I bought a Hyundai Elantra in July of 2004 with a 5 year loan. I’ve been paying extra every month and the extra check in three pay check months going to the car and I just paid it off, almost two and a half years early.
Now my only debts are a small amount on a credit card and ~500 because someone broke out my car window last week (lilttle bastages). I also need to get a new car stereo because the idiots who broke my car window tried to steal the radio and broke the face plate.
Shh! This is not news you want to shout from the rooftops. Even typing it on this message board is asking for trouble. Next thing you know, you will either be in a car accident, or you will have some major breakdown not covered by the warrenty. It’s a rule of car ownership–the minute it is all yours, it breaks.
Congrats! There’s nothing like driving a car around knowing it’s 100% yours, huh?
Mr. AdoptaMom and I have had our vehicles paid off for several years. My little 2001 Sentra is still going strong with 51K miles and I hope to drive it at least 10 more years. Mr. AdoptaMom’s truck is a 2002 with 150K miles and is abused daily, so our hopes for it are much shorter lived.
Isn’t it such an awesome feeling? My car has been paid off for almost two years now, and I’m loving it. It’s a '98 Mercury with 84k miles on it (I bought it used in '01). I’m hoping it will last at least 3-4 more years with regular maintenance. I’ve vowed never to finance another car again. Now the only debt I have is student loans. Can’t wait until the day I have the Sallie Mae Monkey off my back too.
If you’re smart about it, you’ll start doing something with the now-car-payment-sized budget surplus. If you’re used to not spending it now, it can be saved or invested.
Yep, I’ve already figured out how I am going to split the car payment on my investments. Part of the payment is going to retirement, the other part is going to my down payment on a house account.
Gatopescado, buying my car new was not a mistake. I might have saved two thousand on a used car of the same model at the outside, I priced them before I bought. Then again, the used car might have been a piece of crap like my other used cars that had stuff breaking all the time. I am going to own this thing long enough that the difference between new and used becomes trival over the life of the car. It works out to about 12 bucks a month over my expect life of the car.
