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Bought a car

May 21st, 2024 at 07:37 am

So I bought a car last week.  DH's car was totalled at the beginning of the month and we haven't replaced it.  Well we sort of did but not really.  We are planning on replacing his 2016 Subaru Legacy which we got paid out $16k with a 2021 Tesla Model Y for about $33k.  Haven't found the right one year but that's what the plan is.

That being said I was driving a friend two weeks ago and said I was looking for a car and she said "i'm looking to sell mine."  Well I said great can I buy it?  She said yes.  So I picked it up and had it taken to a mechanic and bodyshop and decided okay.

It was a 2011 Subaru Impreza with 31.5k miles.  One old lady driver who garaged it and maintened it but hadn't driven it in a year.  She had broken the passenger mirror but for $1k fixable she said.  Can do!  Was excited.  Then I pulled it out and turns out her family had driven it and damaged it severely.  How bad?

Well it needed a new battery, new tires, and alignment about $1k.  The mechanic then did an oil change and flush of fluids for $1k.  I paid for this and said I would take it off the cost of the car.  Then the damage to the bodywork.  It needed a new fender, fender liner, bumper front and back and polishing of all four doors because it looks like it had been run between two cars or something.  All in around $5k in work according to the body shop with taxes included.

She was so upset that it would need so much work to be driveable.  You could hear the fender scraping on bare metal without the liner and the bumpers were screwed in with screws to attach it.  But I said I'd still buy it because I wanted a non-gas guzzler to drive instead of my minivan.  And in 18 months my DK1 will be 16 and needing to drive.  

So I bought the car for $2k and paid for the registration and excise tax around $500 and we made the deal. I took it to the repair shop this weekend and negotiated to have a rental covered and paid in full cash instead of credit card for a discount.  I paid $3500 in cash.  So I'm into the car for $2500 + $3500 + $2000 = $8000 for a low mileage subaru.

Brought it home today and my DH flipped out.  The car he said looked like a trash dump heap two weeks ago was painted and polished and looked like his DREAM car from his 20s he said.  The cute red hatchback was perfect. It really did remind me of his old ford focus and I told him it was the perfect first kid car.  Since she was a hoarder I still need to have it detailed it's so dirty.  I had about 6 garbage bags of crap I cleaned out and it'll be detailed next Friday.

I picked up my friend and showed off the car.  She smiled and said she was so glad someone was going to keep it instead of sending it to the salvage.  I told her the car would be well loved and provided for at least another 10 years! 

Plan is drive it 18 months, hand it to DK1 for 2 years till 2028 when she graduated.  DK2 has it 2028 to 2030 till she graduates.  Then in 2030 DK1 might need a car for college 2030-2032, then DK2 from 2032-2034.  If the car can make it that long then we are set.

So all in around $8k for a 2011 Subaru Impreza with 31.5k miles.  Not a bad deal at all.  And I get something to run around in for 18 months and if we make more money I might just buy myself another car.  Or DH might get a new tesla at that point and I'll take the 2021 model Y.

Inflation or not?

May 4th, 2024 at 04:53 pm

I'm nerdy and if you are reading this you are nerdy too about money.  You wouldn't be on this site if you didn't care or like to excel and plan your spending.

Anyway for years DH and I have a running excel spreadsheet of our car mileage.  We have price, miles driven, etc.  DH said it was so we could observe if a MPG thing happened then we'd know something was wrong with our cars. So I've been doing it since 2010 when we bought our subaru outback.  The car 14 years old is still being driven by my mom.  So any I decided I'll price my tracked PPG for the past 14 years.  Mind you it's a bit odd since it started on the east coast and has now landed on the west coast.  But it's been consistently a Costco fill up since we've always weirdly lived by costco.  Now we live about 1.5 miles ( I can walk there) and it's pretty much our closest grocery store.  Costco is always the cheapest gas and if you are on a roadtrip you can usually find them right off the highway.

6/12/2010 $2.74/gallon

6/12/2011 $3.84/gallon

6/14/2012 $3.60/gallon

6/15/2013 $3.52/gallon

6/19/2014 $3.66/gallon

6/11/2015 $2.54/gallon - last fill up on the east coast we left on epic road trip 7/3/2015 (recall photos???)

6/22/2016 $2.48/gallon - west coast and subaru legacy instead of outback

6/18/2017 $2.50/gallon

6/6/2018 $3.26/gallon

6/19/2023 $3.46/gallon

6/17/2020 $2.44/gallon

6/12/2021 $3.90/gallon

6/14/2022 $5.20/gallon

6/14/2023 $4.57/gallon

Now are heading into our annual check but last fill up?  4/24/2024 was $4.57/gallon.  

Do but we drive an annual average of around 9000 miles a year we have 80k miles in 9.5 years and our average miles per gallon?  24.519 mpg and average cost has been $0.14 cents per mile.  So about $1260 in gas per year average. Of course with prices much higher we are spending more.

This leads me into our pursuit of trying to figure out our next car, kwim?  You know our insurance debacle and garage door totalling our car.  Monday I'm finally dropping it off for "repairs" but I am pretty sure I'll be getting  call about it being totalled.  It has to be 80% of the value to be considered a total loss and that is like $12,800 our repairs are $12,300. So a sneeze and we're over the number.

Anyway just though you budget nerds would love this.

Car Update

April 19th, 2024 at 05:43 pm

So the building accepted full responsibility for the damage to our 2016 Subaru Legacy.  That means our insurance is not requiring us to pay our deductible and will be going to settle with them.  That's the good news and it took until mid April for the building to decide to accept responsibility.

The problem?  We are likely having the car considered salavaged either way.  I called to set up our appointment and the repair shop said it would take 2 months.  I flipped out because our insurance covers 30 days and $50 a day rental reimbursement.  But the very nice man said "you won't need it. the car will likely be salvaged within a week."  He went on to explain it's an estimate and when they take apart the car they may find more things wrong and that will change the estimate and just by looking at the hours of labor, 100 hours, to repair he could pretty much guess after 20 years in the business that the car would be salvaged.  I said I'd call him back after talking with my insurance company.  

I called my insurance company who said everything he said was correct.  That even though we are "repairing" the car depending on what happens when they start to work on it the company can choose to total the car.  They can choose to not fix it and instead call it a total loss.

