New Car?

Once upon a time my mother in law booked us a REALLY cheap trip to Ireland. I honestly thought it might be a scam. It was just just such a good deal. When we arrived at the airport I was sure they were going to tell us that we weren't booked on any of the flights. But we were and we began flying over there. When we arrived in Ireland I still thought it was too good to be true. When we walked up to the desk to get the rental car (part of the trip) my heart was pounding extra hard as I thought they might tell us we were stranded, "what car?" Nope. We got a cute little car for the 10 days. I really didn't believe the trip was real until we were checked into our first hotel. Call me crazy but life is just so expensive and generally complicated.

We're planning on buying a car on Monday. We are having to take out a loan for it but I've scraped together enough funds for this $4500 car that the loan will only be for $2500. When it's all said and done the "new" car is only going to cost us $80 more a month (that's $60 for the payment and $20 more to insure it than the van costs). It's a tiny little 2008 Hyundai that will get such great gas mileage I can hardly even comprehend the savings since the van honestly gets about 12 to 15 miles per gallon. The savings on gas might actually cancel out the loan payment.

We're purchasing the car from a very close friend of my mother in law. Actually, we spent our 10 days in Ireland with her and my mother in law. (I hadn't consciously thought of that when I began this post) One of the things I HATE about buying a used car is that you never know if someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes. Cars are so sketchy and it seems so easy to buy a junker that someone "fixed" up for the sale that won't hardly last. At least we know that the vehicle's owners are honest. They've been trying to sell it for sometime now. They're giving us a great deal because they just want it sold. On a car lot it would sell for about $7000. The "for sale by owner" retail is somewhere around $5700. We're paying $4500.

I'm not excited about a new loan. I'm not excited that the van has really seen it's last (we ended up taking it to a shop and they said there was over $3000 of repairs need just to make it safe to drive). But as it stands right now I don't think things could have come together much better than they have. It seems that we're getting a really great car for a really great price with not very much money being borrowed. I'm happy. Still, it seems too good to be true. I'll be reporting back on Monday after the loan is finalized, the title is signed over, and the car is sitting in our driveway. I'll also snap a photo of my new "beemer" for you all once it's really ours.