in 2005 we were doing really well, financially. my husband had put in a year or so at a really good new job, and was making good money. we paid off his career startup investments (cost more than the new car!) and had pretty much met all our needs and reasonable wants. except that my car was in need of a ton of work (for a car valued at $650) and half the time it wouldn't start.

so we bought a new car, and believe it or not, it was the only case we've ever seen of a new car being cheaper to buy than a used version of the same model. (because of the 4+ month waiting list for a new one, used ones had a several thousand dollar premium.) we could afford to think long term here, so we bought accordingly. we limped the old car along until the new one came.

we financed over 5 years, but refinanced about 8 months later for a better rate. we ended up with a 5.5 year loan, and treated it as a minimum payment. for about a year we made double-triple-quadruple car payments and watched the principal drop like a stone. it felt great! then we ran into some troubles in life and had to spend all our extra money paying hospital bills and coping with a lot of lost income due to injury. we paid the self-imposed minimums for quite a while.

we got a big tax refund this year- my income pays most of our taxes and i forgot to adjust when he lost his job. combined with a little less than our usual payment this month, it was enough to pay the damn thing off

we bought in march 2005, and paid off in february 2008. the refinanced loan was scheduled to be paid off in early 2011. we saved thousands in interest, and the bank lost well over half of the profit it expected to gain from us.

Congrats!

I'm buying my first "real" car. Another 2000$ principle to go.

You know, I told myself before I bought- "don't buy a NEW car" simply due to the immediate off-the-lot depreciation; that "new car smell" I call it. But I must have forgotten. Fortunately, I still like my car very much. When I was unemployed for 3 months, I cried when I thought I'd have to trade it in.

A measly 3.75% fixed rate is the least of my concerns- but 389$/mo payment will be sooo nice to be done with !

thanks! good luck on that last chunk of car loan yourself- i like that you still say you're buying it. lots of people don't seem to get that it's not YOURS until there's no lienholder on the title.

after three years i still really like the car. getting the clear title makes it feel kinda new again!

I'm sooo looking forward to it!

When in conversation about buying my house I jokingly say "Yes- I own my own house. Well, me and the bank... Mainly the bank."



But in that subtle way I do try to convey reality.

GOOD FOR YOU!! We just got our title in the mail too! Such a good feeling. We bought ours in Dec. 2005 for 12k and just paid it off in full in April 08. I'm glad to see we're in good company, owning both of our cars free and clear. Now, to tackle that piggyback loan we've got on our house....

the title came the other day, with lienholder listed as NONE. that felt awesome.

this is the first car i have personally taken out a loan for. we own a few other paid-off cars, but they have their own uses and were all bought well used. i'll probably get flamed for that (ok, already have been), so i'll explain that one was a fixer-upper and is almost ready for sale. one is husband's college beater that will enable him to continue going to school this fall, and the last one is a very old, very rare car with a really low book value that we plan to convert to electric in the future.

and how does this relate to the thread

It didn't. Ban Hammering!

what kind of car are you looking to get.

wait for it...

Wow, imagine that! Maria spammed us in her first post!