In WA if repairs are more than 80% of the salvage value then it's a total loss.  So right now we are at $12,388 and the 80% is $12,800? Or something like that.  So basically they open it up and find one thing wrong and it's a total loss.  The repair shop guy said guaranteed that he'll find something, no way to know what's wrong until they open up a roof.  So he said he could already tell me the car is dead, besides if the frame is bent (which they can't tell by looking or photos) then it's structurally compromised and too hard to fix.  So he said look for a new car.

Now we're back where we were in February.  Figuring out what sort of car we want and can afford.  UGH.  And we're still in the predicament of wanting a car to hand down to DK1 in 2 years, January 2026.  We would like an EV but unsure if it makes sense because trying to upgrade the panel is $15k and I'm not sure we can do it otherwise.  So what to do?

Car Update

February 22nd, 2024 at 06:00 pm

So I posted in the forums about our current problem with our car situation.  That our car was considered a total loss but it's driveable.  We punted the decision in December about buying a new car and then a week ago we got the news we now had to make another decision.

If we salvage the car we get $15,400.  We buy the car from the insurance company it is $11,300 back so around $4k to purchase our car.  The issue is the inspection and problems we could face with the state with a salvaged titled car.  We aren't sure what we want to do.  

Mostly because our plan had been to buy a new car in 2 years when DK1 starts driving.  At that time we were definitely looking at an EV.  We really didn't want to pay to upgrade our house to charge an EV at home.  We also didn't want to  spend the money and get ride of a really good car a 2016 Subaru Legacy that we both felt would be perfect for our kids to drive as a first car.  My DK1 will have a license 🤯in January 2026.  She'll be taking classes permit at 15 in January 2025.  So as far as cars goes we did not want to carry 3 cars unnecessarily but it wasn't necessarily smart to get rid of it.

But as I wrote the commercial building where DH worked caused the damage.  The commercial grade garage door opener came down on a timer.  And the camers were "conveniently" not working and the sensor too likely.  So they were unable to get footage of the accident.  

So interestingly today we were told if they pay and we don't make a claim on our insurance we might just get the car repaired and instead of salvaging the car.  And we could keep the car indefinitely. I mean theoretically it would be great to have the car through 2 high school kid drivers to 2030.  Then DK1 would be a junior in college and potentially need a car and it can go to her for the last two years.  And then DK2 could take it for Junior/Senior year at college and if it could last another 10 years to 2034 well that would be ideal.

Yes it's not electric.  It will cost to maintain.  But i mean if it lasted 18 years that would be a huge savings for kids who do not need a new car.

So let's see what happens. 

Cars and me

March 24th, 2022 at 05:38 pm

Sigh, so I took in the 2015 Sienna minivan for a repair to the sliding door.  Covered by recall and it wasn't opening.  A clip thing was broken or missing.  Well anyway I come back and they say great free.  But we recommend you do the water pump, 90k service, and drive belt for $1700. I say thanks I'll have to consider it and will make an appointment later.  The guy says if your car starts to overheat stop driving.  I will probably call a friends mechanic and see if I can get a better deal.  

No i'm not replacing the minivan it's great. I plan on keeping it forever.  I'd rather buy 2 more cars and keep the minivan until it breathes it's last breath.  Which in my world will be another 15 years.  But that aside, I realize that DH and seriously not car people and maybe it's because we just aren't great drivers and we get super unlucky with our cars.

So then on the legacy which just got repaired over the bumper, sensor and light, I emailed the adjuster and was told it went to adjucation and we'll see what happens.  Maybe I get my deductible maybe I don't.  It'll be another few months. Okay but then my DH came home and told me that the car was hit again.  Sigh.  No idea but on driver door bottom.  I am sitting staring at it thinking do I really need to get it repaired?  Do we make a claim?  Or just pay out of pocket?

Then I get in one morning and the subaru windshield is cracked. I don't recall a rock hitting it but we've had a ton of rock claims.  Like I said cars and us aren't exactly great friends.  FWIW we typically pay $1000/6 month for insurance on 2 cars and 2 drivers. This is on me since I've had two speeding tickets within a year.  3/2020 I got a ticket for 36 miles an hour in a 30 mph zone.  And second ticket i got was 77 mph on freeway of 70 mph limit in 8/2020.  So I deserve my stupid tax.  DH also got a few tickets of 26  and 28 mph in 20 mph zone (camera tickets so not moving violations you just pay stupidity).  

This could also be why we are just blah and meh about cars they seem like headaches for us.  I do think it would be nice to get a newer EV but then I think nope. It's too much and I might like it too much. Better off sticking with boring and safe.

Electric car or not?

March 11th, 2022 at 06:00 am

Well we have a 2016 Subaru Legacy and a 2015 Toyota Sienna and they are both great cars in great shape and fairly new.  The legacy has 51k miles and the Sienna has 85k miles.  So they have I think a lot of life in them. If we did the 10 year rule we have another 3 years left on the Sienna and 4 years on the legacy.  I've always thought that we would replace both cars in about 2-3 years and keep the Sienna but replace the legacy with another sedan and then get a SUV but keep the Sienna.  Mostly because it'll be getting very worthless at 10 years and it's very useful to haul stuff and people around in a pinch.  But I'd like to also think we could afford to have a third car and still buy me something newish if not new. 

In the past we had considered buying a used BMW i3 or Nissan Leaf because they were cheap.  They would replace the Subaru Legacy but we just didn't want to spend the money.  We've owned our cars since 2019 for the subaru and 9/2020 for Sienna.  We are coming up on 2 years without car payments again (we previously went from 2003-2010 without a car payment then got into a cycle of car payments till 2020.

But back to the topic at hand.  On the Legacy we drove 367 gallons of gas last year.  At the current price of $4.39/gallon that is $1611.37/year in gas.  We drove 340 gallons of gas on the Sienna.  $1492.60.  So it's more likely we'd replace the Legacy sedan because there isn't a viable option to replace the Sienna.  The Tesla X isn't really as big, much nicer but there are other nice SUV more comparable for practical purposes.

$1611/year in gas minus electric costs plus maintenance of the car is what we would be saving.  You can't count tires, but more like oil changes 2x/year at $100 = $200 and once every 3 years $900 for 30k mile service.  So $500/year or I could estimate say $900/ year so $2500/year is what we could be saving having an electric car.  

