Car Payments

I bought a brand new car in 2000. I told myself that I was willing to have a car payment for 5 years under the condition that I would not have a car payment for the following 5 years. This means that I would have to have the car for at least 10 years. But I was okay with this because I bought a car I loved. It was nothing fancy. It was the bottom of the line. But I loved my car. And as predicted I paid off the car in 2005.

I became a mother in 2006. My car was a family car. It was a simple 4 door car. But when I bought the car I lived in an area where I never even thought about air conditioning. And my car did not have it. But now I live in a place where air conditioning is a NECESSITY for at least 5 months of the year. I could have lived with it. But I could not do that to my child since we often go on very long car trips. So in 2007 I sold my car... my beloved car... and took possession of my mom's car since she was getting a new one. This allowed me to not have car payments still. But I do NOT love my new car. And it is older...1997. But it gets the job done.

It is now 2010, the year I had predicted getting a new car. I want a new car. Mostly for vanity reasons. I want a cute little new car. But when I thought about it logically I could not come up with a good excuse to spend the money to get a new car. So I have put it off. How can I justify a car payment when I have so many other things that I NEED to pay for?

What I have discovered is that all of my extra cash is going for ... car repairs. It is 13 years old. I have had all 4 tires replaced. This was discovered after I drove through a snow storm on vacation and I was pretty sure I had no ability to get up a hill -- not a good thing since I was going into 3 different mountain ranges. Four new tires and a much overdue alignment was about $450.

But if that is all I need to fix this year then it is still financially worth it to not have a car payment.

Once I had that done I almost immediately began to notice problems with what I assumed were brake issues. Now one would think that while they were in there putting on new tires that they would take a quick glance at my brakes. But no! I took the car back in complaining that if I slammed on the brakes the car slid to the left. Just guessing that is a bad thing. So they checked it out. Yep, bad brakes. Actually REALLY bad brakes! In their attempt to get the old brakes off some of the bolts holding the car together snapped. Probably a good thing that didn't happen while slamming on the brakes. Two new front brakes and replacement of all the broken parts was about $650.

Really beginning to question my decision to keep this car.

About 2 weeks after getting my brakes fixed another little problem show itself. I got in the car the other day and started driving. And the radio cut out. But it came back. And then it happened again. And again. I thought it was strange that the radio station was having technical difficulties and was not commenting on it. By the time it cut out the 4th time I began to see a pattern. Every time I depressed the brake, the radio cut out. So I tested it all the way to day care. Yep, every time. My not-so-beloved car began to remind me of a car we had when I was a kid. One of it's endearing qualities was that if you left the headlights on and turned off the car, the horn would honk. After dropping Ladybug at daycare I got back into the car and turn the key. NOTHING happened. I turned it again and the car turned on. I looked at the clock. It had reset. The radio came on. Not my station. So I drove straight to the mechanic again. A new battery and few connecting things just under $200.

Now it is evident that I am spending more than a car payment. The thought has entered my mind to cut my losses and get a new car. But at this rate all of the parts on my car will soon be new so there will be no need to get a new car.

Mean Mama