My financial conundrum

eminenz2

eminenz2

Cathlete
So I have paid off my truck (Ford Ranger)! Yay!

It is nice to be without a car payment. However, the truck is expensive in other ways besides payments - mostly gas prices. Plus there is insurance, and REPAIRS, more REPAIRS, and did I mention REPAIRS? Even the basic maintenace in expensive.

I would like to get a Honda Element. However, the thought of taking on a car payment again after just getting out from underneath one is not appealing. However, continuing to maintain a vehicle that no longer matches my needs and is quite expensive to maintain is not appealing either.

What would you recommend? Running the truck into the ground (which is going to take some time because really, it is a good vehicle as far as reliablity goes)or ditch it, get whatever $$ I can for it and get a newer, cleaner and easier-on-the-gas vehicle?

I do love my truck, but hate the costs.

Thanks in advance for your always educated opinions!

Susan L.G.
 
ITA with the previous poster. With today's gas prices plus the cost to maintain the truck I feel buying something else will save you money in the long run.

ETA: Although, you are bound to get more money for the truck if you sell it yourself as opposed to trading it in. Then you can use that cash as a downpayment on the new car. Ofcourse, selling it can take time and patience. You can't neccessarily be in a rush so a trade in may work better for you.
 
One thing to consider that though you may get more for your truck if you sell it yourself you may save more if you trade it in because you pay less in taxes because they knock that off the price of you new car. Look into how much they would give you as a trade-in vs. how much you could sell it for yourself.
 
I'd actually recommend sitting on it for awhile until the "gas crisis" calms down - or people get used to it more.

Around here in Chicago, no one can get rid of their SUV/trucks at this point. Dealers are really jacking up the cost of hybrids in response to the demand, and people aren't getting any kind of value for their cars. It's also $4.50/gallon here in the city, so that may be something else to consider - I think that's slightly higher than the rest of the country. Not much, but slightly.

With the money you'll save not having a car payment for a few months, that should help with the cost of gas. And I'd guess that you'll have much easier time getting rid of it at a fair price than you will right now.
 
Unfortunately, my truck has a big $750 hole in the tailgate, so that immediately knocks down the trade-in value. I just can't bring myself to spend $750 on a new tailgate.

It was one of those instances where I came out of the Target and found my truck had been damaged. Sheesh!x(

It also has some other dings, as working trucks seem to attract. I though maybe some teenage kid would like it as a knock-around vehicle - you know, the Kelly blue book value less the cost of repairs...

Thanks for the advice so far!
 
We sold our GMC Jimmy privatly and got double what the dealer was going to offer us for a trade.

It was sold within a few weeks. I think a major reason for this was we had it cleaned inside and out and advertised it very well. My husband and I had a bit of an arguement because he wanted to trade it and being the crazy woman I am I did everything possible to sell that truck to prove a point and he was pretty impressed. I spent around $100 for cleaning and advertising. I think the cleaning part is the most important, ie wax and armouraled dash. We had it in the paper with picture, craigslist, and parked it for a couple weekends on a high traffic street.

We live in Saskatchewan, Canada and in the winter you really need 4X4 to get around.

Good Luck! It may seem like a bit of work but it is totally worth it.
 
I also recently discovered that monthy bus passes are tax deductible in Canada. If you work close to a bus route you could use that during the week to save on gas.

I have been riding the bus to work and running home. The weather is so nice and I only work 4km from home so it only takes around 30 minutes.
 
Walking and taking the bus would be great! I did that for years after college.

Unfortunately, there are no busses to the horse farm, and carrying all that crap to and from home and school on the bus would get a little tiresome.

Perhaps I coud ride my horse, if I wasn't so certain I would be mowed down by the crazy D.C./Maryland drivers around here.
 
I'd sit on it for six months and stash the car payment monies in the bank then for Christmas, I'd sell my truck and combine those monies with my savings and buy a car with cash.

You can get great deals on cars when you offer cash.
 
If you have a CarMax in your area, they will buy the car and not require a trade. They'll cut you a check, which you can use as a downpayment on whatever where ever. You'll probably get more from them than on a trade, but less than selling to a private party. Some dealers will also buy cars w/out a trade. Try smaller, family lots instead of corporate stores and/or wholesellers.

Nan
 
I sold my Honda Civic to the dealer and got a good trade - just a couple hundred dollars less than the blue book - because the car neededa muffler.

I loved my Civic. I wish they came in all wheel drive!
 
I'm in a similar situation only I don't own a truck, 95 Toyota Corrolla which actually already gets really good gas milage. Sure, it isn't a looker, it is an older car and I have 2 kids, but my advice is to keep it and run it to the ground. Forget about the asthetics, although, I know in California if you don't fix a broken tail light you can get a citation, which will just cost you more money. I would fix only what you HAVE to and when the time comes when a repair will cost more than what the car is worth, donate it and you can get a huge tax write off. Remember you'll have to pay insurance no matter what, and again just do repairs that you have to do, as far as gas is concerned, fill half your tank and walk or bike everywhere else that you can. By the congrats on paying it off! In a coutry where many people live in debt that is a huge feat to be proud of.
 
If you can hang on until after the November election. I know, that's a long way off and there's always a chance that nothing will change. Usually, though, a new president in the white house causes prices and interest rates to change dramatically, for the better (though not always, and things ARE really weird right now). If it makes you feel any better everyone I know is going through this same thing. A lot of people where I work have sold everything they don't HAVE to have that runs on gas (boats, campers, 2nd & 3rd cars/trucks). Everyone's canceling vacations and nobody's buying anything. I feel your pain.
 
I feel so guilty using more gas than I probaly need to because I can't afford a better, more fuel-efficient car.

The AWD Element doesn't get *that* much better mileage than a truck, but a bit better.
 
My husband has a Suburu and he loves it, but I like the Element better. It is AWD as well. His mileage is comparable to the Element.

I was also considering the Forrester but I have heard the new Forresters don't have much power, or "oomph" as the older ones.
 
First if your truck was hit by a hit and run driver - chances are the insurance company will pay for it. Here in California, it's the best way to get hit because the insurance company cannot even charge you the deductible, and they cannot raise your rates if you can prove you were not in the car at the time.

I think what you have to do right now is sit down and list your monthly cost for repairs for the Ford. Then get on www.bluebook.com and estimate the value on your trade in. Honda has a place where you can figure out monthly payments based on cost of the vehicle (you can enter any cost, so if you see one used, you can price that as well) and don't forget to add for tax and licensing (some states will charge only tax and licensing on the difference between the new car and the trade so it can make sense to trade the car in, but others, like California, do not) and determine whether or not it makes financial sense to trade the car. With such little difference in gas mileage - i don't think you'll save too much money, even if you average $100-$150 a month on repairs, honestly. So what it comes down to is it worth it to you to have a new car that is more reliable (time is money, too) and looks better (to you) than your Ford.
 
Your comments make a lot of sense, Christine.

The damage happened last summer.

The Ford is very reliable driving-wise, but it seems like whenever I take it in for its routine maintenance (oil changes, etc.), I wind up spending a small fortune because they find something picky wrong with it.

I did go to the Kelly blue book site and I was surprised that a 2002 Ford Ranger XLT in "Fair" condition (some cosmetic body damage) had a trade-in value of $7100!! I was expecting much less.

I think DH and I will sit down and discuss details for a possible new car next fall.

Thanks, Cathletes, for the advice! I will take it all into consideration - I knew I came to the right place! :)

Susan L.G.
 
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