Car Talk

Tomorrow we are going car shopping. Wee! This will be a much different car-shopping trip than we've ever been on. We won't be looking to lease or get a loan. Let me give you a little bit of background on our car situation, because it's been a long and winding road... (no pun intended)

Jason and I have been through LOTS of cars, for how young we are. When we got together, I had a Celica and he had a Grand Prix. By the way, these are not actual pictures of our cars. I'm just using Google Images to help you get a visual here :) Shortly thereafter, we both got newer, more family-friendly cars when we found out we were expecting a baby (and our current cars were going to sh*t). I leased a 2006 Corolla and Jason got a 2005 Cobalt. These were the nicest, newest cars either of us ever had. I remember crying the whole way home after trading in my Celica. I was very attached to that car and sad to see it go. Unfortunately, about a year later, both of us had to give up our new cars. We just couldn't afford the high payments anymore. I was lucky enough to get a loan for a Cougar, and Jason purchased a Firebird outright, so we were down to 1 low car payment. And now we had fun cars, that were also carseat-friendly! Then came summer, and Jason and I separated. I was living with my parents rent-free so I managed to squeeze out my car payment through the summer. He sold his Firebird because it started having problems that were too expensive to fix. He bought an older Trans Am that was healthy enough to run & drive, with hopes of fixing it up. (Have you noticed he's a Pontiac guy?)

Long story short, the Trans Am blew up.

Jason was stuck without a running car, so his dad (having an extra car) let J have his Buick Park Avenue, which J's great grandpa had purchased brand new and kept in the family after passing. (SORRY -- I know, I know, horrible run-on sentence).

Shortly after I moved back in with Jason, I had to give up the Cougar. I don't like to talk about money on here, but basically the house rent is higher here than it was at our old place... so it was either house or Cougar. We chose house.

So we have been living on one car - a 1989 Buick Park Avenue. Although it's in great shape for its age, having been taken wonderful care of within the family, it's just not right for us. And Jason's dad needs it back in a bad way. His backup ride is a rare old Pontiac GTO that is really not ready to be driven yet.

Here's our plan.

1. Give Jason's dad the Buick back.
2. Use a portion of our tax return to buy an inexpensive vehicle from VOA Auto Sales (a charity/volunteer organization)
3. Let that vehicle last us a good 2 years or so, until we've saved up & are ready for a nicer car once again.

I realize that on such a low budget, it's going to be hard to find a car that will last 2 years without major problems. That's why we really have to dig and find juuuust the right vehicle. I NEVER thought I'd say this, but it might even be [gasp] a minivan. So... wish us luck!