Taking to some guy who is not at a dealership who wants to get you fixed and on the run instead of milk you drive helps too LOL. Those guy really depend on word of mouth and don't want to be trashed. In my case, the car was throwing way too many codes to make sense of as well. Once misfire would send one code; the next another, and so on.
I know a guy that is pretty good. And he will tell me what is wrong for free. His daughter and mine are best of friends. The only expence incurred has benn the price of parts. But I did give him a car for auction and let him keep the money.
They are both really neat dogs and have completely different personalities. The BC is more protective of me,
During our last drought I was hauling in tons of horse manure to improve my top pasture. When I would pull up to load these little Blue Heeler puppies would come over to "help". The were just the cutest helpers a person could ask for. I fell for them hard. The owner sold them all however.
My guy will do that for folks some times. His shop is down the road from a couple housing projects whose residents always want him to stop what he is doing and tell them what is wrong with their car and then never get him to do the work so he gets a little irritated with those folks. I get it though because when he was showing me something under the hood of my car he was working on one of them cruised him and expected him to drop everything and immediately tell him what the problem with his car was and then coped an attitude because the mechanic said he would have to come back another day because he had too many cars ahead of him. I tend to just drop off my car with the keys and say, "Whatever it is, fix it unless it costs more than $500.00 in which case call me first."
Paying off something is always a wonderful feeling. Making extra payments on something a month helps get to that wonderful feeling a lot faster too. Congrats.
Yup. My last payment was a double payment because I wanted to be done with it. Thanks and welcome to the forum.
Lol. That's pretty bad. Anyways, I'm not a money investment kind of person. I make my money, I deposit in the bank, and I spend it. Anything leftover at the end of the month is transferred from my checking account into my savings account. Unfortunately, I'm not the best at saving money though. Temptations are everywhere!
Yes, it is pretty bad when gold plated tungsten bars are coming out of Fort Knox. Try to find ways to make your hard earned savings work for you. You can be your own best financial advisor. And what could be more exciting than reading several books describing different conflicting approaches to investing?
Congrats Chris!! Saw the PIX of your 'bad ride' Paying off a large debt makes one stronger in not only personal conviction and accomplishment but, enhanced credit standing. Good for you!!
How unAmerican. Time to buy a new car! An Impala is a surprisingly comfortable all purpose car, rides heavily and more solid than its size. (All our cars are paid for.)
Congratulations. I'm still pretty early on in my loan for what is my first (practically) new car. My installments are less than half the number you've given here, though - were you paying that much every month? My car is a little cheapy, but that suits me well enough. I mainly just wanted fuel economy and, at long last, the ability to play music off of a USB device And, of course, the reliability of a new car.
I can think of a few things. - - - Updated - - - Meh. It's an okay car. - - - Updated - - - Thanks for you responses and congrats!
I have an alternative investment strategy for you. 1. Study Border Collies carefully. 2. Use those new skills to cut a wealthy male with good genetics out of the herd ( check the teeth, hooves etc.) 3. Marry him and have 1 child asap. 4. After three years divorce him and take at least your share - half. 5. Start your retirement in Palm Springs or Malibu immediately at age 21. 6.
The last payment of $610 was actually two payments. I just paid it off early because I wanted to be done with it. - - - Updated - - - I missed the 21 mark years ago.
73 months (total) for me. I'll have to see about paying more down the road, maybe, to get it paid off earlier. Got other junk to pay at present. Where I stand now, though, I've actually got 5 years +1 payment to go.
WHAT!! Bloody hell you'll be paying more interest than the borrowed amount? I've always thought you could pick up a decent car in the US for around $500.
Congrats for paying off your ride and freeing up $$ for yourself. Keep up with the regular maintenance and drive it until you can pay cash for another. I made my last car payment ever in 1989 realizing interest & payments on a depreciating asset for transportation or fun didn't make sense.