The "Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2012" challenge - PART 3!!!

Superheavy

Well done jakes-mum, keep going and this Christmas is going to be one of the best ever!

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

Jake's Mum - well done on only having £3K to go!

VWCampervan - ago old problem about your car and I'm not sure how to advise you. It depends how cheaply you can buy a new reliable car versus how much the old one is likely to cost you. Do you have any friends in the motor trade who could cheaply look at your car and estimate what looks dodgy and is likely to need replacing in the new couple of years? Sometimes when you look into it, you realise that replacing bits of an old car is cheaper than buying a new one (and sometimes not!). Sorry that's not much help.

psychopathbabble

vw_campervan_mum wrote: »

Helpful advice please! My car keeps needing repairs. At 10 years old is it just a money pit to get rid of? No money for another one is the main reason I keep on with it. In the last month it has cost me £500. It is de-railing my debt repayments. Just broke down again today - RAC think it is faulty ignition coil which is the last repair I had done last Tuesday. I have left it at garage to look at.

If I hadn't spent money on repairs I would be half way to buying another cheap car. Now seems to be worst scenario in that I have paid for repairs but the list keeps on going.

How do I get another car that doesn't blow my debt repayments out?

Just writing this to get my frustration out I think, but any one who can make me see sensible step forward will have my gratitude

I had this problem with my last 2 cars. It doesn't help you much but I ended up getting a brand new one, as I was getting tired of paying out for repairs. My last one the cam belt had snapped, it cost me £250 to get towed home and I have no idea how much it would have set me back to repair it, but as soon as I'd fixed that, something else would have gone wrong as it was 12 years old and done 80,000.

My best ever car was £400 from a guy who had looked after it really well, he had even written down the mileage every time he put petrol in in a little black book. Maybe you could have a look for something like that? Hope you find something.

jakes-mum

Ahh ty everyone I can see that light getting brighter and brighter :j :j

VW - TBH DH and I had old banger after old banger and even with his mechanical know how they cost a fortune to keep fixing In the end we got a loan and bought a relatively new car for £7k, that was in 2007 (shes a 2004) and shes still parked out the front. We are only now just looking at changing her again as shes reached the age where shes starting to have problems.
Before now I really cant say shes needed anything really apart from the obv new tyres, not even brake discs :eek: The only thing that went wrong with her was the dash display stopped working (which was actually a known fault for the year :mad:)
Yes it cost me £8k in the end but ive had 5 years use of her with no problems and I prob would have spent the same on fixing and replacing the old bangers anyway

Its your decision at the end of the day and is really dependent on how reliant you are on a car, if you can get away with not having one for a while, flog it and start saving (join us on the sealed pot challenge ) if its an urgent purchase, sometimes borrowing money is the only way to go

starnac

vw_campervan_mum wrote: »

Helpful advice please! My car keeps needing repairs. At 10 years old is it just a money pit to get rid of? No money for another one is the main reason I keep on with it. In the last month it has cost me £500. It is de-railing my debt repayments. Just broke down again today - RAC think it is faulty ignition coil which is the last repair I had done last Tuesday. I have left it at garage to look at.

If I hadn't spent money on repairs I would be half way to buying another cheap car. Now seems to be worst scenario in that I have paid for repairs but the list keeps on going.

How do I get another car that doesn't blow my debt repayments out?

Just writing this to get my frustration out I think, but any one who can make me see sensible step forward will have my gratitude

My mum has just had the same problem. Her car had a fault which cost £500. She scraped the money together and got her fixed. 2 months later it had another fault £400 this time. She scraped the money together (out of her o/d this time) and fixed her. A year and another 2 faults later she had spent over £2k on the car fixing her as she couldn't afford a new one, she was £1500 in her o/d and literally had no money left to fix another fault. She needs a car for work so got a loan from the bank and bought herself a new (to her) car and cleared her o/d at the same time. She now feels more in control of her finances as she's hasn't got a maxed out o/d, she doesn't have to worry about what will go wrong next with her car and how much it'll cost to fix. Yes she has a loan now that she didn't have before but she has set monthly payments that she knows she can afford and she has the option of overpaying if she has any spare cash. Plus the car will last for quite a few years as it isn't very old.

Only you can decide what is the best option for you but I hope my mum's story helps you a bit (otherwise I've waffled for ages and bored you all stupid )

vw_campervan_mum

Thanks for replies
I have had a string of old vehicles now - each seem ok for about a year and then get increasingly expensive with repairs. I need a car as I live in the countryside and need to drive to work as well as ferrying children about. As I have had debts for a few years now I never have the money to buy a better car. The last good car I had was a nissan primera (12 years ago) and I never had any garage bills til I swapped it for a camper van (3 years later). Thats when the constant visits to the garage began
I have lost confidence in this latest car - it is very difficult once a car is in the garage though fortunately this time I am on holiday.
I am thinking that I shoud get latest repair done and then try to sell this car and buy newer car. I don't like to scupper my goal of being debt free by xmas though I have to weigh this against the upsets of worrying about the car breaking down.

vw_campervan_mum

I think I am near the position of Starnac's mum. I need to bite the bullet and buy a new car as at present the repeated garage bills mean I am increasing debts anyway.
Just don't want to lose all focus of repaying debts - this is the nearest I have got over the last few years.

mf0u1098

VWC - you will only lose focus on your debt busting if you let yourself. Life is a rollarcoaster with big ups and downs and things seldom go according to plan just like trying to be DFBX12! It's not the end of the world if we don't make it on time, it's making sure that after every fall, we get back up again and carry on. Giving up means going back to putting your head in the sand again and sooner or later you'd only have to start the journey again but it'd be that much harder.

What I'm trying to say is that don't be afraid that you'll give up just because you may not achieve your goal of being DFBX12. Just change your deadline to something like your birthday (is it May?) to pay off all your debt excluding your new car loan and then work out a schedule to pay off the car loan a little later. That way you keep focused. We'll be with you every step of the way.

xxx

vw_campervan_mum

Thanks Jemma - the voice of reason as usual I think that is the way it will be - try to pay off present debts by Xmas and then tackle car whether that is garage bills or debt for buying another one. Will wait and see what garage say tonight
xxx

psychopathbabble

vw_campervan_mum wrote: »

I think I am near the position of Starnac's mum. I need to bite the bullet and buy a new car as at present the repeated garage bills mean I am increasing debts anyway.
Just don't want to lose all focus of repaying debts - this is the nearest I have got over the last few years.

I am viewing my car debt as separate to my other debt. My other debt has been hanging around my neck since I was 18, and if I had to count my car debt too I'd actually give up. Maybe try viewing it that way? x