A long range Tesla model 3 is $51k plus taxes and fee so $55k/$2500 year = 22 years to break even.  But living what if gas costs $6/gallon?  Then $2202/year in gas for our subaru legacy plus $800/year maintenance = $3k.  That would still be 18 years to break even.

Even with the tax credits it's not financially advantagous for us to buy an electric car.  One day it might make sense, like our cars need replacement or they get into an acccident.  But otherwise?  Have you actually looked at what it would cost to get one?  And what you would really save

how to get a new car - it's easy

July 11th, 2021 at 01:31 am

Interesting thing happened today. I drove up and used my prepaid Toyota Sienna oil change packet.  It is synthetic and they had a deal of $300 for 5 oil changes at the dealership.  Cost about the same as going to a jiffy lube. Oil changes are expensive now!

Anyway I drive up and the guy comes to my window and say they'll be with me.  How do I like my car?  I say it's great I have no complaints.  Just got back from a roadtrip and planned it this way.  He says your car is very desirable.  AWD minivan. I say great.  He says they just redesigned the toyota and it's a hybrid. You would have saved a lot of money on the road trip. I say probably true. I'll get to that post tomorrow.  I say that's amazing.  He says would you like to trade in your vehicle?   I can get you in for only $200 a month or maybe even less.

I'm sitting there in shock. I'm like not really.  I can't have payments right now.  But he's like we can work with it.   I tell him but here's the deal I don't think you can.  I want the highest model with all the bells and whistles and leather and DVD player and hybrid.  He says you can afford it more than you know.  All of them come with hybrid batteries.  Nice the mpg is 36/38 city and freeway driving.  But a new car?  Another payment?  No thanks.

But it was crazy to see how smart the dealership was.  Asking about my car and telling me how much I liked it and how great the new car was.  I could easily see how it would be to want the new car.  I will admit for a second I was tempted.  But then I remembered. I just refinanced to afford saving easier. I have a paid for car for almost 1 year of no payments.  Wouldn't it be nice to never have payments again?

paid off car...and refi mortgage!

September 15th, 2020 at 12:46 am

yes it drives better. Actually I haven't driven but I figure it really does. Smile We had $8000 left and 2.49% and I had no idea why we were still paying on it 3 years later. Honestly I was a bit annoyed that we hadn't paid it off and I hadn't paid attention. So I wrote a check and dropped it at the bank. I like not having a car payment and I like owning my cars.

We lived from 2003-2010 without a car payment with a 1998 toyota corolla and 2000 ford focus. Had a kid and bought a 2010 Subaru outback new and had a loan from 2010-2015. We borrowed $20k and had 1.49%. We also bought in 2012 a 2006 hyundai sonata for $10k and I think it was 1.99%. We paid off both cars in 6/2015. DH wanted a new car in 12/2015 and we bought a new 2016 Subaru Legacy. We paid that off in 12/2018. I got a 2015 Toyota Sienna in 12/2017 and just paid that off this month.

Does it drive better? I would say that it does. I find myself suddenly excited that we are finally without a car loan again after 10 years of car loans. Ugh. We spent a decade not owning out cars. Yes it wasn't a large amount each time. And yes our interest rate was low and the reason why we kept the car loans around. But I like not owing anybody anything.

I was about to refi our mortgage to another 7/1 arm. But instead Chase offered us 2.875% 27 year fixed rate mortgage for FREE. They fedex us a legitimate offer for reducing our rate from 3% for a 7/1 arm to a 30 year fixed jumnbo. Amazing. I did pay $1168 for an appraisal with Bank of America. We will save $88/month so it will take 13 months to break even for the appraisal. But it's a fixed rate and we will be staying in our place like i said potentially until 5/2023.

So for $1168 we just fixed our rate to 2.875% on a jumbo mortgage!

savings and spending

April 10th, 2020 at 11:42 pm

Called ameriprise and we are getting some sort of premium relief. What it is and how much we are getting back. They have no idea. But it's something and I'll take it!

LuckyRobin asked will people change their habits after this financial hit? The irresponsible people? I think there are more than few factors at play. I think that yes there are many irresponsible people.

I also think that a lot of people have change their way they view employment and a lot of people are doing things like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, etc 1099-M "self-employed contractors" making "good" money but not realizing they weren't paying unemloyment insurance, taxes, SS, etc. They thought what they were making was great money but not realizing they weren't really calculating how much they were really making if they responsible paid for everything. Instead they were caught at tax time and moments like this where they were not employees and couldn't get unemployment $.

I think that people are suddenly going to get a wake up call that those jobs are not paying the $25-30/hr. No they are way less but that they are making a living off the backs of "stupid" people who don't really know what they are making.

Yes things will cost more. Things will have increase in price to get delivered in 2 days. That an uber ride is not a cheap fare. Perhaps we'll finally stop susidizing these companies which aren't making money.

I think that people white collar workers might get hit in this recession. That they will get the hit of "omg" that free flowing money into companies making nothing it'll be a redo of 2000/2001 dot.com burst as well as the 2008 great recession.

I would argue that we are heading into a deep depression and vicious cycle of losing jobs, income, housing and we are not able to "spend" our way out of it.

I'm part of generation X. I feel like those of us in this generation has lived through 3 major recessions. 2000/2001, 2008, and 2020. We have weathered it all. We graduated and were young workers when the bubbled popped and 9/11. We were in the midst of buying our "homes" and having families in 2008 when we lost our "Jobs". And now we are in the precarious position of being vulnerable workers subject to being laid off because now we "cost" too much. Most of our neighbors and friends are going through this now and we agree that our age around 40-55 we as a group have always felt unstable with jobs. Perhaps millenials feel they can't find jobs, but generation X have navigated the rough road not having jobs to having precarious jobs.

I think that generation X in general is expecting to not have a pension and we'd be the first generation to attempt to retire without one. We are the first generation to absorb job/income insecurity.

I can understand how it makes some of my generation more irresponsible with money because to them it's easy come and easy go. And you never know what the future holds so just do it.

But I'm hoping we all make it out to the other side in one piece. And our economy somewhat intact. If not then I believe generation X will be out of work shortly.

Driving a paid for car!

