It was exciting when the thought of having to replace our current car because it just hit 203K miles and has some cosmetic problems, transmission issues, needs new tires and so on.
We don’t want to put tons of money into it because the worth of the car is less than 1K and if the transmission goes out we are sunk.
We took a portion of our tax return to save and build on to put towards our new to us car. Here is what we are looking for:
– 2005 or newer
– 100K miles or less
– Sedan sits 5 person
– perferably a Mazda, Toyota or a Honda
Those are our criteria, because this car needs to last us at least two years because by then the hubby will be done with school or close to it. Our kids will be older and we will have friends to drive around! We will be in a better financial situation than we now. This car is needed to get us by but still be economically sound with minimal work and so on.
The excitement has worn off. We have visited several websites online including, craigslist, dealerships and so on. We have gone to dealerships and looked around. We have even had our friends look for us as well.
The first hurdle was waiting for the money to come and now its here. The temptation of it being spent is stressful so I am now to the point of just wanting to get it done and over with.
Its fun to go look at cars but not so much when you find something you like and then realize its out of the price range. It’s very disappointing and discouraging.
So what are we doing for now. Adding more to our envelope. I almost feel at this moment that we will have our entire budget in hand by the time we actually go to buy.
Well starting on a Monday we test drove a car we liked. Financing was an issue because we were 1500 shy of our original budget. Thankfully we were able to be financed by Friday and signed papers.
So what did we get a 2007 Hyundai Sonata with 115K miles on it. We are satisfied with our purchase. Great car but it took 4 weeks from start to finish with this ordeal of finding us a new car.
Our old car still drives, noisy! It has now reached 208K miles on it. We plan to keep it going till it really dies!
Update– Our Mazda got backed into but we did get the worth of our car and more. We are now back to being a 1 car family.