Temptation or serendipity?

[averygoodun42]

So, I told Geoff last night that what I really want for Christmas (after listing and pointing out many things that I would normally like) is a new car. Of course I meant a new-to-us car. And I also meant when the car fails inspection or, should it miraculously pass, next summer.

This morning on the radio (our alarm), I heard how one near-ish car dealership is offering 30 month leases of 2012 Civic sedans for $59 a month (and a rather large down payment of $2900, part of which can be a trade-in).

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiittttt. Assuming our car is worth $1000 (book value is $2300, but our car is in pretty poor shape) trade-in, that's less than $4000 for two and a half years of stalling the buying process. And with the improved gas mileage, we'd only be about $1000 worse off than sticking with our current car for that amount of time ($700 parts (and probably another $1200 for labor, since the semester is over and we wouldn't get free labor) to pass inspection, $500 for new tires in the spring, Approx. $600 - $800 to fix (again) the front suspension - again, in the spring - and crappy gas mileage the entire time).


So. Is this temptation to "buy" now instead of waiting until the car doesn't pass inspection in February, or is it serendipity. After all, two and a half years would allow for this year's hybrid models to be almost affordable...

Comments

[junewilliams7.livejournal.com]

I know very little about buying cars, but I have heard that it is always better to sell your car yourself -- because when you trade it in, the dealer always gives you less money than what you could sell it for yourself. Is there someone in your church who could help you through the car selling/buying process?

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

Our car is in poor enough condition that I would feel bad trying to get "more" from an individual. I figure a dealership has mechanics on payroll and only pay a fraction of the cost for parts, so most of the car's conditions would be fixable to something quite decent without too much expense on their part.