D's opinion last week when we got the $650 bombshell was that he did not want another used car. He thought we should either buy a brand new car, or fix the one we've got. This seemed unrealistic to me at the time, but after much discussion, I agreed to look into it. A bargain basement new car could maybe be gotten for $10,000. (Looking online turned up one for about $7,000, but further investigation revealed that that particular car had a history of wheels falling off. This would not be a good thing. Hell, if I want the thrill of suddenly driving on 3 or less wheels, I'll just keep my current car.)

Today, I went to my bank, and learned that if I was approved for a $5000 loan through them, the payments would be roughly $160/month for 3 years. Ideally, I'd like to pay about $100/month, but I could go as high as $200. (Technically, I could afford $300/month, but D. and I are also trying to save $$ to move. See below) This means that a $5000 loan is about what we can afford. This means either a used car, or one without wheels. I like wheels. You can see where I'm going with this.

Christine pointed out that there are significant differences between a $700 used car, and a $5000 used car. This is quite true. I made this argument to D. at one point, but somehow he talked me out of it. Christine was also surprised by the bank's 10.2% interest rate, and guessed that I might be able to get a better deal by going through a dealership. (I have absolutely no experience with this at all. We paid cash for the current car, which was my first ever car. She may be right. I don't have a clue. It worries me sometimes, the vast number of real life situations that I'm utterly unprepared for. But I digress.)

Tomorrow, Christine is graciously loaning me her husband, so he can drive me around to look at cars. Arthur pretty much has to know more about the whole car buying process than I do. It would be very difficult for him to know less.

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