TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
For only the second time in my life, I just paid off the loan for a car that I still own.
Nearly every time throughout my life when I bought a car expensive enough to finance (read: it cost more than the cash I had on hand), I ended up selling or trading away the vehicle long before the loan was paid off. This was usually due to me changing my mind about cars, although the fact that I would only make the minimum required payment certainly didn't help matters. But that's how it almost always was.
Until today, the only exception was my current Wrangler. At the time I bought it, I owned another Wrangler outright; I knew I would eventually sell that one and use the proceeds to pay for most of the loan on the new acquisition. I don't recall exactly how long I had that loan, but it was probably around two years before it was fully paid off.
This time refers to my Leaf. When I bought it 21 months ago, I could have paid for it outright with cash I had on hand. However, doing so would have required me to drain all of my cash reserves, and I decided I didn't want to do that... so I took out a $7k loan for the full amount including taxes and such. I set up a 5yr loan, even though I was planning from day one to pay it off much sooner than that. At first I was making only the required $130 payments, but eventually I started paying $500 here and $700 there as I had surplus funds to do so.
A few days ago, I noticed my loan balance was down to only $1390. My emergency reserves are in good shape, and I knew I was getting a few hundred dollars today which would allow me to pay off the Leaf's loan without touching my emergency fund. An hour ago I went to an ATM, withdrew today's money, deposited it in the bank, then went online and paid off the loan. Woo-hoo!
For all you guys who keep cars for the long term, this is probably boring to hear. But for me, it was a monumental moment and it felt awesome.
Nearly every time throughout my life when I bought a car expensive enough to finance (read: it cost more than the cash I had on hand), I ended up selling or trading away the vehicle long before the loan was paid off. This was usually due to me changing my mind about cars, although the fact that I would only make the minimum required payment certainly didn't help matters. But that's how it almost always was.
Until today, the only exception was my current Wrangler. At the time I bought it, I owned another Wrangler outright; I knew I would eventually sell that one and use the proceeds to pay for most of the loan on the new acquisition. I don't recall exactly how long I had that loan, but it was probably around two years before it was fully paid off.
This time refers to my Leaf. When I bought it 21 months ago, I could have paid for it outright with cash I had on hand. However, doing so would have required me to drain all of my cash reserves, and I decided I didn't want to do that... so I took out a $7k loan for the full amount including taxes and such. I set up a 5yr loan, even though I was planning from day one to pay it off much sooner than that. At first I was making only the required $130 payments, but eventually I started paying $500 here and $700 there as I had surplus funds to do so.
A few days ago, I noticed my loan balance was down to only $1390. My emergency reserves are in good shape, and I knew I was getting a few hundred dollars today which would allow me to pay off the Leaf's loan without touching my emergency fund. An hour ago I went to an ATM, withdrew today's money, deposited it in the bank, then went online and paid off the loan. Woo-hoo!
For all you guys who keep cars for the long term, this is probably boring to hear. But for me, it was a monumental moment and it felt awesome.
