Bad Car Loan - Anyone else trapped?

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649
Joined
Mar 26, 2009
You fix your car note problems?
Been meaning to update this for a while. Night before Xmas Eve it had rained, and the temperature dropped from 40 to like 5 degrees in Ohio. My doors were frozen shut. Was locked out for 36 hours. Then when I did get on the road I swerved a couple times in the snow, very scary. Plus with all the salt on the road I had to wash the car probably like 15 times this winter.

Then in February I had a dental cleaning (1st one since COVID started). They found cavities on both sides of my mouth, so I had to use up 2 days of PTO and pay what the insurance wouldn't cover ($130). To add insult to injury, as I was driving home from one of these sessions, I get pulled over for doing 67 in a 55. I honestly thought I was keeping pace with traffic, but I guess a combo of my whole face being numb and also the sun was beaming straight upon the speedometer I wasn't really paying attention. Ever since 2019 I've had a perpetual two points on my license, soon as they fall off I get a new ticket :ohwell:

Now the good? Our boss gave us a 2hundred bonus on our holiday checks. And when we came back after New Years he announced he was doubling our vacation hours. And then my seasonal gigs I do on the side started early. I made an extra $200 in February. And have made $500 not even halfway thru March.

I ended up taking the ticket to court and beat it no fines, or points. It was a highway trooper who had pulled me over and I guess they travel all over the state and it wasn't logistical to bring him in for court. But again I had to use up the rest of my PTO to attend Court (initial arraignment and trial)

Been bringing in an extra $400 with the plasma donations, but it's one of those stepping forward yet stepping backwards slightly. It tires me out and I have trouble waking in the morning. Every other day I am 15 minutes late. I'm not in any danger of getting fired, but it's adding up to me losing $50 each paycheck, especially since my PTO is depleted.

I'm liking the new car more and more though, the buyers remorse finally subsided. Technically my cargo space has doubled since I can fold the back seat done and have access to the trunk. Backup camera is clutch and speeds up parking - on my screen I have these virtual white lines that I guide into the yellow lines. When I get within 5 feet of an object I get green flashes on my screen, 2 feet yellow flashes and within 1 foot I get a loud red beep and my music cuts out.

Where the RPM/temp gauges used to be on older cars is a small box you can toggle through various displays. I can set up my Maps, and it shows my upcoming turns. I figure that shaves 1-2 seconds of me glancing down at the touch screen or phone, and that could be the difference between getting stuck at a light or missing an exit. Efficiency saves money in the long run.

As far as upgrades/aftermarket mods that's the one thing I'm kind of salty that I can't afford to get them done professionally. Like For a multi-dashcam setup that automatically uploads to the cloud the system would cost $1500 out the door and also a monthly subscription fee probably. However I did improvise a rig for under $300 that is workable. For the front and rear I got 12v dashcams from WalMart. It kind of sucks, cause even with an SD card all I can record is a half day before I have to erase stuff. The rear cam doesn't actually record video though, it's like one of those Go Pros that snap a picture every 10 secs so it might take 3-4 days for the memory to fill up. For the left and right sides, I dusted off my original Galaxy and Blackberry's and record in 240p/144p vids. I figure the likelihood of getting T-Boned is probably 500% less than a rear end or front end collision....

All in all I'm doing better than anticipated, just hope for next Winter I can afford snow tires and at least if not a legit Garage, a Carport I can park under.
 
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Joined
Nov 5, 2015
I’m sick everyday. I bought my model y at peak price 72k that same car is going for 60k.


I’m hoping for hail or a fender bender everyday.
 
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