The Weight of Money

As I mentioned in my last car post, we’re not actively looking for another car but we are keeping our eyes out if the right situation appears. Well, this weekend, we thought that situation had come. On one of my local email lists, someone posted a four-door car with air conditioning for sale. The details sounded right and the price was right. We went to check it out, had one small concern with it that we decided was worth accepting for the price, and agreed to get the car pending the safety inspection.

The sellers and I agreed to split the cost of the inspection and they got it done today. Since Maryland loves to nit pick all the details on safety inspections, I wasn’t surprised to hear that the car failed — I doubt any car ever passes the first go round. But the list was rather lengthy and touched on the one concern we had with the car - the transmission. In all, to get the car fixed would have been $1,000 in repairs. The sellers were willing to drop a few hundred dollars off the price, but it still took the car out of the “right price” category for it. If we were confident these repairs would resolve our transmission concerns, we would have probably gone for it. But since it included a long list of nit-picky detail that safety inspections love to hit on and just a couple minor tinkerings with the transmission, we took a pass.

I’m a little disappointed because I got very excited that our car woes would be satisfied, but I’m also not interested in throwing out money to bring another vehicle with issues into our life. Sometimes you’ve just got to let things be and I’m glad that the partner and I were both willing to walk away from this situation without trying to talk ourselves into it. It’s nice not being in a position where we *have* to take action.

Of all the financial decision I make, it seems that my brain turns to mush when it comes to cars. Over the past two years, I feel like I’ve posted about car issues an absurd number of times, and the trend continues. I said that we were going to buy another car - one of those fancy, schmancy ones that have luxuries like air conditioning and four doors. Even better would be good gas mileage and less than 100,000 miles. So, that was the plan and I looked earnestly for another car.

And I looked and looked and found lots of good contenders, but looking for another car is work. And it also costs money - and one thing I hate doing is spending money. So, my determination to get another car has faded and I told the partner that maybe we’ll just continue to live with just the cars we have. My vanity issues are fading away, especially since the partner and a friend helped improve the visual appearance of my “total loss” car, and because there are other things I want more than a car - like money in the bank and eventually a workshop.

Also, since gas prices have increased and my general energy level has decreased, I’m finally in a pattern of not leaving the house for days at a time. Earlier this year, that simply would never happen because I get antsy to get out and go somewhere. At this point, there is no where I want to go. With the partner driving my car to work, I’m even less inclined to go anywhere in one of our other vehicles. So, just making do with the vehicles we have seems like a sensible alternative, at least for a couple more months.

So, the partner and I agreed that he’ll continue to drive my car unless I need it for some reason. I’ll also work on making sure that continue to plan our errands sensibly so that I only need to get out once or twice a week. And I’ll still have a backup vehicle capable of getting where we need to go if something comes up unexpectedly.

We are leaving the option open to still consider another vehicle because we feel we do need a better “family” vehicle - but it’s no longer a pressing need. I’ll continue scanning sales ads and local spots for sale-by-owner vehicles for the perfect car. Also, at some point in the next few month we’ll be closing on the insurance claim from my accident and may decide to use those funds for a family vehicle — if I can avoid just paying down debt instead.

So, since I’m not scratching my brain to buy a car, I can focus on some other projects — like how big of a shed can we buy/build to eliminate the $145/month we’re paying for storage.

I’ve written many times about how much my tendency to procrastinate has cost me - it’s usually not a pretty site when the reality dawns on my that my laziness has a dollar value. It’s one thing to make foolish choices and lose money; it’s another to lose money for doing nothing. But a couple weeks ago, that same tendency actually earned me extra cash.

We’re still dealing with the car accident, slow and steady, and have finally reached an agreement on the settlement amount. The best part is that it took no work on my part. The week of the accident, the insurance company offered me $2,100 for my car if I wanted to keep it. As I previously mentioned, we’d just put a lot of work and money in the car just 3 months prior and I wasn’t happy with that amount. What did I do? Nothing.

Life was very busy at that same time with vacation and three shows I was working on for my sewing business. I didn’t have the time to devote to this issue, so I just let it slide. The insurance company called several times, usually catching my voice mail, but I kept brushing them off. At one point they also called the attorney I retained to deal with the personal injury side of my claim and he directed them back to me as I had asked him to do. He also sent them a letter stating that I was managing the property damage portion of my claim and that I was also unsatisfied with their current offer.

About a week after that letter, I get a revised offer letter that gives me another $550 for my car. Now, this isn’t a huge jump, but it is enough for me to be content. Would I like a little more for my car? Of course, but I’m also not interested in jumping through more hoops to get it either. In my mind, this extra cash almost covers the new clutch we put in my car and is a fair offer considering the actual value of my car. Also, during this time, we’ve established that my car is drivable and the partner has done lots of work to make the body look better. The partner is now driving the car daily because of my vanity issues and because he commutes 75 miles a day and my car gets 35mpg and our other vehicles only get 15-18mpg.