December 13th, 2018 at 05:01 pm

I mailed a check for $18,091.98 off today. Does it drive better? I think a paid for car does! Gotta say I love it. Funny how our "newer" 2016 Legacy drives better than our 2015 Sienna being paid off. Anyway what a nice feeling to be out of a car loan. It's been awhile since that happened and honestly I've been annoyed this past year having two car payments.

I like having a paid for car. I like the feel. I had a 98 corolla that was paid for in 2001. DH had a 2000 Ford focus paid for in 2003 and we didn't have a car payment until 2010 when we bought a new subaru outback with a 5 year loan and took 5 years to pay it off 0.9% interest. Then in 2012 we bought a used 2006 hyundai sonata with a 5 year loan but also paid that off in 3 years. So we didn't have another car loan from 2015-2017 end.

Now it's 12/2018 and it's nice to have a paid for on the books car. The plan? I don't know at this point other than we have 3 more years to pay on the 2.24% loan for the sienna. We may decide to just pay it off if I can convince DH soon.

But right now the plan is drive my minivan another 6 years to 10 years and reevaluate. For our 2016 Legacy? I think we seriously have to take it year by and year and need by need. If DH can drive at all then maybe a second car. If not then I guess I'll keep it and never trade it in. When the self-driving car comes out that is really good comes out (not tesla) we will heavily consider it.

But boy it is nice having a paid for car again. I itch for driving a paid for minivan. How long do you keep your cars? Do you always just pay cash?

buying out our car lease

December 4th, 2018 at 05:57 am

Time flies. It's been 3 years already and it's time to buy out our car lease. It's been hard convincing DH but he's finally willing to compromise and has agreed to buying the car. I wanted to buy it 3 years ago but he refused. One of those moments where you just have to compromise.

I always think of imasaver who financed corvettes so they wouldn't buy them so quickly. I feel like the same thing. I leased a car to make DH feel better and pointed out there hasn't been enough improvement yet in cars to make it worth getting a newer model. Honestly by the time there is rapid improvement whose to say he even should be driving?

I realize that having a car is a control issue. And psychologically sometimes you gotta let things slide that are not the most financially fit decisions. If DH stops driving then it's likely we'll be a 1 car family. But until then I guess we just make the best of it.

But woah car loans are high now. We were offered 5% by chase to finance our car. So instead we plan on buying it cash this month.

Have you calculated your commute?

May 8th, 2018 at 06:33 pm

Have you ever calculated the cost of commuting? I say that because now we have a direct cost. My DH commutes on average 30 minutes one way instead of 1 hour plus. And an hour is generous because usually coming home before it was 75-90 minutes. But assuming he saves now 1 hour an day total in commute he's saving 5* 48 weeks = 240 hours a year. What is an hour worth?

That's the question. If it's worth $25/hr then it's $6000/year of $500/month he's saving. So we could "shave" off $500/month on our mortgage payment moving closer. If we calculated the hour is worth $50/hr then it's $12,000/year and $1k/month. That makes moving closer a lot more beneficial.

Personally I think moving closer worth $50/hour. Assume we go out to eat more, pay more in gas, pay more in child care, etc I think we can easily save $12k/year moving closer. But some people live next door to their parents so they commute far. If i had that sort of deal I'd do it too.

Have you ever calculated what your commute cost you? Was it worth it to move farther? Why?

$350 car accessory -snowflake

January 4th, 2018 at 04:39 am

So I want weathertech floor mats for my new minivan. Very extravagent. They already put it in the trunk. But I want the rest The question is how do I buy it? Yes I can afford to buy it. But I want to not just pay for it.

I'm thinking I might try to make it a challenge and see how I can snowflake my way to it. Maybe coupon clipping? Maybe ebates? Pinecone surveys? What else could I do?

I don't want to use my paycheck. Or maybe giving myself the cost of a meal out if we skip eating out? I'm actually trying to not eat out because I want to lose weight.

Do I count borrowing books from the library? Or anything free I can snag? Or selling stuff at the consignment? What can I do to make this happen? Skipping a starbucks?

What do you consider snowflakes? My ticket savings to hawaii? Or our trip at the end of the month?

cars got me thinking

January 3rd, 2018 at 07:47 pm

After we bought the cars I got to thinking about how I've changed my mindset about cars quite a bit. I have always been a buy new and keep car till it dies sort of person. But recently I've started to change. I'm wondering if it's okay to not keep a car until it dies. I am starting to think that it's worth being okay buying a car that you can afford at that moment in time for a purpose. And when that purpose is done it's okay to sell the car?

Cars are depreciating assets. So in the ideal world people would only buy used cars and keep them till they die. But that still raises the question, how used a car do you need to buy to be uber frugal? To maximize the frugality of cars, which are SUPER expensive does it have to be 10 years old and you drive it for 3-5 more years? What if it's only 1 year old and you drive it 10 mores years? Why couldn't you keep it longer?

I guess it's a sliding scale. Right? That to each person the valuation of car is what they put on it. Some would argue any used car is a deal. While myself included might argue perhaps it's gotta be at least 5-6 year old to be worth? But I did save a bit buying a 2-3 year old used car.

Reflecting back on our cars we've now had I've come to the realization that we can just make the best choice at the time we make the decicion.

My first car was a 99 toyota corolla bought for $11k including taxes/fees we sold in 2012 because my DH really wanted a car with latch and airbags. It had 150k miles and still running super strong and if my DH didn't want newer safety features I'm sure it'd still be running! We sold it for $3500. We bought a 2006 Hyundai Sonata in 2012 for $11000 taxes and fees.

He had 2000 ford focus bought new for $13k including taxes and fees we sold in 2010 because it broke down. We sold it for $2500. We bought a new subaru outback base model for $23000 including all taxes and fees.

In 2015 we sold the Hyundai Sonata for $6500 and leased a 2015 Subaru Legacy for $28k. DH wanted the car so we did it. What will happen I'm unsure.

Now in 2017 we ended it buy buying a used 2015 Sienna Minivan for $31k. We aren't selling the Subaru Outback 2010 instead we're giving it to my mom and i'll call it $7k value.

Looking back the best value of depreciation was the new Toyota Corolla for $576/year. Then the Ford Focus $1050/year deprecation, then the Sonata $1500/year. I'm not sure what our current 2 cars will end up but I've decided that you can't always make the best decision with cars.

You have to make the best decision with the information at hand. That means what sort of car do you need or want? Can you afford it? Do you think i'll serve it's purpose?

