Recently, the unexpected happened. One of the cars broke and started to feel like it was going to completely break down somewhere on the side of the road when there was no one around to help.
Personally, I am not a huge fan of living with stress. In fact, I'm nearly 100% convinced that this is the cause of many health problems. So, when I can avoid the stress, I do. In this case, having a car that was unreliable and just waiting for a final breakdown was not appealing to me.
So, after deciding on a car and what we thought would be a reduction in sticker price and trade-in, we went and found the car dealership closest to where we live, walked in, test drove, and finally bought a car. In short, we did it in a single trip, single transaction. Fortunately, we were able to afford it and had good credit. Other people are not so lucky.
The big lesson learned is to not wait until the last minute. The car had already started showing signs of getting worn down and needing repairs. A repair bill from only about six weeks ago topped 1000 dollars. So, it would have been much better to trade it in before those types of bills started cropping up because the trade in value probably would not have been much different.
I would follow the advice over at Free Money Finance on getting a car. It certainly seems like solid advice. So, like many things in life, the longer you wait to deal with the problem, the worse your situation will be.
There were many positive aspects though. And I think that one of the best things that you can do in life is to focus on positive things.
1. The car is brand new, eye-catching, reliable, and will hold its value better than the old car.
2. The monthly payment is easily affordable and is 100 dollars less than the old car payment.
3. We'll easily be able to pay it off early and finally be in a positive rather than negative equity position when we trade it in.
4. There will be savings on repairs as well as cost of fuel. So overall, a good deal.
Personally, I am not a huge fan of living with stress. In fact, I'm nearly 100% convinced that this is the cause of many health problems. So, when I can avoid the stress, I do. In this case, having a car that was unreliable and just waiting for a final breakdown was not appealing to me.
So, after deciding on a car and what we thought would be a reduction in sticker price and trade-in, we went and found the car dealership closest to where we live, walked in, test drove, and finally bought a car. In short, we did it in a single trip, single transaction. Fortunately, we were able to afford it and had good credit. Other people are not so lucky.
The big lesson learned is to not wait until the last minute. The car had already started showing signs of getting worn down and needing repairs. A repair bill from only about six weeks ago topped 1000 dollars. So, it would have been much better to trade it in before those types of bills started cropping up because the trade in value probably would not have been much different.
I would follow the advice over at Free Money Finance on getting a car. It certainly seems like solid advice. So, like many things in life, the longer you wait to deal with the problem, the worse your situation will be.
There were many positive aspects though. And I think that one of the best things that you can do in life is to focus on positive things.
1. The car is brand new, eye-catching, reliable, and will hold its value better than the old car.
2. The monthly payment is easily affordable and is 100 dollars less than the old car payment.
3. We'll easily be able to pay it off early and finally be in a positive rather than negative equity position when we trade it in.
4. There will be savings on repairs as well as cost of fuel. So overall, a good deal.
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