Regrets, I have a few…should I sell the car?

I promise that eventually I’ll quit referring to the Nitty Gritty post. But a subject was brought up in the comments that I thought should be explored further.

The idea of selling our vehicle for a cheaper one.

I can’t say that the thought has never crossed my mind. In fact, a case of “Buyers Remorse” arrived almost immediately upon purchase, but it never fully set in, instead it comes and goes. On one hand our van (2004 Honda) is by far the nicest vehicle that either me or my wife have ever owned. The leather seats are easy to keep clean, it has a smooth ride, and the DVD system is great for long trips. On the other hand, we are paying almost 10% of our take-home income on something that just transports us from point A to point B.

Guess which one of these babies is paid for?
Guess which one of these babies is paid for?

What where we thinking?

It was early in the summer of 2006 and my wife and I were expecting our 2nd child. We knew it would be tough to fit two car seats and our dog in my old car (a 2000 Ford Contour), so we thought about doing the unthinkable…buying a mini-van!

Since we were given a gift subscription to Consumer Reports, we knew the highest rated Mini-Vans were made by Toyota and Honda. So on a random rainy Saturday, we drove to the lot in my Ford, and drove home in a Honda. So much for following Consumer Report’s advice!!!

Looking back I’d like to plead temporary insanity, because if I remember correctly we also bought a brand new hide-a-bed that same week. Obviously we were going to need a hide-a-bed since child #2 would be taking over the guest room. Plus it has to be a nice one because it’ll be in my wife’s office…I can count the number of times that hide-a-bed has been used on one hand.

Back to the issue at hand:

From a debt elimination standpoint, it’s a no-brainer. Kelly Blue Book says the van’s retail value is $16,800. which is about $5,000 more than we still owe on it. So we could sell it, buy a another van for probably half the price and pay off the old van debt in no time.

But I’d have to add the cost of alimony and child support to my debt because when this idea is brought up with my wife, she says it’s a deal breaker. **Note, this is an exaggeration. My wife wouldn’t leave me if I sold our van. But I do think she’d find subtle ways of torturing me little by little. Plus I’m pretty sure I’d be locked out of the sugar shack for a very, very long time.**

What to do?

Our plan is to ride out the payments (only 37 more to go), keep up on the routine maintenance and drive it forever. Or as long as we can, whichever is longer. At least that was our plan before we came upon The Happy Rock. Perhaps one of you has a better idea. I hope to get some comments on this matter, the previous one I’ve gotten have been really good.

No pressure.

Until next time,

-DD

14 Comments

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *