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

Credit

[anisoptera.livejournal.com]

One car loan will not mess up getting a mortgage. But if you have other substantial debt or other loans that may be a problem. They look at your overall debt load to income.

98 and researched and bought our last car on the net. It was so much easier that wandering around car show rooms and fending of sales leeches.

Good luck and I hope it all goes smoothly.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

you need some form of credit history to get the mortgage, but the loan on the now-totalled car and student loans etcetera will probably suffice.

if you got an older car, would you be able to pay it totally off with the insurance money?

what i would probably be tempted to do is get a car slightly swankier than the insurance payoff will pay for. so that it would work out to be about half of your current car payment every month, or else the same amount but for a very short time. then there is the "oooooooh shiny" factor covered, and also the being financially responsible factor covered, since you're ending up spending less money.

the one thing that i would not do is anything that ends up with you having a larger car payment than you had before.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

If you decided to get a used car, keep in mind that Casey and I have had nothing but excellent luck with our '97 and '98 Neons. However, I've heard that the '96 and the '99-2002 Neons are good, but not as excellent as our two years.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

I suggest an electric hybrid - those suckers are getting astounding gas mileage. But do the research first, of course. My parent-people did huge amounts of research before buying their Saturn, and they were very satisfied with what they got.

And good luck, and *hugs*.

having been through this in the not too distant past..

[kyttn.livejournal.com]

Declaring the car totalled is fine. The question is, is the car able to run at all (safely)? Totalled means that the amount of money needed to repair all damage (including cosmetic) exceeds the cost of replacing the vehicle. A car may be totalled for things that could be fixed if you don't care about looks right now (ex: replacing a broken bumper or fender from a junkyard instead of getting a new part and painting it to match).

If the car can be made safe to drive for not too much money, then consider buying it yourself. You see, they have to offer you the totalled car at a reasonable price. When they make you an offer for the value of the car (and make sure YOU look up online to see what the Blue Book value is, both Kelly and Edmunds), ask what they would give you if you keep the car. It might be worth driving around for a few months in a car that looks horrible while you save up for another car. There are some rules about what they can charge you for the totalled car (it varies by state, I think here the max was something like 300). My ex told me of one fellow who bought his car back from the company for $50, and is still driving it after 2 years, with no major expenses.

Good luck!

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Bleah. I'm sorry you have to deal with that. What a mess. I know nothing of the car-buying, but kalmn's advice sounds good to me.

[eleri.livejournal.com]

Look at Saturns. We're muchly pleased with ours, and finding a used one we wanted was just a matter of calling some of the Saturn dealerships in the area. If you have that much to put down, you micht even consider a new one. Then you can cutom make one online, print it out, go to the nearest Saturn dealership, and get that same price.

Driving around to 5 or 6 different dealeerships trying to haggle is a royal PITA

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yeah, I really want an electric hybrid. Those things are so cool, and it's as environmentally responsible as you can get without stopping driving altogether. But I'm pretty sure a brand-new car is out of the question. Alas.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

i have a toyota prius, and i love it.

alas, they're spendy.

[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.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping and crossing all available extremeties that someday, when I'm in the market to finally buy a car that isn't a $200 buzzbomb, someday I will be able to get a Saturn hybrid. That's really the only kind of car I truly want. It's going to be a damn long time before I'm able to afford anything like it, though. :\ Ah well, I suppose we've all gotta have dreams... ;)

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Talk to some realtors... they can give you advice on mortgages. Housing loans are different from all others. They're secured; the security usually appreciates in value; you can't skip out on them with the collateral; you *ALWAYS* have to pay to live *SOMEWHERE*.

There's a percentage (30%? Maybe higher) of your income that they expect you can afford to pay for housing. If your debt load is such that you can manage it easily, and still pay that percentage, there probably won't be a problem.

(And, if you have the right stuff, you can apply for an FHA loan, which means they can't reject you if you meet those criteria, IIRC... I could be wrong about this, and I've never done house shopping myself. I don't know how stiff those criteria are, though. The realtor can tell you about this.)

A new car loan *COULD* be a good thing, since it's more of a chance to establish a record of timely payments, and so forth. Just remember to find out how much cash you'll need for the house, so you can decide if it's better to extend the loan to build your cash reserves up, or if it's better to have a short term to have the loan paid off as soon as possible.

I can third the comments on Saturns being good cars.