I'm a terrible person

[InbetweenDreams]

I still managed to trade the car in! I was so worried I was going to get stuck with it. My old, 2007 car finally broke down for good, and I had a nightmare trying to find a new one on such a short notice. I got pressured into buying a 2015 SUV that I absolutely despised, not just because I was pressured into buying it, but I was too tall for it because the seats were non-adjustable. It was dangerous driving it, and it made my blood boil over the fact that I took on an auto loan for a car that I hate, was dangerous to drive, and how inexcusable it was that a car made in as late as 2015 had no seat height adjuster. I traded it in for the 2018 model, and it's a fancier version. Because it's newer, my lender just extended the length of the loan, making my monthly payments the same. I set money aside just for the loan payments, which should take care of it for at least the rest of the year.

I never had an auto loan before, but I must say, I love my new vehicle. I can lower the seat an actually see the horizon when driving, and not have to bend my head just to see the streetlights (well, most of the time). It's super comfy, can start remotely, has a heated steering wheel and heated seats that I'm sure my little dog will love. It's got a backup camera so I don't have to worry about backing over God-knows-what. It's high from the ground and has AWD, so I pretty much don't have to worry about getting snowed in. It ain't perfect, it's used, after all, but it's a Jeep, so fuck it, it was made to get dirty.

I have to say, it brings me great pleasure knowing I have a nice vehicle in spite of all the people who hate my guts.

If you are concerned about something happening to your car in the future I highly suggest getting a dash cam....and I don't mean one of those cheesy shitty ones. Get something like a Thinkware...

https://us.thinkware.com/

Get a "2 channel" kit that comes with 2 cameras and all the wiring you need. I have one of them in my car, it's a Prius sooooo yeah. You do need to run the power wires to your fuse box and use what is called a fuse tap, this way the camera has power all the time. Now, the camera won't kill your battery as it will turn itself off after 48 hours or if the voltage goes below a set threshold. What it is able to do is record anytime it senses an impact to the car, which hopefully will be you opening and closing doors.

Just something to think about it.

As for auto loans. 99% of the time, unless you had a large down payment, you will be upside down meaning the car will be worth less in a trade in than what you owe on the loan, so you should hang on to the car at least long enough to get some equity before trading it in. I can speak from experience that rolling over negative equity is a BAD BAD idea and you should not do it ever. What can be a good idea is to refinance the loan if the bank gave you a high interest rate or if you really need to lower the payment. There's a good chance you know all that but is worth mentioning because while we often know better people end up doing these things anyway, myself included.

Other than that I'm glad you were able to get it traded in and was able to get a new car and that things are ok.