End of the road

So we have a plan on cars, you see?

Average car, I think, will last you six, seven, eight years before you start having to worry about serious problems, or, at least, a bunch of minor “parts are snapping / falling off” problems.

So here’s what we do. We buy Car A with a 3-4 year loan. Allocate the money for the loan out of Margie’s paycheck, direct deposit, to an account that the car loan is autopaid (so to speak) from. We usually go heavy on the amount, so that a bit more accumulates than is withdrawn, and eventually we pull that out and make an extra payment.

In 3-4 years, the car is paid off. And so now we can buy Car B (i.e., replace a car), applying the old car payment amount (already budgeted) to the new one.

And in 3-4 years, that’s paid off, then we go back to Car A, which is now, at a minimum (because there’s usually a gap here) six years old, probably a more, and ready to be replaced.

On the one hand, it feels profligate. On the other hand, I know people who replace their cars every 2-3 years. And on much nicer cars than I’m ever likely to buy.

We’ve done this a couple of cycles now — the Saturn in ’94, then replacing Margie’s Acura with the van in ’99, then replacing the Saturn with the zippy Subaru in ’03 (!). And now …

Well, with Doyce having gone out and bought a new car (a replacement for the Saturn, in fact — you know, the pink one), we’ve been thinking of cars, and thinking of replacing the van, now going on seven (2000 Toyota Sienna, but bought in late 1999).
But I had no idea what the remaining tally was on the loan on the Subaru. Money never crosses our hands, just statements from the savings account. Weird, I know, but it works.

Margie says, “Well, let’s do another one of those extra payment things,” so I agree, and today she goes by the credit union and pulls out the excess money (post-payment) from the account, and then heads over to Chase to figure out how to make a deposit on it (Chase being the second or third owner of the car loan.)

And I get a call, from her. “Hey, honey,” she asks. “Want me to pay off the car?”

“Huh?” Ah, that witty repartee.

“Well, I can pay it off for what I have in my pocket.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Um … do it.”

Thing is, though I knew the Sienna was getting old enough (it’s the official “We’re Having a Baby, So We Need a Mini-Van” purchase), I had no idea that the Subaru was that old. When I was writing about it above, I almost put down I’d gotten it in ’05, then realized that couldn’t be right, and made it ’04. Try ’03. In fact, it will be three years next Tuesday.

(See? This is why I have a blog.)

So, Margie still has a chunk of cash in her hand. And, until we start paying on something new, we’re still allocating out car payments into that other account, so we’ll have a nice down payment.

Though we might not have that long.

“So, you know,” Margie says, “what this means we’re going to be doing this weekend.”

“What, someone’s angling for an early birthday present?”

Laughter.

(No, I don’t expect to buy a new car this weekend. But starting to look? Yeah, maybe …)