The car saga is coming to an end

Okay, so Tuesday we found out that the cost to repair our car exceeded its resale value -- it's totaled. It makes little sense that a car that still runs well and is solid other than a headlight out and fender damaged that a car would be scrapped. Tuesday evening after my husband came home from work, we talked about the options we had at this point.

One, we could accept the check from the insurance company for the car's resale value minus the deductible but with the salvage payout of a few hundred dollars, and say goodbye to the car. 

We could keep the car and the check for its value, forgo the salvage payout, change the title to a salvage title, and pay for the excess of the repair bill ourselves so our car would be restored. In this second scenario, the car would no longer be insurable for future damage (since the value of the car had been paid out), but would carry liability insurance. The excess cost for restoration could be $1000 or more. In this case, we have our car back in the same condition it was in before the accident and we go back to life with the car and four drivers.

The third scenario is that we could keep the car and the check for its value minus the deductible, forgo the payout for salvage, change the title to a salvage title, carry liability insurance only on it, but only get the repairs done that would make the car road worthy again (headlight kit replaced but body damage pounded out but not looking really great). The car would look a bit rough, but run well. The insurance check would more than cover the cost to get it road worthy, so we'd come out ahead financially, but with a crummier looking car. And the four of us would share the car for longer.

The fourth scenario is that we do everything in the third scenario, turn this car over to our daughters to share, and my husband and I buy a second car that is in good shape for just ourselves. The upside to this is we would be a 2-car family with 4 drivers. The downside is a new-to-us car would cost us.

In case you missed it, both my husband and I have been frustrated these last two and a half weeks being car-less. We've both taken the bus to places that were not bus-convenient. When I went to my new Bible study earlier this week, I walked an additional 3 1/2 miles to and from buses coming and going, in the rain. My husband needed to get a rx filled and walked a mile to the bus to get to the pharmacy. Another day, he needed to get to the library to pick up a hold, again walking mile+ to get to the bus stop. 

After many conversations about pros and cons, we decided to go with scenario number 4. Yesterday morning, my husband took a vacation day from work and the two of us walked up to the bus stop (1+ mile), got off that bus, walked a bit to the next stop, got on another bus, got off and walked 1/4 mile to a car dealership that we've worked with in the past. I had checked their used car inventory online the day before and had picked out a couple of cars that I liked, were in our price range, and had low miles. 

When we got there, we looked at every car that was within our parameters. My first choice didn't look nearly as good in person as it did online. It showed a lot of signs of wear, despite not having too many miles on it. My husband was favoring another car that was a lot older, but had been maintained really well, had fewer miles, and was in almost perfect shape. It's also a lot smaller than I wanted, but it's very fuel efficient. This one was also less expensive than my first choice car.

We went back and forth between these two cars, spending a good two and a half hours looking, inspecting, and talking.  My husband looked under the hoods of both, we examined every inch of the interior of the cars, and we read the CARFAX reports and car lot inspection report. The smaller car's CARFAX report indicated that it had been taken care of really well. We could see the dates it was taken in for servicing, noting its frequency of regular maintenance. My husband had pretty much talked me into this smaller car. During one of our inspections, though, I noticed a small star crack in its windshield. That was an instant "no" for us on this car. That is until the salesman, who gave us a lot of space, happened to be coming back to see if we had any questions. We pointed out the crack in the windshield and he said he could take care of that for us. We asked if that meant complete windshield replacement and he agreed. We took the car for a test drive and privately discussed what would make this deal work for us. We decided that if they knocked $1000 off the price, replaced the windshield and got us a second key we'd take it. My husband did the negotiating, and in the end we got exactly what we wanted.

So we have a new car (new-to-us that is)! And once the old car gets its minimal repairs done later this week, we'll be a 2-car family until my daughters buy their own cars.

I wasn't expecting we'd drive home in a new car. But I'd brought the checkbook with us in case we found something we thought would serve its purpose for us. My husband and I are not high-maintenance types. We're pretty satisfied with a car that runs well and looks clean. I think knowing what matters to you and skipping the rest is how many of us live out our frugality. There are other areas of my life that I prefer to spend more. A car is just not one of them.

And here's what I learned in all of this -- if a car is "totaled" but can still be functional, there is a way to keep the car. I had previously thought if the insurance company made a payment for the value of the car, that we had to surrender it.

And where did we go right after driving off the car lot? Why to Walmart, of course! Like I said, we're low-maintenance types.