Have you reflected on all the cars you've owned? How would you judge your purchases? Wise? Unwise? Okay? Did it make you happy and serve a purpose?

whew - not at fault

December 21st, 2017 at 06:47 am

Recall the accident last month? I know I wasn't at fault but it really stressed me out a lot. I guess because we had used our insurance and paid for the deductible $500 and the overage on the rental car $250. It wasn't the money but the worry that I'd have another black mark on my record. I mean 2 years ago in January 2016 I had a car accident my fault. And DH is finally getting his record of accidents clean so we might have a reasonable car insurance.

We paid $897 for 2 drivers, 2 cars for 6 months. So we're at $1800/year for 2 30-something year old drivers. We're paying like we're teenagers. In March 2017 we were priced at $2100/year. Recall the debacle of getting kicked off Ameriprise Costco for non-payment because we didn't get our mail?

Well looking back we were at $1275 for 6 months in 8/2016 or $2550/year. You can see why I was stressing out about liability and if I had made a good decision going through insurance. Before the accident we were looking at $774 for 6 months in 2/2016.

So now I'm a little more relaxed. However I will say that Commerce insurance, the company I have through AAA is terrible and useless. It took me hours of prodding them and calling Nationawide directly to determine liability (they were the other person's insurance). Also Commerce didn't respond back to the repair shop, and they didn't fax over authorization for 3 days claiming it was due to the appraisor. Turns out because it was an authorized shop I didn't need an appraisor. Ugh.

Anyway come March 2018 I plan on shopping around not just for cost but because I don't find Commerce/AAA very helpful. My AAA insurance agent never returns my calls.

AAA started a home owners insurance in June, but didn't cancel my renters insurance and kept charging me until I argued with them in September. I was then worried they hadn't started a home owners insurance. In Spetember 2017 because they didn't cancel my renters insurance they mailed my auto insurance renewal to my old address!!!!! Only because I called to inquire did they realize their mistake and did I renew my auto policy.

I guess you can say I'm done with them. But for now I'll just wait. At least I have insurance.

minivan test run

November 8th, 2017 at 07:11 pm

So I'm renting a minivan for a week. Not because I want to but on Friday I was in a fender bender with a high school senior in a parking lot. I swerved to avoid him from running his stop sign and making a left turn. Fortunately it wasn't too much damage. However I did force him to stop and call his mom. He was about to drive away. Sigh, if you have teenagers tell them that the number one thing is to call you. Don't cry and say my parents will kill me. Yes they'll be upset but I think they'd be more upset if you just drove off and didn't call them.

Luckily it wasn't too much damage. My car will be ready by Monday after a week in the shop. So I am filing through my insurance who will go after his insurance. He offered me $3000 or more to pay for all the damage off the books of insurance. I said no.

My friend later told me it was wise since he was a minor and underage not to accept going through cash.

That being said I don't like my insurance company commerce west through AAA at all. They are incompetent and slow. I didn't get the emails until Tuesday when I called for the 3rd day in a row looking for my forms and I had to email the claims worker because they couldn't get my email right. I further had called and reported everything Friday right after and they still couldn't get the paperwork in order to the shop and rental car company. I had to call and write down the claim number which was wrong by the way. Ridiculous.

This is the same company that didn't cancel my renter's insurance when we bought a house. Then didn't update my address or mail me a renewal for auto insurance because they sent it to our rental. Which boggles the mind since I prepaid to our mortgage company a year of home insurance and it would stand that cancelling our rental policy would go hand in hand? At least that's what I was told. Then updating the address I also assume was common sense wasn't. They fixed it eventually.

This is totally my fault for getting kicked off of Ameriprise for non-payment because we were traveling and I didn't get the mail until too late. However as of March 10th we are going back to Ameriprise because they are competent when handling claims.

Anyway though since we have rental car coverage I got a minivan to test run what it would be like. I have to admit I love the convenience. I won't buy a dodge caravan it's terribly uncomfortable driving. But wow it's super useful with carpooling and just picking up kids. I am definitely on board with buying one.

The only hesitation I had was waiting until next year the 2019 Subaru Ascent. But I think I want a minivan with the larger trunk. Of course I have to really consider the options.

looking at cars

October 9th, 2017 at 11:02 pm

So I don't need a new car. But I want one. But more likely this will just be an exercise in thinking. Researching and contemplating new versus used and type. I'm not sure if I'm a minivan person or a big suv. I want something with 3 rows and carries more than 5 people.

Let me have it. Tell me all the pros and cons of each. What am I looking at? All minivans. I'm not sure if I should do used or new. It'll be a car we keep a long time. I haven't kept my car as long as I should. I already feel guilty contemplating getting rid of a 7 year old car. It's barely broken in.

I'm also thinking any SUV with three rows and the ones that come to mind are highlander, acura mdx, honda pilot and not sure whatever else.

This is not a new fetish but it is finally getting more serious contemplation.Tell me what you think and why certain suv or minivans are better than others. Did anything weigh into your decision? If you went used did you get a certain brand or model or just used suv or used minivan?

I should probably put this on the site.

90k service and then some

November 14th, 2016 at 04:45 pm

So my 2010 Subaru Outback has just about 90k miles on it. Wow that went fast. Anyway it cost me $524 for the service and fixing a headlight. Yes my DH could do it but it takes a lot of time to replace the headlight while being really careful with the plastic shield so for $30 he said have them do it. Actually the part was $25 and that's what they charged me free labor.

But they told me the serpentine belt needed to be redone for $115 and front brakes $350. I need to call other dealerships and see if any are having a deal and coupon in the area. Also on the radar is the timing belt to be done at 105k miles which is around $700. Ugh.

But at least by maintaining the car I'll get a lot more years of use out of it. We did buy it new and except for all this routine maintenance the serpentine belt being the only thing that hasn't been "routine", this car has been incredibly reliable and great. I had a corolla for 14 years preivously also bought new and my DH forced me to sell it when we had kiddo #2. Lack of Latch, airbags, ABS made him uncomfortable with me driving it anymore. He'd have gotten rid of it in 2010 but we couldn't afford it.

Recently we got to talking about our plans to keep this car. I laughed and said until DK#1 is driving so 16 years. He said no way. We'll wait newer safety features. I will admit the rear camera and sensors I drove in the rental for the day is nice. I'd also like a 3rd row option. But those are wants and not needs.

