Finally the car is paid off!
@AxranraRose82 (1120)
United States
April 17, 2008 7:54am CST
March was our last month for making payments on one of our cars! I cannot believe how relieved I feel about it!!! It was about $260 every month. I am so excited!! We are usually pretty far behind on everything until tax time when we catch up on all the late stuff.
My MIL payed off our other car (the main one) because we had a 20% interest rate. She hated that so she helped us out. Now we pay her monthly but instead of $240 we pay her around $200 a month. That really helps a lot too. As soon as possible we want to trade in that car to get a minivan. A regular car doesn't cut it when you have 3 children and car seat/booster seat laws for all of them! We are also looking into selling the payed off car and buying something more effecient and cheaper (it is a sports car) like a motorcycle for good weather and maybe an old pickup for when we need to haul things or the weather is too bad for a motorcycle. And with the money we are saving now we can afford to do it!
3 people like this
11 responses
@Bijou1 (160)
• Australia
17 Apr 08
congrats to you. I bet it's a good feeling. I know about 2 years ago i was 100% debt free and it felt great. Now i am up to my eyeballs in debt and cant wait to escape it. We wanted to move to a mining town over 20 hours away from where we were living, so we got a credit card to help pay for the move and we brought a new car. Then when we got here we brought a house. So a lot has changed. I feel trapped! But there is light at theend of the tnnel. We will use the equity from the house that we brought to pay of our credit card and car loan. Yay! cant wait. I hate debt & commitment. I hate even having lay-bys!
@AxranraRose82 (1120)
• United States
21 Apr 08
Thank you and good luck to you too!! It does feel great knowing we don't have to worry about those anymore. The disappointing thing is that even though we didn't miss a single payment on one car and we were only late a few times with the other we cannot get a credit card. I was hoping to get one in his name to build his credit but can't seem to get approved. It's bumming me out!
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
17 Apr 08
Congrats on paying off your car 
Mine is pretty close. I think September. Can't wait to have the extra $142/month 
My husbands are is brand new....since he is picky, even at 7% we are paying much too much. We are hoping to refinance that booger soon.
Mine is pretty close. I think September. Can't wait to have the extra $142/month My husbands are is brand new....since he is picky, even at 7% we are paying much too much. We are hoping to refinance that booger soon. 1 person likes this
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
21 Apr 08
Our car dealer shopped around for the best deal for us. This was my husbands first car and big purchase on his credit, so the original interest wasn't that great 9%. My Dad co-signed to get it down to 7%. As soon as he finds another job we are hoping to refinance it to 5.5%.
@AxranraRose82 (1120)
• United States
21 Apr 08
We can only hope for a 7% interest rate! Our best was 12%. I am hoping to get at least 12% this time around but really want it to be lower. We are going to shop around before we choose a company to get our loan through. We will not be settling for a dealer's offer!
@desertdarlene (8910)
• United States
17 Apr 08
Isn't that a great feeling? I just bought a new car after having paid off my last one almost ten years earlier. Now, I have another 40 months of car payments to make. I hate it because my job is so unstable and I usually end up on unemployment every couple of years or so, and that makes it hard to make payments and pay for my regular living expenses. So, when I take out long term loans, I get very nervous. But, I've always been able to pay them off.
1 person likes this
@AxranraRose82 (1120)
• United States
21 Apr 08
It feels fabulous to have paid it off!
I hate that nervous feeling you get when you own money and are afraid you will miss a payment or worse. It has probably taken at least 5 years off my life!
@ayumitakashi (4462)
• United States
17 Apr 08
That is so awesome. It feels good when you pay off debts that you have. That's one less debt that you have now and don't have to worry about. I wish you luck on your ventures.
1 person likes this
@drivelikeleighu (27)
•
18 Apr 08
Congratulations! I just brought my first car in October and can't wait to pay it off. I have another 4 1/2 years to go! Thats another 4 1/2 years of paying £240 a month. That's the equivalent of $480. A bit much huh?
@AxranraRose82 (1120)
• United States
21 Apr 08
Congrats to you too then! My first car only cost $1600. It was a 1988 Ford Mustang LX manual in really great shape. I loved it. Now $480 is what we are shooting for for our next car. It isn't so high, especially if you prefer paying moer though a reliable amount every month, rather than a lesser amount with higher repair surprises every so often!
I do not want to go over $500. Well, really we cannot!
@happythoughts (4109)
• United States
21 Apr 08
Congrats. That will make a big difference in your life I would think. It is like running into an extra $260 every month. Plus our insurance company charges us less to insure cars we owe outright rather then cars we have lien holders on. It all adds up for us.
@mrsjbelle (1640)
• United States
18 Apr 08
Hooray! I know thats a GREAT feeling. Ill be glad when our car is paid off. 20% is alot of interest to pay. Your MIL is nice.
@bluemars (952)
• Australia
18 Apr 08
Oh I know what kind of a relief that is mate. It can feel like it is never ending especially when y you have other bills to go through and they just keep on coming. It is like a never ending saga. When the day happens though and all is finished with the whole thing then then you can truly be excited that is of course if you don't take out another headache of a loan for something else. I know it can be so addictive when you want something now and don't want to wait and save until you can actually really afford it. These are the days of our lives I guess.
1 person likes this
@jairgirl (2877)
• United States
18 Apr 08
hello,
congratulations for finally paying it off. it is never easy to have something that you have to worry every month and the fact that it is over makes it a lot easier.
i agree that if you buy something make sure that it is really something you need.
if only one person uses it as a form of transportation then a motorcycle is the best choice coz it is by far the best you can get for your money (talking about oil price) we are thinking the same thing coz we feel it is best to do that now.
a minivan is a great idea for family rides or an suv with good gas millage. the fact that oil is soaring high makes it easy to decide which one will save us the most.
anyway, wish you the best.
takecare!
@nice030481 (1109)
• Philippines
18 Apr 08
wow, congratulations... i want to buy a car too, but the problem is, i dont have enough budget to pay for this. thats why i want to have extra income.
