New car now or wait?

[khalloc]

So I need a new car. My current car is 11 years old. I want a new one. I was planning on buying something as soon as I paid off a credit card that I am trying to whittle down. So I was hoping for late summer/early autumn. I could still swing the car payment right now, but just thought it would be nice to get rid of this other payment first.

Now DH says I have a wheel bearing blown and for some reason my front tires keep getting cuffed. Maybe its another issue altogether? I'll need new tires and tires on this car are at least $100 per tire. Would you just trade the car in now? Or get these things fixed and drive it for 6 more months and then trade it in? Current car has 116,000 miles on it. I want a new Subaru Outback and current car is an '05 Outback. Besides these issues the old car is fine and runs ok. I am looking forward to bluetooth and driving something newer though.

[hillview]

well it depends on the specifics of the debt and the additional (beyond $400 in tires) costs of getting a car that works. Without specifics I think I'd wait but if the car has more than $1k of work that is needed and/or if the credit card payments are low (like <$400) I might look for a new car now. I am guessing you will need 1-2k down and then have a monthly payment which will likely move the credit debt payment out to winter or 2016 which would be a shame.

[kristenk]

Have you started shopping around and pricing new Outbacks? They seem to be selling as soon as they hit the lot (or before) in a lot of cases and some areas/dealers aren't willing to negotiate much. All that to say, your purchase process might be a little longer than expected so starting the process early might be good. (I just put a deposit down on an outback yesterday after spending a lot of the last week emailing various dealers to see what prices I could get. Also, since you currently own an Outback, you might want to see about calling Subaru of America to see if you qualify for any sort of owner loyalty coupon/discount. DH had a Forester and he called after I read about the owner loyalty program and he was surprised to be offered $500. It's supposed to be in the mail right now. Fingers crossed it comes in soon!)

So, none of that really answered your question! What would you think about getting those things fixed and then trying to sell the car yourself? You'll probably come out ahead that way.

Another question is what would happen to the credit card if you went ahead and purchased the car now. Would buying now mean that you carry a balance for a lot longer? How much more interest would you have to pay?

[khalloc]

I did know that Outbacks were selling rather quickly. But when I check several NE dealerships they have a few that are the color/trim that I would be looking for and they dont show "SOLD" in the car listing. They are usually "in-transit" though.

I did get a $500 coupon in the mail from Subaru today and I am reading about some cash back incentives for purchasing too. I would likely be able to pay off my credit card before Xmas so it would be 6 months or so with a car payment + credit card.

[specialp]

well it depends on the specifics of the debt and the additional (beyond $400 in tires) costs of getting a car that works. Without specifics I think I'd wait but if the car has more than $1k of work that is needed and/or if the credit card payments are low (like <$400) I might look for a new car now. I am guessing you will need 1-2k down and then have a monthly payment which will likely move the credit debt payment out to winter or 2016 which would be a shame.

:yeahthat: I'd wait unless the car repair is high (and $400 in tires isn't bad) and the credit card debt extremely low.

[123LuckyMom]

I would do the math. How much are you likely to get for your car as a trade-in now? How much 6 months out with that much more mileage? How much more will the extended interest cost on your credit card debt? Add in the cost of your repairs. Find how much more it will cost you and decide if that amount of money is worth spending to have the new car NOW. It might be worth it to you. It might not.

We try hard to live debt free. We don't have a mortgage or car payments, but right after we got married, I was in a car that was costing a fortune to repair with one thing after another breaking, and the same was true of DH. We were really struggling at the time, and we couldn't afford to continue to maintain those clunkers, so we decided we would buy two cars at the same time and finance. We both bought used cars with less than 30,000 miles on them. We put up as much cash as we could, and we took the hit with interest so we could have lower monthly payments over a longer period of time. The extra money we knew it would cost us was worth it to us in order to have predictable payments and predictable vehicles rather than emergency, unpredictable repairs we couldn't afford. Sometimes it's worth it to pay more for peace of mind or even just pleasure. I guess my big thing is feeling secure that if there were to be some big, unpleasant financial surprise, we would still be okay. If you know that even taking on this new debt you would be, then it's just a matter of deciding if the cost differential is worth it to you.