How long do you keep your cars? Do you keep them till they break or do you trade them in if your needs change? Do you only buy used and then exchange them when you feel like it?

The good, the bad, the ugly

July 15th, 2016 at 07:44 pm

Lots of news of all sorts. Good news is I saved another $20 on our trip to hawaii by checking prices. The one way ticket dropped to $199 and I called the airlines and got $20 on each of 3 tickets credited back to me. Sometimes it pays to price check.

Second I took my car in for a an oil change and found that I might need new calipers $900 repair. However I took it to the dealership instead for a free 40 point check and they recommended instead just replacing the rotors for $370. They also said they would price match any other deal ad and would replace for just the cost of parts the burnt out lightbulbs. I found a local dealer with a deal for brakes for $199 so I'll get the work done potentially for $250 instead of $900.

The bad news? Well my auto insurance went up to $1400 for 6 months for 2 cars and 2 drivers. I was paying $700 so the price doubled. We are bad drivers. DH has two accidents and I had my first ever accident in January. As you know he's had many accidents, but until I had one we were forgiven for 1 of his accidents. Ugh, now I may shop around for better deals. I might also raise the deductible from $500 to $1000. Of course they said one of his accidents comes off in Janaury so we'd be back to $700 for 6 months. Yes sometimes I think about my DH not driving but he won't give it up. And I realize me typing that as the most recent person to have an accident is ironic. But right now we have to many other things to deal like starting a new job and figuring out a commute, where to live, and budget/taxes to resolve the issue.

The ugly? Well we were supposed to see a friend who was visiting her family nearby and meet her new baby and other kids. But her dad unexpectedly passed away a few days before she flew in. It was awful since he lived alone and she hadn't heard from him so her aunt called and said she hadn't heard from him in a week so they drove out and found him passed away. It was awful because she supposed to have come around the holidays but she didn't because her job asked her to come back early from maternity leave and she felt obligated to do so. Her dad hadn't had the chance to meet her 3rd child yet. We connected over the phone and she expressed regret over not just coming and screwing the job. Ugh.

Sometimes it's so hard to know the right decision. And it's worse yet to know that money drives most of our decisions but how can we know if it's the right decision? I guess this is why we work and save. So we can make the best decision we feel without the pressure of finances. I just am going to promise myself we are going to try to become Financially independent as soon as possible.

Car Update

January 28th, 2016 at 06:04 am

Yes they are fixing the car, not sure when it will be done, but it will be done. Of course it's not cheap and I am betting when they open the car up it might be more than $8k estimated repairs. But it does make my life and decision making easier right now. Right now we also have to replace both carseats. I'm really glad I don't have to worry about a new car for a bit.

Another thing is that we are still torn what do about the tuition. My DH leans to paying cash and using our home equity instead of a credit card. Well actually just spending down our cash cushion and tapping our home equity cash sitting in our checking account online if needed. It's earning 0.9%.

Decisions, decision.

cars my kryptonite

January 20th, 2016 at 09:06 pm

I hate cars. I think cars are my krptonite. Got rear ended yesterday and thankfully I am fine, no one got hurt, but now my car is in the shop. Not only rear ended but rear ended into someone else. So I should say that I have damage on both ends.

The problem? Well yes insurance will cover. I may still have to pay my $500 deductible because I did damage the car ahead of me potentially. I also was hit by someone new to the country who was renting a car and no they don't have insurance. They had something called self-insurance form. So I'm crossing my fingers that the woman bought insurance from Avis. Otherwise who knows? My agent told me that they will collect for me being rear ended but I still hit the person in front whom I braked and had a handspan between our cars, hence why I went right into their trailer hitch!!!

Of course it's being called potential total. ie the value of the car will be worth less than the repairs. I hate that idea. I mean yes the car is worth probably $10-11k. But it's great and no way can I find another subaru outback with 72k miles in that condition. I am so pissed over the situation.

I know we were thinking in another year we'd get a different car potentially. But that was after we figured out more things about our lives. Third kid? Where we'd live, etc. We'd know if we wanted a minivan or a SUV with third row. If we didn't mind staying with same size. And no way can we buy the same car with same mileage and condition. UGGGH.

Who knows how this will unfold. Or how long it will take to resolve.

car scenario and happy holidays

December 21st, 2015 at 04:25 pm

Okay instead of leasing a car what about buying a new car every 4 years, but keeping it 8 years? Would that make more financial sense? DH gets a new car every 4 years and I keep it another 4 years till he buys another car and hands me down the old car? We could both have subaru outbacks and we'll just be cycling through them every 4-8 years? Would that make financial sense? Yes a constant car payment but only for 1 car and it wouldn't I think break the budget. We will just be driving the same car. And if the technology hasn't improve in 4 years we hang on another year?

I was super excited after thanksgiving and then exhausted from making around 20 dozen cookies. Now that it's done I'm excited again for the holidays! I don't like the business of it but I love the season. I love the lights, the music, the joy and the feeling that another year is winding down. I know others hate getting older but I feel it's another year, another success. I'm older, alive, and have a wonderful life. I love getting older mentally (not physically). After seeing so many friends lose their parents and some friends getting ill I really do appreciate my health and family's health and well being and another year together.

My wish for 2016 is that it's as exciting and happy as 2015. I know for a fact if you had asked me in 2014 Christmas I would have said I was excited because I thought I would be moving in 2016. Now it's turned out we moved in 2015 and who knew life would be so good.

Buying Cheap stuff and car repairs

December 9th, 2015 at 05:04 pm

I forgot to mention I bought the cookie scoop from Amazon and loved/hated it. I loved the size and ease but it broke on the first batch. So I called and returned it. I explained that I had thought it would be more durable and the reviews were 4 stars. I bought the 3 pack cookie scoop for $14 I think. After returning it I bought the 1 oxo cookie scoop for $12.95 instead (small) and love it. It worked fantastically. I usually look for deals and I usually honestly don't buy the most expensive thing. But I did have the large oxo cookie scoop and my DH said why did you buy cheap? Buy something that will last and you won't curse at. Sigh. I learned my lesson well. For the most part I will admit our cookware and utensil I tend to wait and hem and haw about spending it but love, love, love and use, use, use our stuff. I love my calphalon pots and pans and roasting dishes. I bought pyrex and corningware and use it all the time. I use my kitchenaid mixer quite a bit as well. And the Le Crueset dutch oven I wonder why I didn't buy it sooner. Most of my cookware is now over 10 years old and still is in great shape. I tell anyone getting married buy the good stuff it seriously lasts and you use it everyday or more than once a day.

