I’m paying off my car next month!

Next month marks a pivotal point in my journey to becoming debt free. I’m paying off my car! Four years  and $12,000 later, what seemed like forever to arrive, my loan will be paid off & my car will officially be mine! A lot has changed in the four years that I’ve been paying off this loan, but one thing has always remained consistent – that pesky monthly payment of $289 always seemed to come earlier than the previous one.

I’ve always been, and still am, a big believer in purchasing used cars. If you can afford to pay out of pocket, do it. In fact, when I went out on my car search back in 2006 I had every intention of purchasing used. After countless late nights spent up reading reviews, checking prices, scouring craigslist ads, I landed on a deal for the car of my dreams. It was brave for me to buy new, and put me out of my frugal comfort zone, but I knew it was the right decision & opportunity for me at the time. I was 24 years old, debt free & ready for a new responsibility. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would own a shiny new car, but through taking advantage of a year end rebate sale, I was able to purchase the car of my dreams new, for thousands of dollars less than the used models that were 3-4 years old. Ok, ok, so Dave Ramsey would probably still slap my hand for ever doing this deal, but I did & it’s done with, and well, next month it’s paid off!

Even though I scored a great deal on a car that has never left me stranded on the side of the road (knock on wood) my decision on this particular car did come with some hiccups along the way. As I reflect back on the changes that happened to me over those four years, I realize there are a couple of things I wish I could tell the “me” from 4 years ago:

1. Sure getting it in black will make it look sleek & really cool, but you’re only going to live in an apartment with a garage for a couple of months. The rest of the time this black car will be stored outside, uncovered, and exposed to beach air. It will never be clean, and it will never look sleek (it will still look cool though!).
2. You’re going to put a lot of miles on this car so stop trying to “save miles” to keep it feeling new. In fact, you’ll drive back and forth between Northern & Southern CA enough times to make your head spin. You’ll also have 3 different jobs within this period of time all which will require a long commute. 50,000 miles will be put on this car before you even pay it off.
3. Insurance on a new car is not cheap. Annual DMV registration is not cheap. Gas will hit $4.07 a gallon and cost almost $75 to fill up.

My Plan for the Future

It’s going to be nice not having to stress about making a car payment & being able to have extra wiggle room in my budget, however that doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and buy a new flat screen tv. Seeing as I’m already used to living without the $289 each month, I plan on keeping up with my same budget and putting half of the $289 into savings for unexpected car repairs while the other half will be used to pay off the balance on my highest interest rate credit card.

If you’re in the middle of paying off a car loan, hang in there. The day will finally come. Sure some days I wish I would have bought a used car with the money I used as a deposit, but at the same time I really did learn a lot about myself in the process. I love my car, and have no intention of selling it anytime soon. I’m not sure if I would ever purchase new again, because payments really are a drag, but it was a fun experience in the end.

After I write that final check next month, I’m taking my little Mazda6 to the beauty parlor for a celebratory car wash and drive down PCH with the windows rolled down, sun in my hair, and music turned up!