2 New Vehicles + NO Car Payments

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It wasn’t part of our plan to change out our vehicles this year. We definitely didn’t expect to change them BOTH out within a month! But, we did.

As a side note about car buying in general, Matt and I laughed as each salesman tried to tell us the cars were basically indestructible, and then the finance guy (who wanted us to get all the warranties) tried to convince us the cars could self-destruct at any moment. The juxtaposition of the two extreme opposites never failed to entertain. 🤣

Here’s my beautiful old lady, she was really good to us for a really long time.:

I have been driving this beautiful van around for more than 11 years. It was annoying that the speakers were broken, but otherwise she was glorious. Her and I were very used to each other and she fit me like a glove. Sure, the carpets were so stained from 11 years of allowing children to exist as children in the van, but still, it took all the anxiety out of them making future messes … because there is already a stain everywhere.

So Matt had been driving a little tiny commuter car for about 4 years. We called it the blueberry. One morning this past April, we got the kids off to school and then I laid back down to get a little more sleep. Matt woke me up with a call that he had gotten in an accident on the Interstate and his car was totaled. Even though it was his voice talking to me, my mind had to go through the motions of thinking he was seriously injured and possibly dying … to me realizing he was saying words in my ear and was telling me he was okay. It was TERRIFYING. I was shaken for days and days. A few nights later we went to the store and I stayed in the car with our dog, but when Matt called me from the store to ask a question, the panic I felt at the phone call was surprising and involuntary. I mean, my subconscious just naturally was triggered because his last phone call brought such a panicked response.

I knew that our lives were forever changed after the deaths of Adam, Elizabeth and Jane in January. One of those changes is I am anxious about car accidents. Like, sooooo anxious. We had to get Matt a new vehicle, so we decided to both get new ones with ALL THE SAFEY FEATURES AVAILABLE (short of buying Teslas for each other – we didn’t have that much in our car fund).

I ended up getting a new Honda Minivan.

Matt now drives a used, but still new-ish Nissan Rogue. Blue, of course.

No Car Payments!

We own both new vehicles out-right and have no car payments. This is something we started when we were first married and after paid off our first two vehicles. We took the amount of car payment we had just been paying and put it directly into a car buying fund. This simple method of paying car payments to our savings account instead of a car dealership has saved us from having car payments ever again.

The trick to no car payment is you have to be willing to drive the older car that you’ve paid off long enough to save up for the next one! It can be hard! Especially since technically you can afford the new car payment since you’re saving that much each month for the new vehicle, it takes a lot of self-control. But, we’ve found it so worth it to own our vehicles outright – it feels so freeing.

The other trick to no car payments is buying a car you can afford. Since Matt’s last vehicle was only 4 years, he bought a used SUV this time instead of a new car. (And we got a great deal.)

When you own your own vehicle, it is fun to see how long you can drive it because every extra month longer than you planned feels like bonus money!

{If you know young people just starting up, share this trick with them, it can make such a difference for their financial security!}

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I’m still getting used to all the bells and whistles of our new vehicles. I do feel safer with Matt commuting so much in a safer car. We may not have planned to trade out our cars so soon, but glad it worked out and that Matt is safe.

From my home to yours,
Mary