Of course I have a lot of stuff I would love to replace like a small crockpot that I use A LOT. But 15 years in except for size it works like a champ. I have a 5 qt and would like a 7 or 8 qt. I make soups, curries, chicken, pork, tomato sauce, apple sauce, etc in it all the time. Of course my coffee pot which DH is still mulling over.

Plus we got another opinion on the car and the repairs were still $1800. Along with the suggestion that the alternator looks older and might go within 6 months. Ugh. We're still deciding what to do. Thoughts?

update the car and coffeemaker

December 8th, 2015 at 07:40 pm

So the problem isn't with the struts with the car it's with the joints attaching to the car. Also the mechanic suggested that alternator will be going soon. The current estimate for the work without the alternator is $2000. Not sure what the alternator will cost in the future. The car is worth between $5000-$5500 if we do private party sale versus trade in. Trade in value is approximately $4800. We are taking it to another mechanic for a second estimate tomorrow. We aren't sure what to do about the car. Sink money in? The mechanic hedged to use about fixing it, I think because he suggested the alternator would be going within 6 months he predicted and I am assuming that he doesn't think doing the repairs then that repair in 6 months worth it. I guess that's very honest since we'd be using him to do both repairs. He didn't say so but I wonder if he's also thinking that we may have more repairs crop up?

What are our options? Buy a beater? Buy another used car? Try to make do with one? Buy/lease a new car. My DH isn't keen on being a one car family. I don't know what the best choice is. Sink in $2k and potentially I know more I'm going to guess $500 in 6 months or more? Should we? Only to dump it in 6-12 months? I hate cars. I wish life were simple and we could snap our fingers and the perfect car for the perfect price would appear.

For sake of comparison the car DH needs the subaru legacy with eyesight. Only available on the premium or limited models. It appears to be around $250/month leased with $2k down. This will probably be our perpetual car until he chooses to no longer drive. Unless someone else comes out with better technology. It has driver assisted driving, rear sensors, automatic steering, etc. My BIL bought the same car and loves it. He too is leasing for the same reason. Uggh.

I still haven't used or returned the coffeemaker. Partly because I can't decide and partly because I haven't had time to do the return with other things.

the car, cards, and coffeemaker conundrum

December 1st, 2015 at 05:16 pm

So my DH's car probably needs to have new struts and shocks done. It is a 2006 Hyundai Sonota we bought used in 2012. It's been a great commuter car and it has not quite 80k miles. We bought it with 55k miles on it and single owner from a dealership for $10k out the door. When we moved cross country we considered selling it but because we were unsure what situation we might find ourselves in for work/commute we decided to keep the car. We decided that the devil we knew with our car was better than selling the car, and figuring out we needed a second car and rushing to buy another used car which we might not be as sure about. Also we weren't interested in spending another $10k and felt we might not get as reliable a car for say the $5k we could have gotten for it. As it turns out where we rented we got a house in a nice area for a good price because we have the second car. The issue now is do we repair the car and sink money into it when the plan is to dump it in 6 months? Or do we run it into the ground for 6 months and worry about dumping it later? Ugh cars are always like this at the end. The worry of dumping good money after bad.

The plan has always been when my DH gets a job he gets a new car. It will be a leased Subaru Legacy with safety features. Dues to circumstances this is the one of two cars he can drive. And it will be leased also due to circumstances that we will be leasing permanently his cars in the future. We need the safety features constantly updated and when and if the self driving car ever becomes available we will likely be one of the first people to try and lease one.

The card conundrum is that I do holiday cards. I love them and have done them for over a decade. My DH and I did them before kids. We always sent out photo cards and love to get them in return. We're up to around 100 people/cards. I cut my list by saying that people who didn't send me a card will not receive my card this year. Sticking to a list of 100 is a bit tough because I do cards to teachers with their gifts as well and having a large family. Previously I had about 10 of my mom's friends whom I had to send to because she asked and I had extra cards. Very few perhaps 2 ever sent back a card. Well this year I cut them because I needed the extra cards for our own friends. My mom got upset over the fact I cut people. Am I obligated to send cards to these people when they don't send me cards? Am I obligated to send them a gift if they give my mom a gift for my kids?

Finally I'll write about my black friday shopping in another post but I will say I bought a brand new programmable Black and Decker 12 cup coffeemaker for $9.72 from Walmart on Black Friday. The conundrum? I don't know if I should keep it. We have a coffee maker I bought on black friday 2000 also from walmart for probably $5. It survived the move and still works. For the most part we haven't used this particular coffee maker except for guests. DH used to only take 1 single serve senseo to go in his mug to work then drink coffee for free at work. He also only used the single serve on the weekend. I am not a coffee drinker so making a pot used to be a waste. However now that DH's home instead of single serve I'll make 2-4 cups for him to have throughout the day because it's cheaper. So the coffee maker is finally being used. He mentioned he'd like a programmable coffee maker and I grabbed this one on deal. But the truth is we don't really need it. When DH goes back to work he won't be using it as much. If it does give up the ghost maybe we'll be a much nicer fancier model? I'm just torn. Thoughts?

minivan or not?

June 2nd, 2015 at 01:23 am

Can you believe we are still struggling with buying a used minivan? We can't decide. I want one more and my DH is hesitant. Which by the way we've flipped flopped back and forth the past month. He's been yes then no. Then yes then no.

Right now there is a 2013 off lease Honda Odyssey for $18k with 32k miles. It's a certified preowned from a dealer. We haven't seen it but I'm curious since it's 1 owner and certified.

I think it might be a good buy. I think that we could drive it cross country and then sell it since my DH isn't sure we need a minivan. I think we do. I also think we are moving somewhere that we are likely to be going on more road trips.

But it's a lot of money outlay right now. Granted we could borrow it and we'll have a down payment from the trade in or sale of the sonata.

Thoughts?

