We got a new toy....

Published on September 24, 2005 By dharmagrl In Misc

We had to junk our Jeep the week before last. We got an emissions test card in the mail, and knew that there was no way the Jeep would pass. it was going to cost us more to get it up to standard than we paid for it, so we decided that it's time had come and we sold it to a salvage yard for $45.

That left us with one vehicle. We thought that we'd be okay with just the one, but that proved to not be the case. Dave needs the car for work and I hate being stranded at home - yeah, I have my bike but that's no good to me if I need to go into town or pick up the kids from school. Shea has Spanish club and Davey has band after school and Dave can't get off work to go and get them. We tried my driving him to and from work so that I can have the car, but that was costing us a LOT more in gas - plus, he'd be late and I'd get irritated because I'd have to drop whatever it was that I was doing in oder to go and get him when he called.

Last week, the alternator went out on the car and had to be replaced. We were stranded; we had to rent a car so that we could get around whilst the car was in the shop. That was the deciding factor...we knew that we needed to have more than one vehicle.

So, we were on the lookout for another vehicle. We saw a Subaru Legacy that we liked the look of, but because of it's age and the amount of miles on it we weren't going to be able to get the financing deal we wanted. It was a little discouraging; we felt like we'd worked hard to pay off bills and improve our credit but that we'd wasted our time.

Wednesday, we found a Ford Explorer on one of the Auffenberg car lots in Belleville. We applied to finance it, but didn't really hold out much hope. It was an older one (97) and we figured we'd have just a hard time getting the financing deal we wanted...but we gave it a shot anyway.

We were pleasantly surprised. We got the payments we wanted, at the APR we wanted, and we even got GAP insurance.

So, last night we bought home our new toy:

Like I said, it's a '97, but it's been really well looked after. In fact, as we were going through the papers in the glove box last night, we found the original bill of sale. Someone paid $29,000 for it when it was brand new - we got it for just over $5000.

It runs well, it drives nicely, and best of all it'll be paid for in 36 months.

I love it!

Comments

Moderateman

on Sep 24, 2005

sweettttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.................... see when yer a good person good things happen.

Spc Nobody Special

on Sep 24, 2005

Ooooooh, shiny!!!!

dharmagrl

on Sep 24, 2005

Ooooooh, shiny!!!!

Yeah, I know!

see when yer a good person good things happen.

Are you telling me that because you think I haven't been a good person lately? Or are you telling other people who might read this? i'm not trying to be nasty, btw...I'm just curious.

Anyway, yeah....this is a reward for all the scrimping and saving that we've been doing. The interest rate we got on this loan is 5% lower than on our last car loan...that's a HUGE deal to us.

bakerstreet

on Sep 24, 2005

Nice.

Careful though, some person* will come an itemize everything you post about and claim you are a fraud and really much wealthier than you claim to be...

(* expletive omitted)

dharmagrl

on Sep 24, 2005

Nice.

Thanks!

Careful though, some person* will come an itemize everything you post about and claim you are a fraud and really much wealthier than you claim to be...

Yes, I'm really a multi-millionairess who has a 12 bedroom, 12 bathroom home with a pool, jacuzzi, tennis court and 6 car garage. I have maids to cater to my every whim and my home office is overflowing with cutting edge technology. I don't have to work - I just describe myself as a stay at home mom to fit in with everyone else, and my husband works 60 hours a week for fun. The 'deployments' I talk about are really family vacations at our palace in Saudi Arabia, we go there to hob nob with the Saudi Royal family.

I think the word you were looking for was 'asshole'.

terpfan1980

on Sep 24, 2005

Congrats....

Your story is similar to mine a while back.

My 2000 Dodge Neon was showing signs of a slipping transmission, and since it was long out of warranty, and going to be expensive to get fixed, I went shopping for a replacement.

I was also very pleasantly surprised at finding a 2000 Ford Explorer XLS that had about 20k fewer miles than I had on the Neon. The sticker said much more, but I was able to get it for $8500, and after trading in the Neon and getting book value for it, I only had to finance approx $7k. I'm stretched out longer on the payments, but I keep paying extra to the payments, and hope to have it paid off well in advance of the original payment period. The payments are very comfortable for me, and leave me plenty of $$ to pay for fuel for it.

The family is also very happy, with my not-so-young and not-so-small son easily able to fit in the back seat and still leave his sister plenty of personal space, and plenty of room for my wife also.

For me, the use of the AWD may come into play in the winter months, and may help me wipe out my formerly standard "if there's snow, I'm gonna be a no show" rules.

Anyway, glad you got a nice vehicle at a price you were happy with.

dharmagrl

on Sep 24, 2005

I'm stretched out longer on the payments, but I keep paying extra to the payments, and hope to have it paid off well in advance of the original payment period

We could have gone for longer, but to be honest we're better off going for three years....we're paying over the minimum payment amount as well, so we might be able to get it paid for in 2 1/2 years or even less. Our car is supposed to be paid for next summer, but we're going to be able to be done with it before January, leaving the amount that WAS going towards the car free to be dropped on the truck (on top of the scheduled payment).

A word of warning about 4WD...it's not all that it's made out to be. I totalled my Jeep (slid on black ice into oncoming traffic and got nailed head-on by a semi) whilst I was in 4WD, so it doesn't always save you from skids and slides. Just be careful.....don't get lulled into a falso sense of security because you have all wheel drive.

So, how do you like your Explorer? We're pretty happy with ours so far....

ParaTed2k

on Sep 24, 2005

Nice SUV!!!

We're going to make a good Republican out of you yet! ;~D

It really is nice, I hope you have a great time with it!

terpfan1980

on Sep 24, 2005

Fully understand on the 4WD....

One of my favorite sayings when I see idiots flipped over on the side of the road in snowy weather around here refers to 4WD - it's designed to get you going.... it doesn't do anything to help you stop.

So many MOErons seem to ignore that when winter comes. They climb behind the wheel of their 4WD's and think they own the road. They go racing through the snowy roads as if the roads were dry and then hit brakes and off they slide. If they hold down the speed, they'll get where their going in plenty of time. Especially around this area, where when it snows everyone is expecting everyone to be late or not even show up at all. Take your time, leave extra time to get to and from, and everything will be fine.

I like the Explorer I have a lot. I really wish I had the $$ for a Hybrid Ford Escape, but they are brand new, probably don't have the bugs worked out of them completely, and who knows in a few years when batteries in them have to be replaced how much stuff like that will really cost. They also don't really have as much passenger room as the Explorer does, and honestly given the fact that my entire family is overweight (some of more so than others), having a vehicle that can handle a heavier load is better for us than having us all cram into a little car.

I've been there and done that some years back with a little 3 cylinder Geo Metro. At the time I had it, my kids were much smaller, and more easily squeezed into the rear seat area of a 2 door hatchback.

The Explorer also works very well for me to haul equipment around at work, and give rides occassionally to co-workers when we get an occassional break and have time to go out for lunch somewhere near work.

Mr_Frog

on Sep 27, 2005

Sorry, I have to say it.

Ugh, a Ford.

Looks nice though.

-- B

foreverserenity

on Sep 27, 2005

Hey you SUV driver....

Ok so don't become one of those SUV drivers ok!

Congrats on your new ride!

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!