Well, it's a good thing I'd already made the cheerful post.

[rivka]

curiousangel just called me at the clinic. He heard from the body shop that the insurance adjuster is planning to declare the car totalled. (Um, for non-driving or non-U.S. readers, that means that they won't pay for repairs - they'll give us what they figure is the "actual cash value" of the car before the wreck, instead. Then they get to sell what remains of the car (which should be a fair amount) for parts.)

So now we have to go car shopping. The good news is that I spoke to the credit union carrying our car note, and found that we can buy out the loan for about $1500. So if they pay us the bluebook value, we ought to have a fair amount left over towards the next car. I also discovered, while surfing through sites about Maryland insurance law, that the insurance company is obligated to pay us for sales tax and fees associated with the purchase of another car. I don't know if the equitable settlement amount goes up to compensate for the hassle involved in buying a car - for example, we're likely to have to take some time off work to handle it - but it seems to me that it should.

We need to decide what kind of car we want - I mean, we'll almost certainly be looking for a four-door family sedan, but we don't know if we want to get another Mazda or look for something else. We need to decide if we want to buy a four-year-old car like the one we lost, at $5000 or $6000, or if we want to get a newer car and take out a loan for the balance. My gut instinct is that, given that we hope to apply for a mortgage in the next year or so, it would be wiser to avoid assuming a new loan now... but I'm by no means certain about that.

Grrrr...

[In addition to - or in lieu of - sympathy, all forms of Geek Answer Syndrome are welcome in reply to this post.]

Comments

[jenett]

Much sympathy.

Let me second the 'at least look at Saturns' part - if not for their own cars, take a look at their used lots, too. I know you've met my SL2, which I absolutely adore (even driving in horrible weather).

If you want something a size up, the L series first came out in the 2000 model year, so it's possible you might be able to find one back from lease or used by now. (Ok, less possible than with the S series, but I thought I'd mention it.)

But if you end up doing used-car route, I know a couple of people who've bought non-Saturns used from Saturn dealerships- - you get the same no-haggle stuff, and they do great checks on the used cars they sell.