I finally called the claims agent back and I’ll be driving over to sign some paperwork and leave with a check this afternoon. I originally rejected the in-person idea since I hate driving, but as I was writing this post I realized their office was 2 miles from the bank which I need to visit anyways.

This timing works out well because the partner and I finally agree that we need to purchase another vehicle, soon! In a couple more weeks we’ll have a new little one in the house and our “family” car options have almost evaporated. I don’t trust my car, safety-wise, to use it as a family car, plus the partner will be driving it, and our Blazer has had problem after problem lately and I’m stomping my foot hard on putting another dollar into that thing. We’re now deciding on what type of vehicle to get, but thats a whole different post.

The decision to not drive my accident-damaged car is mostly based on vanity issues. I don’t want to drive a car that is smashed in on one side, no matter how much I love the car or how much I dislike driving our other two vehicles. We decided to keep the car, as-is, and the partner can start driving it to work since his commute is 70 miles a day and his current vehicle gets about 16mpg and the car gets 30mpg. Before that switch happens, though, there are still some repairs/improvements the partner wants to make and there is the issue of wrapping his mind around driving a stick-shift car. The partner worked on the car a bit this weekend, making it drivable and the passenger door is now mostly-operable. But, he’s not quite ready to drive it yet, so it’s in the driveway this week.

I had several errands to run today, which happened to be in opposite directions. Living out in the country has the disadvantage of being far away from everything. Last night, as I planned out my morning trip: chiropractor, freecycle pick-up (on the way), fabric store, feed store, and attorney’s office - I realized I was going to be doing a lot of driving. Since the partner had fixed the immediate driving problems with the car, I had the option of driving it or the utility van I’ve been driving. Because the cost of gas is at the seriously-painful point, for me at least, I couldn’t ignore the financial implication of my two options:

All of my errands totaled a 41.5 miles roundtrip. Current gas price is $3.79/gallon.
1. Vanity Option: Drive the van, at 18mpg, for a cost of:$8.74
2. Practical Option Drive the car, at 30mpg for a cost of: $5.24

I decided to save the $3.50 and go with the practical option. Also, considering the fact that 30mpg is my low estimate and the majority of my driving is at highway speeds (one advantage to country living, everything may be far away, but you don’t have to crawl to get there), I probably saved a bit more than that. I still don’t want to drive the car, but if it means helping our dollars stretch a little further - I will do what I can.

Also, since the accident, our gas usage has dropped dramatically. Because I dislike driving the van, I will stay home if I have the choice. This means combining trips even more than before and resiting the urge to just get out of the house - a very common issue for me. Now that I have the option of the van or the car, at least till the partner finishes the improvements he wants, I’ll still probably chose to stay home due to vanity and gas-price concerns.

My assumption was correct, the repairs my car needs exceeds the value of my car. The estimate came up just short of $4,000 and is a “total loss” on the car. So now I wait for the insurance company to call with their offer. I’m a little unsure of how to proceed from this point forward because I want to be sure that I am properly compensated for my car.

This afternoon I’ll spend looking up the receipts for the recent repairs done on my car. In January I made the difficult decision to complete a major repair on my car based on the decision that I would be driving it for the next 5 years - or that the daughter would be driving it within that time. After 155,000 miles, my car finally needed a new clutch! I am very proud of the fact that the clutch lasted that long, especially considering that I learned to drive stick in this car and my first year of driving probably took a toll on it. At that time, I also replaced the front breaks and rotors, in addition to all new spark plugs and wires. All of these repairs added up to about $900, I think. I fully expect that to be part of negotiation for my car - because the blue book value alone for a 10 year old car with more than 155,000 miles in average shape probably doesn’t factor in these recent repairs. I also have relatively new rear tires on the car, though finding documentation on that might be harder since they were replaced during our previous move and papers got shifted around a lot. This is a good reminder to file papers promptly and properly!

We’ll certainly keep the car because it gets better gas mileage than the other two vehicles we own (and we just don’t throw out cars, I guess). Hopefully the repair needed on the rear wheel that was slightly damaged will be simply, maybe just a bent rim, and we’ll still have the car and the cash value of it as well. The partner is willing to drive it to work on his 60-miles-a-day commute and enjoys the fact that beat-up cars get the right of way in most situations. I won’t drive it because the passenger door is not functional and I have vanity issues that won’t let me drive something thats looks as it does.