More calculations on Moving Part 3

May 19th, 2015 at 02:16 am

After test driving the minivan, it wasn't bad and I liked the roominess. But pricing out the shipping it is $1350 for Sonata and $1500 for the subaru. At that price I'm really not sure it's worth shipping the Sonata worth maybe $6500. And the subaru it is, but perhaps to save $1500 it's worth just driving that and deciding if we need a second car when we get there.

Further calculations on moving. Of course we do what we do because we're OCD crazy researchers trying to figure out the cost of our stuff. So my DH calculated the cubic feet of each pod and the cost to move each pod. As well as calculating ABF Uhaul the linear foot cost and the size per cubic foot for that linear foot. A linear foot is actually 1 x 8 x 9 for the truck but we have to decrease the walls. We also got the interior dimensions of the pods we were considering.

We have a complex excel spreadsheet and it works out to Door to Door Pods are $3.72 per cubic foot to move (223 cubic feet) , Packrat/Pods is $6.05 per cubic foot (1024 cubic ft), ABF Upack is $9.95 per cubic feet for first 5' minimum but then goes to $2.13 per cubic feet (we used 16 linear ft). But we obviously have at lest 5 linear feet so really our cost will be $2.13 per cubic feet.

Further thoughts are that using movers even transporters like Budget Van Lines is hiring is $5800 = $6.76 per cubic foot or $5.13 per cubic foot doing it ourselves. Now this is doing their suggested 6000 lbs and approximately 857 cubic ft. So using movers isn't necessarily more expensive than doing it ourselves.

Of course without selling single more piece of furniture we are at approximately with our storage and measurements 857 cubic feet. But we both know that is going down since we are selling more stuff off.

But the question still lies what the most economical way for us to move and what is worth moving?

So we have to further balance out the cost per cubic foot which we did to all our furniture since we could measure it. And we have that on a spreadsheet and we are currently evaluating costs. Most stuff is worth more than $2.13 per cubic feet. However we are between a rock and hard place.

If we move and our stuff doesn't fit in our rental what do we do? And we are definitely moving into a rental before buying so we have to move again. So is it worth purging to buy new stuff we may decide to purge in 1 year when we move into a home we buy?

These are questions hard to put a price tag on. Hope I haven't bored you and made you question the price of moving stuff.

cars - my nemesis

June 27th, 2014 at 06:06 pm

Ugh cars. Yet another car accident with my DH. Again it wasn't his fault but this is getting annoying and tiring. I should probably at this rate be getting car rental protection on our car insurance. I've never done it since we have 2 cars, but he was hit again while parked. Took our DK1 to swim lessons came out and the entire back passenger side was scraped up.

So it's a hit on our car insurance but it's not a moving violation. It'll cost us $500 deductible but it won't affect our rates hopefully.

This is his second accident in 2 months. Last month he was reversed into while waiting for a parking spot. I can't stand this. If it matters this is the third of the year and it's only 6 months in! The horror!

I just keep telling myself it's just a car and everyone's fine. But I'm always the one getting the insurance done, getting the car fixed, following up with everyone, etc. It's just always more work on my plate hence the stress. Maybe we'll get ride of the car one day.

money saving tip #5

June 26th, 2014 at 09:49 pm

Over the weekend I went through hell trying to find a deal to rent a mininvan. On Tuesday we went on a overnight with my in-laws who are visiting to a resort area. Got a great deal on a midweek, just before season hotel. The small problem was that we either had to drive two cars or rent a minivan large enough to hold 6.

Well the best prices I found were $91/day through normal rentals both hotwire or carrentals.com. I did see zipcar for $88/day but turned into $98/day including taxes and gas a day. I shuddered at the prices. But then I decided to google car rentals from car companies and up popped toyota, ford, and lincoln mercury.

I called around Monday and was told I could do it since it was mid week for $65/day = $70/day including taxes. Score. Mind you this was farther out and in the city it was $95/day. But still for $140 for 2 days I feel we got a steal. Car dealerships never come up on searches by the way.

So did I save money? Probably broke even. We spent $65 for the minivan so $50 savings on gas. We paid for parking at the beaches $15 x 2 = $30 (only 1 car versus 2), parking $10 in lots = $90 at least not quite $140, but we did save on wear and tear on two cars so we probably broke even.

Even so next time if I can't score lower than rental companies I'll be sure to check car dealerships. And the bigger savings, not buying a minivan just for the times we need to seat 6. Of course a third kid would push us over the edge.

money saving tip #4

June 19th, 2014 at 12:05 pm

Drive car until wheels fall off. But sell if it doesn't fit your needs, not wants, NEEDS!

Strangely enough my mom and MIL have both driven cars for about 20 years. My mom is still driving her 96 Toyota Avalon with about 90k miles. And my MIL last car was a 86 Diesel Jetta she sold in 2006 with 200km because she has trouble seeing and she rarely drives period.

As it is in 2012 I got rid of my 1st car a 98 Corolla bought in 99. I felt pain in my heart as I let of the old me. The college me. The young, fun, cute, and carefree me. I drive a 2010 subaru outback for my two kids. Not having a car payment did a huge boost to our budgets. My DH and I both hadn't had car payments since 2003 until 2010.

DH got the Outback in 2010 when his 2000 Ford Focus basically burst into flames. Yeah that American car experience was not a good one. And with one kid I drove my corolla until we had our 2nd kiddo.

Then my DH wanted a bigger, safer car. I would have preferred him driving my corolla but he wanted something bigger. So we compromised and bought a used 2006 hyundai sonata with low mileage. It had side airbags, latch, and abs. I mean it did hurt my frugal heart but alas marriage is about compromise.

Now we have two car payments due to be paid off 8/2015. $385 and $200 a month. Ugh. And we spent $10k and $20k on our cars. I can guess how much monthly people are paying driving around in $50k+ cars. It truly is a money pit.

But if everything goes to plan...In another year or two we'll buy a minivan and replace the Sonata without a car payment. We started setting aside the $400/month to replace/repair our cars ever 6 years. And the subaru will be inherited by our kid when she turns 16.

I have to say I'm still torn about used versus new. Our used car has been decent but in the 2 years needed calipers done along with brakes and rotors. I don't know if its because it's a hyundai versus a toyota/subaru so the reliability is the issue, instead of it being used.

But the minivan? We'll see where we are financially. I'd like to pay off the cars this summer but we'll see.