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Actually Paying Off A Car


doc540

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4 years ago we bought my daughter a 2004 Toyota RV4.

Friday we made the last payment on it.

I've owned dozens of cars throughout my lifetime, and this is the first time I've ever kept a car long enough to pay off the term of the note.

We have some serious equity in this one now.

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Reminds me...

Years ago a coworker and I were walking out to our cars in the parking lot. He walks to his, an old sixties something rusted beat to crap and back pickup. I sarcastically say, 'nice truck!'. He smiles back as he opens the door with a loud skreeech! and says. 'Yea it is, and only six more payments and she's mine!!!'

:roflol: :roflol: :roflol:

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Paid the van off last month. My truck will be paid off in May. It will be like getting a $1000 a month pay raise!:cheers:

I always pay my trucks off but there is a fine line between paid for and being too much work to keep up. I kept my last truck 18 years and only had 120k miles on it but it was still getting to be more trouble than it was worth. I'll probably stick to the 10 year plan for this one.

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I always keep my cars after paying them off. Keep them in good shape mechanically, then pass them off to the kids. Most of their driving is local.

My son is driving our 1997 Audi A4 (I miss that car!) 130K

oldest Daughter a 2000 Honda Accord 160K

Youngest Daughter 2002 Mini Van 100K

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If you have your credit card debt paid down, here is a trick. Since you are used to not having the money that went to pay the car loan, keep paying the car loan...just pay it to yourself...up front...in a separate account... automatically. Do that for 2 more years...4 years...whatever you can manage ... and you will have your "new car" money already funded.

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If you have your credit card debt paid down, here is a trick. Since you are used to not having the money that went to pay the car loan, keep paying the car loan...just pay it to yourself...up front...in a separate account... automatically. Do that for 2 more years...4 years...whatever you can manage ... and you will have your "new car" money already funded.

Exactly how I bought my 07 corvette.

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+2 to Flex.

Or you could go one step further and just keep on saving and investing the money.

Paid cash for my Honda 16 years ago. Bought a Honda van for my wife two years after that and paid off the note ASAP (the credit union allowed extra principal payments with no penalty). We've got very little invested in our vehicles in terms of image or personality (they're mostly just modes of transportation to us), and they've been mechanically sound, so we haven't bought anything since. Our friends buy or lease new vehicles every three years or so, and just can't understand why we don't do the same.

I guess they didn't do the math. Investing the purchase prices of two comparable replacement vehicles every three years at 4% return has been worth a VERY large amount of money. Money we have uses for... :ph34r::cheers:

Edited by kevin c
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I've been without car/truck pymt's for 9 yrs. Will never go back. Drove a $3K truck for 3 yrs. sold it for $3500, bought a $13k truck, drove it for 6 yrs(pd. for the day I drove it away)(used) sold it for $9k, bought a 08 with 11K miles, pd for the day I drove it away. The guy I bought my 08 from took a $11K hit for buying new. Changes the way you spend money when you dig deep in your pocket instead of signing on the line for a loan. life is better.

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Gratz!

I just sold the first car I ever paid off yesterday. Used the $$ to pay off my new truck and it feels good. My Wife only has about 6 months left on her 2011 Mustang and we're hoping to pay it off sooner.

Free pay raise till my Son gets his first car in May. I love being debt free (or close to it)!

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I've had one car payment in my life. Not one car paid for monthly but a car that I paid one months payment. Saw that I had paid $60.00 interest for that one month and said screw this noise. Went to the credit union the next day and wrote a check for the payoff on the rest of the loan. I buy a nice vehicle, keep it in great shape, keep it for 10 - 12 years and then pay cash for the next one. Not bad, one monthly payment in 61 years.:cheers:

Pat

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I drove $500-$2000 piles of crap since I was a kid. While driving all those piles, I was saving for a full sized 4x4 with my monthly payments to the savings account. I finally bought a gently used '02 4x4 with cold hard cash back in '04. It kinda hurt parting with the money, but it felt really good at the same time. I earned that truck. :D

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