This was our first beauty...
In a way it was the best vehicle we ever owned. Now let me be clear, it had a TON of problems. The back windshield wouldn't roll back up without a ridiculous amount of work, the emergency break was broken, the heater was broken, it was super noisy inside, it had no power and you were lucky to get it past 60 km/h up a hill...and if you have ever owned a Toyota, you know-it was rusting!
BUT
It was completely paid for. It was my then-boyfriend-now-hubby's first vehicle and was part of our story, it got me from Grande Prairie to Prince George to be with him. Up and down the province to visit family...was my husband's first ever 'car accident'. (He came to Grande Prairie to visit me, and his opening line after driving the 6 hours was "do I smell like dead dear?") It was a great vehicle.
Then we moved to Alberta.
Here is where we started making BIG mistakes.
When you move provinces you have to get your vehicle inspected. Surprise! Your vehicle needs 5K worth of work, oh yeah, and it's worth about $500-800.
Uhhh...
Well, we always wanted a RAV4, but, I was thinking of going back to work in the fall, and hubby's job was seasonal and he hadn't found any work teaching yet so the price tag was too big. So we decided to lease a brand new Matrix. (BTW: this pic isn't our car, but it is exactly what it looked like)
BAD IDEA.
First off, we could 'just' afford the payment on it. Second, we didn't do any research and make a quick emotional decision based on something that we liked. Plus, let's be honest. It's pretty nice to show up and say "check out my new car!" Third (had we done the research we may have realized this), getting a brand new vehicle is the worst way to spend your investment. I'm sorry-it's just not an investment. Once you drive it off the lot, if you were to turn around and sell it right back-the depreciated value would be shocking! Fourth, we bought the car with this idea that if "you are going to buy, you are definitely going to buy up", the details were a little fuzzy on the 'up' part.
Now don't get us wrong. It was a great car-it was a lot more quiet than our 4Runner, had some nice bells and whistles. Cheaper on fuel... It was our common ground between now best friends and Godparents of our daughter. We had some great road trips in it...
Fast forward about 2 years and surprise-we are pregnant!
Suddenly we were thinking..."geez, you know, our vehicle isn't an asset" (duh), "there isn't much room for kids", "if we ever got into an accident with it with our new baby, it wouldn't hold up very well".
Then our dream car happened to be at dealership when we had gone in for a maintenance check.
In a way it was the best vehicle we ever owned. Now let me be clear, it had a TON of problems. The back windshield wouldn't roll back up without a ridiculous amount of work, the emergency break was broken, the heater was broken, it was super noisy inside, it had no power and you were lucky to get it past 60 km/h up a hill...and if you have ever owned a Toyota, you know-it was rusting!
BUT
It was completely paid for. It was my then-boyfriend-now-hubby's first vehicle and was part of our story, it got me from Grande Prairie to Prince George to be with him. Up and down the province to visit family...was my husband's first ever 'car accident'. (He came to Grande Prairie to visit me, and his opening line after driving the 6 hours was "do I smell like dead dear?") It was a great vehicle.
Then we moved to Alberta.
Here is where we started making BIG mistakes.
When you move provinces you have to get your vehicle inspected. Surprise! Your vehicle needs 5K worth of work, oh yeah, and it's worth about $500-800.
Uhhh...
Well, we always wanted a RAV4, but, I was thinking of going back to work in the fall, and hubby's job was seasonal and he hadn't found any work teaching yet so the price tag was too big. So we decided to lease a brand new Matrix. (BTW: this pic isn't our car, but it is exactly what it looked like)
BAD IDEA.
First off, we could 'just' afford the payment on it. Second, we didn't do any research and make a quick emotional decision based on something that we liked. Plus, let's be honest. It's pretty nice to show up and say "check out my new car!" Third (had we done the research we may have realized this), getting a brand new vehicle is the worst way to spend your investment. I'm sorry-it's just not an investment. Once you drive it off the lot, if you were to turn around and sell it right back-the depreciated value would be shocking! Fourth, we bought the car with this idea that if "you are going to buy, you are definitely going to buy up", the details were a little fuzzy on the 'up' part.
Now don't get us wrong. It was a great car-it was a lot more quiet than our 4Runner, had some nice bells and whistles. Cheaper on fuel... It was our common ground between now best friends and Godparents of our daughter. We had some great road trips in it...
Fast forward about 2 years and surprise-we are pregnant!
Suddenly we were thinking..."geez, you know, our vehicle isn't an asset" (duh), "there isn't much room for kids", "if we ever got into an accident with it with our new baby, it wouldn't hold up very well".
Then our dream car happened to be at dealership when we had gone in for a maintenance check.
Yeah, we bought it.
This time it was used (2.5 years old), and this time we bought it (instead of leasing). There was the small matter of it being more expensive then our RAV, and the fact that we would have to factor in the costs of our leasing mistake into our new vehicle...
BUT, I mean come on. It was our dream car. Leather interior, heated seats, bells and whistles that we could 'afford' as compared to a new RAV which we couldn't even dream of getting if we bought new. It was going to be safer. It was going to be a better family vehicle.
It was our DREAM CAR!
Okay. So now here we are, it's about 17 months later and we are having buyers remorse.
No no, we love our RAV. It's just here's the thing...We have just under 57K in debt. We (and what I really mean is me, since my hubby walks to work) only use the vehicle to drive to the grocery store which is 1.5km away (I know-should be walking more often), and then about 1/2 dozen times down island or to visit family.
If we hadn't rolled the amount owing on our credit line, we'd be paying $600/month for that?!
So here is where we get serious.
Our vehicle costs a lot of moola.
It doesn't meet all of our needs because we do not have enough space for 3 carseats (and yes, I may stop at 2 kids, but 3 is my magic number), and when I take on daycare kids, I am not able to transport them anywhere, not to the library, or to strongstart...
Oh yeah, and our vehicle cost a lot of moola and we have 57K of debt.
So we talk about what kind of vehicle makes sense for us, and *cringe* a minivan suits 99% of our needs...luckily so does a surburban if we can find the right kind for the right price. Neither are my favorite looking vehicle. But let's get serious, we made the 'dream-car-stroke-my-ego' vehicle choice, and that didn't work for us.
Okay. Now let's talk price.
Our beauty-she's worth about 20-22K. (No, that's not really close to what we owe on it...)
What we'd like to do. Get something around the 6-10K range, and then put the rest of our moola back on our credit line and PAY THAT SUCKER DOWN!
It's hard though. I mean, we were moving up in the world. Or were we?
The truth is, we don't have the luxury of sitting on an expensive vehicle. So-do we sell our vehicle?
Can we swallow our pride and make the decision to get a safe, reliable and cheap vehicle to meet our needs?
Makes sense doesn't it.
Damn.
We're having a car complex.
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