My only concern is if there are any traffic/vehicle safety laws in Maryland that restrict your ability to drive a vehicle with more-than-minor body damage. I’ve always heard things about properly functioning tail lights, safety mirrors, and such, but is there laws that define when a vehicle is unfit to drive? Luckily, Maryland only does safety inspections at the point of title transfer - versus other states that do them on a regular schedule. I certainly don’t want to attract any unwanted attention from state troopers. Luckily, with the partner driving, the risk is less because he is much more diligent and consistent with driving within designated limits than I am.

I’ve written about my car many times with a somewhat bittersweet emotional attachment. I thoroughly love my car and had I never moved away from Wisconsin, I would never have a reason to complain about it. It’s one fault is terribly obvious during Maryland summers - it doesn’t have air conditioning. Even when baking in July, I still realize that I am very passionate about my car and our adventurous 9-year relationship.

I’m afraid that relationship has come to an end - all that the fault of an outside party. I was in an accident today that caused significant damage to my poor car. I was driving towards home, almost at the stoplight near my house, when a truck ran into me as he was turning left out of a parking lot. Since the light was red, a large work truck had left a gap so that he could make his turn. He didn’t see me coming along in the left-turn lane. I can say that I was probably fortunate that there was no oncoming traffic and I was able to swerve somewhat when I saw him heading toward me, this probably save me some additional injury and more sever damage to my car, but it was still enough that the car is no longer drivable.

We got out of the way of traffic, called for a police collision report, and exchanged all the necessary information. It wasn’t until I got home (just a mile from the accident) and further contemplated the damage that the impact of this accident struck me. My car is 10 years old and has 155,000+ miles on it. I’m certain the damage exceeds the value of my car and I’m already preparing myself for the fact that the other driver’s insurance company will most likely claim that my car is totaled and just offer me the value of my car (which is only about $2,000). This won’t be enough to fix the car, nor will it be enough to replace it either.

So, right now, I’m taking it easy as my body is starting to show some aches and pains from the impact. And I’m trying to not totally fall into despair over my car. Also, I’m trying to figure out what I need to know to get the maximum value for my car as well, since I’m 95% certain that the insurance company will total it out.

Other posts on the fun of owning your vehicles outright and making decisions based on that.

Perhaps the first vehicle purchase will happen sooner than we expected. The partner called to relay some vehicle woes and get my opinion in terms of the financial impact of the situation. Basically, there is a potential problem that could be small or large. The options are drive to the shop and drop off the vehicle — and I drive down and pick him up (not a popular idea thanks to today’s snow storm) — or try driving home and hopefully the engine doesn’t lock up and die.

Thats a difficult choice — we’ve just shoved money into this suv that we already said we wouldn’t put anything else into. The partner wants it through the winter cause he finds value in the four-wheel drive, something I’ve never thought twice about because my front-wheel-drive car has always performed exceptionally well in all weather conditions. At the moment, our spare vehicle is in need of major work, needs new tires, and has no heat (I don’t mind putting money into this vehicle, we just haven’t had the extra to spare the past few months); so, it’s not really a good back-up at this point.

My verdict: drive home and if the car dies, then we get another car now instead of in 2 months, 4 months, 6 months. Now, it does seem fairly likely that it’ll make it home just fine, but that maybe condition is always a little nerve racking. I just can’t accept the idea of it going into the shop again — I’m still pretty upset about the last repair job.

Oh, and if the suv dies, I imagine that the spare vehicle will end up in the shop and have new tires thrown on it before we get around to actually buying another car. But, I doubt that temporary fix will last for long as the partner is very uncomfortable without a backup vehicle waiting in the wings.

2007 is basically over in my book, time keeps rushing past and there is no slowing down in sight. As I start thinking about 2008, I’m starting to panic — just a little. I feel like we’re teetering on some major financial obstacles that I don’t think we’ll be able to skirt around as we have this year. Basically, there are five major expenses simmering under the surface and 2008 looks like the boiling point. As I reflect on the goals that did or did not happen this year, I need to get a very thorough action plan in place for what we are going to do about next year. Time to get off the procrastination wagon.

