Keep it or sell it? what would you do in my position

Teacher2

You give up the car and she can give up the 'big fat wedding'. Have a smaller bash and save the cost of a no expense spared party. That way neither of you will feel the other is 'getting one over' and you will both save money and dissolve the debt. You can find a nice alternative car and you can both still have a lovely wedding day on a smaller budget. It's the marriage that really counts.

FireWyrm

Sell it. Pay off the debt and buy something a little more sensible for cash. I sold my Ipad to buy clothes for my new baby. I didnt want to, but short of borrowing yet more money, I couldnt buy clothes for the new baby. In the end, it was no actual hardship as I did have a small netbook which was really perfectly adequate for surfing the internet. Ipads are nice, but I could buy a lot of clothes and nappies with the proceeds of the sale. The car is no different. The car is probably costing stupid amounts of money in tax and insurance as well, so the incidental costs will also reduce if you get rid of it. Win win all round.

EDIT : See you sold it...well done.

Now, you need to go through your finances with a fine toothed comb and decided what else you can cut. Dollars to doughnuts, you can find more than a £100 a month which is being frittered away unnecessarily. YNAB is a very good way of managing your money and you ought to be forward planning for annual costs such as tax and insurance. I never buy car insurance monthly because of the interest on the 'loan' which is also an 'unnecessary' expense. I'm sure you will find similar financial leaks once you take a closer look.

redux

I note you will realise £8500 by trading down on the car, but maybe you could have done a bit more. A 4 or 5 year old car for well under £10,000 shouldn't be a problem.

I'm at the opposite end of the scale from the need to keep trading up. I bought a 4 year old with 24,000 miles for £4500, and still have it 9 and a half years later. It passed 200,000 miles last week. I count depreciation as zero, as I was paid a few hundred quid in lieu of repairs a while ago.

Meanwhile some investments from about then have gone up in value.

lbahrani

UPDATE.

Next week Debt will be reduced to £5887.07 after proceeds from p/x are credited.

Aim to be Debt free by 20/07/2016 paying £454.79 (4 weekly) to reduce the debt whilst generating savings of £4984.32 at the same time. Downside is the £479.99 in intereset payments alone.

I have £3390.52 (to see me through to 20/07/2016) savings at present for contingencies should the need to use them arise that my income alone cannot cover.

Any thoughts on this?

L

pineconesjay

Um, keep 1000 pounds in your emergency savings, then pay the other 2390 towards the debt, bringing it down to just under 3500. You'd have it paid off by Christmas THIS YEAR. Wouldn't it be nice to start your married life debt free?

The key is looking at your debt like the emergency situation that it is. It should be your primary goal to pay it off ASAP (seeing as you have a small stash in case of emergency).

That's the way Dave Ramsey suggests to do it, anyway.

Also, I second the recommendation to look at Mr Money Mustache. This post is the perfect starting point: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/04/18/news-flash-your-debt-is-an-emergency/

And congrats on being smart about the Audi. Perfect first step forward.

patman99

First off, well done regarding the car.
As you go through life and your income increases through promotions, wage rises or changes of employer, you can put a set % away in a high-interest account and then walk into the dealership and buy yourself that top of the range car you always wanted - for cash.

I'm a petrol head and hate to think how much better-off financially I would be today if only I had not purchased so many cars over the years.

You see the interest payments as a downside, but let's spin that around and look at how much interest you will save by clearing the debt early.

You need to look at this as a positive rather than a negative.

One assumes that you and your wife-to-be are planning on having a family at some point. I can tell you that even 1 child costs a lot (ok, you do get childrens allowance and a few other benefits) to raise, so getting the hang of being in control of your money now will see you well it the future.

Murphybear

How much are you planning on spending for the wedding? Can this be postponed or cancelled altogether (dodges brickbats:D)?

You don't need to be married to have a good life together. My OH and I will celebrate 20 years anniversary next year. We got engaged but never got round to getting married.

Fireflyaway

Sell it. Some years back I too had a car ( funny it was also an Audi!) that I chose because I liked it and to be honest - first time I have admitted this - I felt good that other people noticed it. However the payments were high and due to change in circumstances I realised it wasn't sensible to spend so much on a car when I needed the money for other stuff, so I got rid of it. It was half paid so I returned it to the finance company. I actually cried when they took it as I felt I had failed.
Now fast forward a few years and I have a much cheaper car. I love it! Its paid off and I have no stress now. No monthly repayments / no worry about defaulting etc. Its great! In the future once I am in a better position I will probably get a more flashy car again. However for now the weight off my mind more than beats having that car. You are not old - there is plenty of time for nice cars!

maximumgardener

The cars gotta go!!!

do you want to live with your fianc! fro rest of your life (or the car?) ?

its a no brainer - get it sold

EssexHebridean

It's a status symbol at the end of the day isn't it.

I'll give you a hypothetical situation: I know someone who used to change her cars as often as the rest of us had hot dinners, and it always had to be something flashy, that looked impressive on the drive, that her friends said "wow" about. Her "down to earth with a bump" came as a result of her husband - who it must be said was a broadly similar type - running off with an employee. Divorce followed, and still she was determined to hang on to the car in spite of the fact that something more practical that a large flashy German number would suit her and her families needs better. The sizeable finance outstanding on it was paid off with the income when the family home was sold. Now however she is in a position where the mortgage payments are a bit of a struggle, and she lives in fear of interest rates increasing even a fraction. Strangley enough now, the thought of having taken £20k less on the mortgage when she bought her house seems like a far better plan, but several years on, the car has depreciated to such an extent that it's no longer worth her planning to sell, realistically.

You knew when you posted here what was the sensible, responsible thing to do. You also say that the car is causing you some anxiety - well you know what, it's a CAR - you've made the right decision!

Oh - and for those unhappy with other poster's attitudes and responses, do remember the report button, won't you. Works miracles when people start being obnoxious!