I Got What I Wanted

Goodbye truck. . .

hello minivan #2.

It's really nothing fancy, a 2003 basic model Town and Country with 86,000 miles on it. I traded in my truck and wrote a not-so-big check to pay the difference. It will set back our goal of paying off our house by one month.

The major advantage is simply that our family will fit comfortably in both of our vehicles now. The Dakota actually was a good truck (other than the gas mileage) but it was not so good for a family with three kids.

I had posted my truck for sale on Craigslist last week, but didn't get a single e-mail of interest. (Our hope was to sell the truck now, then go with one vehicle until August.) It was starting to look like we were going to have to go the trade route with my truck, and if that was the case we figured we might as well do it now rather than later.

We bought the van at the same place we bought our blue 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan, (minivan #1. - and the VAN I'VE BEEN WANTING) from Nappanee Auto Sales in the L.J. Wagner parking lot.

We're really not that picky about our vehicles. When we bought the Caravan six years ago, we spotted it on the way home from McDonald's and said, "Hey, that one has doors on both sides."

The new van? We actually spotted it the other day on the way to Taco Bell and said, "Hey, that one has captains chairs in the second row." (Our main criteria this time.) We bought this one the same way, but we waited a few days and ended up eating supper at Dairy Queen tonight instead of McDonald's. We stopped and asked about it on the way to DQ and bought it on the way home.

We're mostly just picky about not paying too much for a vehicle.

Our new Town and Country meets our criteria and we're super excited to have it, even though it isn't "anything fancy." Actually, I think that's part of what excites us about it.

What Dave Ramsey Said Tonight

In the midst of the financial crisis our country is facing, listening to the pundits on the news and talk radio has been a little scary.

When I turned on the TV this evening, the Tivo was dutifully recording Dave Ramsey's TV show. I quickly rewound so I could hear Dave's opening commentary. I wasn't sure what his take on the situation would be. I didn't figure he would be a doomsdayer, he wasn't. I thought he would be for the bailout, he's not.

I thought Dave's comments were insightful enough that I rewound again and kept pressing the 8 second replay button until I got a portion of his commentary transcribed. Here it is:

"Paulsen, our own secretary of money in Washington says that if we don’t give him a blank check that the world is going to come to an end, financially. It’s not darling. It’s not. If a couple banks crash, could it be a long winter? Sure. But we will survive. The American people and the American economy is much more resilient than a couple of banks going down and a couple of Wall Street types not getting their dag gum bonuses. We’ll survive that. And for Congress to get a blank $700 billion blank check, well it’s not even 700 billion because they really want no limits on it, off a two and a half page proposal is mmmm, ludicrous.

It seems like the Democrats have never met a tax they didn’t like and the Republicans have never met a debt they didn’t like and I’m pretty personally as a tax payer pretty ticked off at both of them. I wish they’d just stay out of our lives and let some of these things take their natural course. Now, some of you, that scares you, because you don’t have the emotional stomach to ride a roller coaster. You can’t afford to think it might go down this winter and oh we’ll never recover. Well I honestly think it will recover. And I don’t think that the Great Depression is right around the corner. As a matter of fact, I’m really sure it’s not. But I do know if we put another trillion dollars in debt on the books in honor of our national economy that your great grand kids are going to be paying that bill and so will mine. And there’s something in the pit of my stomach that just doesn’t sit well with that." -Dave Ramsey

It's Sort of Like My Economic Stimulus Check Just Got Lost in the Mail

Our family has a goal to pay off our house as quickly as possible. We're in it together. Last month, Makenna asked me, "Do you think once we get the house paid off we could get a Karaoke machine?" I love that.

A good scenario would conclude the mortgage in September 2009. Today that scenario took a significant hit.

The air conditioning isn't working in our van, a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan. Our friend and mechanic, Josh McCoy took it into the shop today. He found some other stuff too. Here's a run down:

• $800 for air conditioner compressor
• $250 for front brakes, rotors, etc.
• $250 for back brakes, rotors, etc.
• $150 for something else concerning the brakes
• $200 for some linking thing that keeps the front of the van from swaying too much
• $100 for leaking transmission oil

$1750 Total

The van is probably worth a little less than $3000. And we would like a new van before too long. The thing is we would like a vehicle to replace my truck too, because it is way too small to fit three kids in the back comfortably (or peacefully.)

So our plan was to eventually trade in my truck for a new (to us) van. I would then drive the old 2000 Grand Caravan.

But with the prospect of the huge repair bill staring us in the face, we had to consider our options. Here are the main ones we considered:

1. Get the necessary things fixed on the van (not the air conditioning,) trade in the truck now for a new (to us) van. Then I would drive the old van without air. We don't drive my vehicle much in the summer anyway.
2. Don't get anything fixed and trade in the van for a new (to us) van now and keep the truck longer.
3. Get everything wrong with the van fixed and still eventually trade in my truck for a new (to us) van.

Option 1:
I don't like the idea of still paying about $1000 to get the old van running, and not even having air. I think not having air, would keep me wanting something else sooner.

Option 2:
It is really not fun to pick three kids up and pile them in the back of my smallish truck with coats, backpacks and a diaper bag. I need to drive something with more room eventually.

Option 3:
Who wants to put that kind of money into an old vehicle? Not me. But it is really not the vehicle we want to get rid of. I just said in option 2 that I need to drive something with more room, well what better option than our old van? It wouldn't be my first choice for something fun to drive, but I'm really not all that concerned about looking cool.

The Decision:
We chose Option 3. I dread spending that much money getting the van fixed. But you know what would be a bigger bummer? Replacing it with a used van and having some big repair bill on that shortly thereafter. While it is a definite set back on getting the house paid off. It is the option that sets the goal back the least. And that is our goal. We're sticking to it.

Plus, as I hinted at, the old van will be a practical replacement to my truck someday. And OK, I'll admit it, I want that old van!

Our Vehicles: A Retrospective