• Buy a family/commuting car. We need a vehicle that is better suited for commuting than the small SUV the partner is currently driving or my stick shift vehicle. The mpg on the SUV isn’t the greatest, but the issue is mostly that it’s falling apart, slowly and surely — I’m pretty sure I said this last year too and the new commute is hastening it’s demise. Also, it’s a two door family car and we’re finding that just isn’t enough any more. So, we need a new (to us), four-door, family/commuting car. The reason my car doesn’t fit this bill is that its two-doors, manual transmission, and has no a/c. The manual transmission doesn’t lend itself to low-stress, stop and go commute driving, and while the lack of a/c has been a standard in all of our vehicles (and our home), the partner has reached the end of the line for putting up with that.
• Buy a truck. We both need new vehicles (partially explained above and left somewhat vague intentionally) and the truck is to replace my car. We need to be able to haul stuff and my car can’t do it and the SUV is dying. We do have a utility van, but we often need to haul stuff and people and the van only seats two. Now, it may end up being another SUV type vehicle, even though I don’t care for those very much, as long as it has a hitch and the ability to pull a trailer. Whatever it is, it’ll be my new get-around-town vehicle, as the new car should be more suitable for commuting. Despite my long-stated reluctance to get a larger vehicle, I’m starting to accept this idea; though I’ll still mourn the lost off my little compact car.
• Build a shop. Even though this big-ticket item fell off my fall agenda, the need for it hasn’t decreased. It’s not an optional choice, though the need for two new vehicles makes it a financially more painful one. Now, I can ramble on about the differences between needs and want, but the end result is that a shop is a must have and another year without one is not acceptable. Hopefully the partner and I will find time to evaluate our outdoor space a bit more and figure out what the bare minimum is for the initial structure (with plans to build on more as finances allow). We already have a few required elements that are already having a pretty serious impact on the price — as in the need for a two story shop (not just one with some attic space) — and we need to figure out how to get the minimum erected and hope to do more on our own as time and resources allow.
• Orthodontia for the daughter. I’ve been putting this off for the past two months, but we’ll need to get started. I’ve finally decided to continue with our current providers, versus finding someone new, and just need to bite the bullet and sign the agreement to part with several thousand dollars over the next year or so. Maybe we’ll be able to drag it out a bit longer than usual to make it a little more manageable.
• Medical Expenses. Looks like there are some upcoming medical expenses that we probably won’t be able to avoid next year. The non-insured amounts are still somewhat vague, but it’ll still be significant compared to the less than $100 we spent on medical expenses this year.

Oh boy, looks like I’ve got some work cut out for me in making these things happen. Winning the lottery looks more and more appealing every day as I struggle to figure out how to make these things happen. Luckily, my business is expanding rapidly at the moment and next year looks even more promising for new avenues of income.

Is 2007 going to be the year of car repairs and bad repair choices? As a reminder, we own three cars – the newest (9 years old) is my two-door stick-shift car in decent shape, next is an older two-door sports utility vehicle (purchased for $5.00) in poor shape, and an older model utility van in poor shape. December 2006 gave us a frozen, busted water pump on the car ($400 with the tow). January gave us rusted and blown brake lines on the van ($530 with tow). And there is more on the horizon; we’re just waiting for it.

We’re perched on that slippery slope of never-ending repairs I’ve seen time and again with older cars. Cars die at some point and need replaced, unfortunately, we’re at that point with 2.5 of the 3 vehicles (my car is in good shape, but has crested that hill). Neither the van nor the SUV are in good shape and both honestly need replacing.

The van needs new tires and that is going to hurt too – more money for a hobbling along vehicle. We really don’t want to fork out any money for a new (used) car until we’ve bought a house and can get a good replacement. Current plan of action is to let the SUV die when it does and keep patching the van up as needed, easier said when the van isn’t eating dollars. Maybe I can convince the partner to get some new used tires to save some pennies, but, even if the van dies, we should be able to sell the tires and get some money back.

Each vehicle has more than 100K miles; my car will be crossing the 140K mark this month. Each vehicle is owned outright, which is a beautiful feeling (mapgirl agrees). But each vehicle is leaving me with a nag of worry at what next week, next month will bring.

Oh and that turned down AAA program is looking pretty good right now. Each tow is running about $60 and I’m thinking this year might be the one we need to use their service (normally I’m opposed to such services). Or, I wonder if our tow company has a frequent tower program instead?

I have my car back and it only set us back $400 (only, ha!). The partner tossed it on the credit card, per my request, as I figured out where we could pull the money from. At home, I fiddled with the budget and started taking a little here and there. I reduced:

· groceries

· eating out

· transportation

· medical

· household

The grocery and transportation budget seemed the easiest place to cut. We’ve been over budgeting for transportation lately anyways, so I figured we wouldn’t notice a reduction there. The grocery and eating out budget would probably be noticeable, but we have a well stocked pantry and can certainly eat well with what we have. The medical reduction is just delaying a prescription refill until January, something that shouldn’t be a problem.

I told the partner of the plan and reductions and he insisted that we use his December personal money. While this will more than cover the shortfall that my reductions couldn’t meet, I feel guilty about using his personal funds to pay for my car repairs – especially since I’ve already allocated away the majority of my personal funds for December and cannot do the same.

I know I’ll have to use those funds; he’ll refuse to accept any other arrangement, but I will simply find a way to make up the difference in January. This is a good reminder that we could use an emergency fund and we’ll start one next year. In the mean time, we’ll take this in stride without dipping into our house savings and without reducing our debt reduction payments.