Reorganizing

Reorganizing Finances

Many of you know I just got my Escape Hybrid in late winter/early spring ... doing so improved my credit & saved me from paying additional costs on repairs needed on the Blazer, but I've been without child support $ ever since - now the judge has decided to dismiss my ex's petition for visitation, my new guy & I are talking about getting married so that he can adopt my daughter, which means I'm not likely to get any CS ... until then I've got major legal fees etc. & am rearranging my finances *SIGH*

The plan is to sell my 2005 Escape Hybrid, paying off my other debts, then refinancing what I owe on it after that & leasing a new station wagon or buying an older minivan full out with cash so that I don't accrue new debt *FINGERS CROSSED* I owe about $34,500 & Kelly Blue Book says the private party value is $26,000 ... I'd have $18,000 left to refinance & then lease - or $24,500 to refince & use $7,000 to buy with cash at auction so nothing is owed.

I don't care about any fills except that it be automatic transmission, able to fit 5 passengers + 2 dogs (hence station wagon or minivan) & I'd like front airbags as well as either traction control or AWD, hopefully. Lap belt rear-center is OK because we have the EZOns & Britax seats to accomodate. Even an affordable sedan would be OK because I doubt I'd need to have all 3 kids + both dogs with me at the same time anymore.... Does anyone have any ideas on websites for posting vehicles for sale??? THANKS

Well, I'm not sure how the whole financing thing would work out, but I wanted to tell you that I LOVE my Jetta wagon. It's the base model, but it's loaded with safety features (side curtain airbags, dual front airbags, and side airbags from the front seats), it doesn't have AWD or traction control, but I know some models do. We were able to get a really good deal on it ($17,000 for a 2004 that had never been sold). You might be able to find a wagon that is a few years old for a good deal, but I don't know what the market is like where you are. Here in Juneau it's hard to find nice used cars for a decent price, but then again it's probably because it's so expensive to get a car here that people hang onto them. Good luck with whatever you decide to do, I know how hard it is to figure out finances.
~Sarah~

Thanks, Sarah I was looking at the 1998 (?) Jetta Wagon with low miles at the auction site - starting at less than $5,000.... Now if I could just sell my Hybrid in time

A friend of mine has a 97 Jetta Sedan (she just got it a few months ago) and she has been really happy with it, but not so happy with the dealership she got it from, lol. They only gave her one key and didn't give her the remote for the security system ! So, did you finally get your Escape back from the dealership since they screwed up your engine? It's too bad you have to get rid of it, sounds like it was a good vehicle. I'm not sure the best place to try to sell it, make sure you talk to the finance company you have the loan thru before you try to sell it, if you can't get what you owe on it, they may not release the title to the new owners, but I'm not totally sure how that all works. I know we didn't get the greatest interest rate on our car, but we are planning on refinancing it with our credit union in a year once our credit is a little better (we had some identity theft a few years ago and are still cleaning it all up, that has been a huge headache, let me tell ya.) Good luck!
Sarah

I actually have not gotten it back yet I think that is why I feel OK about selling it - I've been so long without it now I know I could handle it It is a great vehicle & I'll miss it, but I'd hate to be Bankrupt more My rate is OK at 7% but I had to buy it in order to qualify for loans to pay for legal fees & they keep growing, so I need to figure something out *SIGH*

I loved my '03 Passat and wish I had stuck to my guns we were buying one and gone the wagon route instead of a sedan. I might still have it as it was a great car. But, I'll be the first to tell you there was no way I could have gotten a 3rd carseat (maybe a narrow booster) between the MA & RA. I did like that all seating positions where lap/shoulder belts so no worry about any of my passengers not being protected. I also loved that I had 2nd row side curtain airbags standard. The trunk was very big for a sedan. I have told dh that I would consider the new Passat when my lease it up as the new Passat is a lot bigger then the old Passat. But, I would most likely go the wagon route it I got another Passat.

The only down fall is it required 91 octane or better and most placed around here only have 87,89, or 93 octane so I had to buy premium.

I really like my Durango. I had heard when they first came out in '98 that they had bad crash test ratings, but that they improved a bunch of stuff in '01. They also had a bunch of other recalls and junk on the pre-'01. So we got an '01. It's got AWD and I'm not sure if it has traction control or if it's just the AWD, but we can not get the thing to slide AT ALL. And yes, we have tried. LOL
As you know the center seat in the 2nd row is pretty useless for a carseat (although in the carseat data base there are a few entries that say they got a great install. Still scratching my head on that one lol), but with the 3rd row, we have more than enough room. Just tonight we had 4 adults and both my boys in it and we were all very comfy.
The only bad things I've found so far are the milage (we've been getting around 16mpg) and there is very little cargo room when the 3rd row is up(as much as my friend's Voyager though). When it's folded though, there's tons of room. Also a good thing about the 3rd row, I can fit back there, where as with some of the other smallish SUV's we drove, there was no way an adult would fit back there.
We paid $13,000 for it, but in bigger areas, we saw them going for $11-$12K with less than 60,000 miles, or '02's went for around $13,000.
It also has front airbags, but no side curtain airbags. I think they started doing them in the new body style, but that was WAY out of my price range.

www.autotrader.com and www.cars.com are about the biggest places to search for used vehicles. The majority of other sites use one of these two as their partner. Good luck!

Thanks for the links, Darren & to everyone else for the suggestions, too I'm still waiting to hear from the credit union about transfer of title & consolidation, etc. Family court is sooooo stressful!!!

Weird - my computer is acting up ... sorry - edited this post because I thought I responding somewhere else & went back to see it didn't make any sense in this thread! It's not ME, I swear!