks or so, we have dropped almost $1,000 into repairs just to keep it running, and honestly, that's probably as much as the dang thing is worth right now. We're also concerned that the transmission may be taking a sh!t again, as it's a rebuilt tranny that I had to put in several years ago when the original died.
In any case, we're trying to decide what to do. Do we pursue a new car purchase ASAP while the Civic is still running and we can potentially get a little bit on a trade-in? Do we wait it out since we've just put so much $ into it, and just hope that the Civic lasts for a while? Is there a point where putting any more repair money into the Civic is just plain stupid? (And don't say now, because it's already too late, lol)
There are some good financing offers out there right now (0%), so it may be a good time to buy. But... we'd still be doubling (or more) our monthly car payment expense, and that just plain sucks. It's not that we couldn't budget the money, but just that we've been trying to put that money other places right now (savings, remodeling, etc.)
ETA: We've considered buying used, but we would want something fairly new (reliability/repair factor), and with what we've been able to find, our payment would be nearly the same for a used car (w/ interest) versus a new car (at 0%). Used car prices seem to be really high right now!
So if you made it through this novel.... WWYD?
Re: Car-related WWYD
I would stop dumping money into the Civic and entertain the idea of a new or new/used car for your husband. It doesn't hurt to go look and see what is out there and what you'd get on a trade right now. Right??
Or you could have him drive the Civic until it dies
I'm no help, am I??
I just hate the thought of putting thousands into a car that may only last a few more months when you could have used that money towards a few months of payments on something that works.
This is where I stand, too. Start looking now so you're ready to buy when the Civic finally dies and don't have to rush into things.
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This is our issue. We keep saying "well, if the repair is less than a couple months' payment on a new car, and the car lasts, then we're ahead".
It all started about 2.5 weeks ago with a new cat-back exhaust. $360. We figured hey, no huge deal, still better than a new car payment! Done.
So then the car started stalling. Took it to a repair shop, they kept it for four days and found "Nothing" wrong. $50
Get the car back, car stalls again. Starts stalling while driving... super. So we take it to the dealer's shop (stalling along the way). Got it there last Thursday. Friday afternoon they say it's the ignitor coil. Diagnostic, part, labor - $365.
Repair is done, so we go to pick up the car Friday evening and the m-fer does not start. I sh!t you not. So we leave it there over the weekend. They call yesterday evening, say it's the Ignitor "also". That part is $239+tax, but they won't charge us labor. Call this morning - can't get the part until tomorrow, but then it will be done. They're "pretty confident" this will solve the problem. (But of course there are no guarantees...)
So that's where we sit right now. We're already $700+ in repairs before the stupid ignitor that they're putting in tomorrow, but we feel like we can't say no because the damn thing isn't running without it.
I seriously want to light it on fire.....
I would def start looking. It sounds like a snowball effect. That is a lot of money to put into a car that most likely is on it's way out.
I am declaring the Civic to have had it's 9 lives and lived them all. LOL
We've already gone out and looked at several cars, got some pricing, etc. Part of my issue is deciding when to make the jump. I'm afraid that if we wait it out, then with our luck the financing offers will be craptastic when the Civic really does die. I don't want to look back and think "oh, we should have just bought back then when the offers were good..." KWIM?
But I also don't want to buy now just to take advantage of the offers when we've just put so much into the civic and there could be offers just as good when it does die....
Gahhhhhh I hate this.
What is the BBV of the Civic in a fair condition? That would be a good indicator of whether I would sell now or wait until it dies...but then if the value is less than the amount of repairs you have already done then you need to get out from under it and get a more reliable car.
The KBB trade-in value for fair condition is $1,725. More than I expected, haha. Still, though, we've just put more than half of its value into it in repairs. Hmph
Yeah see that would be another thing that I would want to look at, if you are going to anticipate having to put in more than its trade in value, given that you might not receive that much for the trade, then it might be worth it to look at a more reliable option...ya know?
If rates are good, take advantage.
Or still sell it and get an inexpensive car and have him drive for a year, then when yours is paid off, get him a nice one. If it's a car your DH can get cheap and fix, then sell for profit, even better!
I think you girls are probably right. I guess we felt kind of "pot committed" after sinking this much money into repairs. I'll have to talk to DH about it.
I just wonder if we should try the FSBO route first or just try it as a trade-in? I imagine we'd get more selling it ourselves, but I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle?
How many miles does the car have? Could be a computer issue.
You still have it at the dealer?
Go to that dealer and tell them look, I don't want to pay for the repairs to this car what can I get on a trade in and help me get a new car.
We delt with Wendy at Brown Honda if you have it there. She was really easy to work with and had us in a car with the payment we wanted in half hour...(we thought about it at home but she had the numbers and stuff pretty quick.
We did that with the Mazda before we finally fixed it. It was dead in Cleveland and we had talked with a used car guy (at the dealer) and were ready to buy a used car from them but the sales guy dropped the ball (had a death in the family and didn't call us back or fwd our calls) but they had a pretty good deal for us involving a trade for our car that (at that point) didn't run (they didn't know what was wrong with it)
Now it's been running great since we had it fixed over a year and $1000 later BUT it's worth a shot.