Jul 25, 2009

My family is bugging me to get a new car

This year, our family vacation turned into the "Why doesn't Ashley buy a sports car and date a football player?" conversation that my uncle seems to favor so much. He was ragging on me all week, and even got my parents in on it! They all want me to buy a new car with this new Clunker program. Now don't get me wrong, when I first found out about the program, I was just about jumping for joy. You see, my car is worth next to nothing as a trade-in, and I would basically be making $4,000 for free.

The only problem is, you have to buy new. Now you guys already know I've been toying around with the idea of buying a new car ever since mine started giving me all kinds of problems and making me nervous to drive. So far I have $1,460 saved towards a new car, and technically, I could afford a car payment of $200 or less, but it makes me super nervous. There would be absolutely no breathing room, and I don't want to be stretched too thin. I feel like it just wouldn't make sense to take on even more debt at this point. But my whole family is telling me I'm a fool if I don't take advantage of the program! Argh, it's so frustrating. Have any of you guys been in this situation? What do you think (even I think I already know what you think...)?

2 comments:

The Executioner said...

It only makes sense to do this if you were planning on buying one of those cars new anyway. If you weren't, then it doesn't make sense for you to shell out more money and put yourself in dire financial straits to take advantage of a "great deal". Were you considering buying one of these model cars new? Or were you considering doing something else, like buying a used car?

Just because something is a great deal doesn't mean you can afford it. For instance, a house which is assessed at $4 million but on sale for $1 million might be an excellent deal...but I still can't afford to buy it.

ashley said...

Haha yeah, that's a good point. I knew you would talk me straight.