Hello! I’ve been a longtime lurker here and finally decided to see if I could get some advice on this situation.
I (27F) have had a 2003 Honda Civic for about seven years now. But recently I’ve had to do some repairs on it, although they haven’t been too expensive since my mechanic is a family friend. Probably spent ~$700 in the past three years on it. Not bad at all.
Now I feel I’m in a good place financially and am wondering if I should buy a new-ish car before a huge problem happens with this one. I’ve gotten mixed advice from different people. Anywhere from “Oh just buy it, you deserve it!” To “there’s nothing really wrong with your civic and it’s cheap to fix and maintain.” So here I am asking for some unbiased input from people who aren’t my friends/family.
My income: 2,868 per month after taxes, health insurance, auto/home ins deduction etc. My total estimated expenses right now add up to about $1,255. That include my half of our mortgage payment. I have a little over $20,000 in savings. Little over $5,000 in checking account. No investment accounts besides my work 403B account yet, still trying to figure all that out.
So, I found a 2018 Honda Clarity plug in hybrid for 22k with only 30k miles on it. The salesman actually lowered the price to $20,049 total after taxes and fees, I’m guessing because the car has been in their lot for months. I really do love it.
I’m thinking of doing a $10,000 which would mean $250/month for 60 months with 5.99% APR. However, I’m hoping that interest rate may end up lower since my credit score is 767.
With that $250 added to my monthly expenses, it looks like I’d still be able to put away a good chunk of my pay into savings still. And after the down payment I would still have 6 months of expenses in my savings.
The tricky part was figuring out my auto insurance because it’s taken out of my paycheck. I get a discount going through my employer and bundling. But basically I would only see a $750 increase in my yearly premium if I bought this car (I called to get an estimate recently).
All of this, along with the fact that my company is giving us a 4% raise next year, and 3% bonus check for Christmas, makes me think I could do this.
Also, a day after I wrote this draft, the brakes on my civic gave out at an intersection so that was great. It’ll be $300 to replace a valve. So now I really have to decide whether I want to get it back from my mechanic or just have him buy it off me for $1500.
Any advice is appreciated!
Submitted October 06, 2021 at 09:21AM by theflyingshrimp https://ift.tt/3BgP5bP
