RE: Drive free, or, what's your car payments?

From: Gabriel A. Couriel (gcouriel@bellsouth.net)
Date: Sat Feb 03 2007 - 13:46:04 EST


my truck's been paid for since day one. i pay about $650 for my wife's car
(lease). i'm thinking about getting a new car for myself, but i'm unwilling
to lease a dodge vehicle (no resale value), so might end up buying a
charger, or hold off until the challenger.

Gabriel A. Couriel

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net]On Behalf Of Michael
Maskalans
Sent: Saturday, February 03, 2007 1:27 PM
To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
Subject: Re: DML: Drive free, or, what's your car payments?

On Feb 3, 2007, at 10:20, Barry Oliver wrote:

>
> This might not be new to everybody, but it is the first time I have
> seen it:
> http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/lms/drive_free/player.cfm
>
> So, what are your car payments? How much do y'all pay a month, and
> why?
>
> I paid off my '99 a few months back, and have been liking not
> having the payments.
>
My '98 Dakota is paid for. I'm a year into a 5 year note on my used
'02 Jetta paying $293/month. I wish I could have afforded bigger
payments for a 3 year note but I can't. Due to stupid money
management in college, a year of racking up debt while unemployed
(which happens to also count the SAS on the Dakota) and not really
making all that much money with no raises in sight (I work for a
cheapskate).

I got rid of a '93 Ford F250 diesel for the Jetta. I bought that
truck for the steal of $3500 and of course had no payments - but
compared to driving that Ford at about 16MPG for my 33.5 mile commute
(average 75 mi/day, so 375mi/week or ~1500mi/mo made at the time for
around $3/gal $281 per month to drive the Ford or at 45mpg in the
Jetta, $100/mo. Compared the the Dakota at about 12MPG and 3.15 for
premium at the time, making for almost $400/mo.

Compared to the Dakota, the Jetta pays for itself with that commute.
Compared to the Ford (which I was driving about 80% of the time) I'm
paying about $100/mo for a nice new car that doesn't need a/c work
and I can park everywhere that neither truck fits. I also do a lot
of driving that is not commuting: 29,000 miles on the Jetta in year 1
- that's a bit over 2400 miles/mo. So my car payment pays for
itself, and that's why I've got one.

I'm really looking forward to January 2010 when I get $300/month
back. Most other things should be paid for by then and I'd better
have either convinced my employer what I'm worth or found a better
job by thew but in the mean time I'm very happy with my decision to
get the Dub.

--
   +-- Mike Maskalans ---------------- Rochester, NY ----------+
   | '98 Dakota CC, SAS on 40s  '84 RamCharger 4x4, plow truck |
   | '02 Jetta TDI 5sp, daily   '97 Intrepid, not on the road  |
   +-------------------- <http://mike.tepidcola.com/trucks/> --+



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 01 2007 - 00:44:23 EST