Wobbling my way out of debt

IrishSean

Car guy here💪
WD as always on your paydown, Lady👌 Loving your work!

What are the car's symptoms? Sometimes 'write offs' are subjective. A clutch fitted by a main dealer for £1500 would write off a £1500 car, but an independent mechanic, furloughed & desperate for homer work might be able to fit one for £350, keeping a mechanically sound car on the road for years longer. It might be worth a second opinion, depending on what's wrong. £40 for a tow to 'mechanic #2' could save on a car being scrapped & another having to be purchased.

😉👌

findingthisdifficult

Aw you guys!  

Firstly, if my car was written off, I have no means of buying another car outright as my savings pot has not grown enough for that and it's not actually worth much (£4.5kish) so don't think the insurance would pay out much either.

Background story especially for @IrishSean because you're all about the cars!  We were driving home late last night 11pm, tootling along an A road going about 60mph (the speed limit), the car in front of us slowed down, we followed suit just in time to realise we were driving over a deer that had recently been hit but remained in the middle of the road.  
Driving the car back last night, it did not sound good, weird vibrations and almost like our exhaust had blown.  We checked underneath the car when we got home and could see something hanging down a bit, not enough to touch the ground.

Got it to the garage this morning (luckily the mechanic is a family friend, he always does our cars and has never ripped us off)  
He called us just as he was closing to say he'd managed to get it on the ramp today and turns out we had 'just' knocked our exhaust out of the brackets that hold it leaving it balancing on some flexi joints. (from memory, he may have used different words)  
They'd put the exhaust back in to place so we could go and pick it up.  Popped over to pick it up and he said he couldn't charge us for that as he knows we'll back soon enough for our next MOT.  (I have never felt so grateful, we've got so much going on in real life world at the moment that this could have tipped me over)

For now, crisis averted! 

missymoo81

Oh FTD what a result! I bet you can breathe a sigh or relief. Crisis averted! So happy that that was all it was! 

IrishSean

Less "Oh deer, that's terrible" 
& more
"Ye ha; buck on the road again" 

You'd not have been amoosed if it had been a bigger bill
😂
I'm punned out; glad it's sorted👍😀

enthusiasticsaver

Glad the crisis averted. I drove up to see my mum today and there were a few deer on or beside the road which had obviously been hit by cars. I think they got so adventurous over lockdown and strayed too close to roads and now of course all the traffic is back sadly. What a kind mechanic to not charge you. 

Great puns Irishsean 

findingthisdifficult

As if it's been 12 days since I've been here?!!

I have been given £2000 to clear a balance owing from a relative that I helped out last year.  I've been naughty and squirrelled away £500 for a couple of treats for Mr FTD and I (please forgive me)

Here's the thing, what shall I do with the remaining £1500

1. Pay £1500 of the CC balance currently interest free and able to clear it either way by January
2. Pay £1500 off of my loan currently 5.4%APR as a lump sum payment reducing the balance, almost by half depending on when I do it?
3. Put £1500 in to the savings pot and carry on paying off both the loan and the CC as I currently am

I'm edging to option 2 but it only really brings me debt free in December instead of January (I think), at least I would be starting 2021 with a clean slate...decisions decisions.

Any advice/tips gratefully received, thanks in advance.

Sarahwithlove

Option 2. Always avoid paying more interest then you have to. Do you have an emergency fund? Because that's other option especially in these times. 

findingthisdifficult

I have £1.9k in other accounts christmas savings, emergency fund etc.

If I took £500 out of the funds and paid £2k off the loan, it would be cleared 1st Oct and then I'd use the loan payments plus little extras to clear the remaining card balance, looks like I could potentially clear it in December, maybe January if anything unexpected crops up?  It'll save me about £36 in interest.

joedenise

Definitely pay it off the loan as it bears interest.  No point in paying more than you have to.

Kitten868

Another vote for the loan! So close! X