To buy a car, or not to buy a car...that is the question

So, a few weeks ago Josh was in a car accident. Thankfully he was not injured, and though his car was he is still able to drive it. He was not at fault, the woman in front of him decided to back up and didn't think to look in her rearview mirror first and crashed into him. The car was declared a total loss as the cost to repair it was much higher than the worth of the car. So we received a nice settlement check last week. Thank you God!

We recently finished paying off the 5 year loan on my car and were for the first time without a car payment just days after this accident. So, knowing that God is in control and has great timing, we decided to look for a new car. Instead of going to a dealership and being pressured, we decided to use a service that our credit union offers called Auto Expert. Basically, you call them and tell them exactly what you want, what price range, what bells and whistles, etc. and they do all the hard work of searching, haggling and finding you what you want. It is a free service and something my parents and sister had used successfully in the past.

I called the Auto Expert (Jason) and explained that I wanted a Pontiac G6 sedan - automatic, a/c, CD player, silver color, power locks and windows, cruise control, no older than 2005, less than 50,000 miles and around $10,000 in price. He began to look and I had nothing more to do other than answer his phone calls. He found one fairly quickly, but it was too much out of my price range. Then on a Thursday he found what seemed to be perfect...exactly what I wanted, plus a few cushy extras, only 18,800 miles, 2007 and $12,998. Within my monthly price range if we put about $2000 down (which is an option based on the insurance payment we got for Josh's accident), so I said yes. He said I could pick it up the next day...we had pictures and we were so excited.

Then Friday rolled around and Jason called me back. The dealer wanted to back out of the deal as he decided the price was too low and he wanted more money. This was unexpected and upsetting and though Jason did his best the dealer would not back down. Though disappointed I decided to focus on the fact that God is still in control and He knew this would happen. Something better must be out there and we can be patient.

All this past week I hadn't heard anything from Jason, so I decided to give him a call yesterday. He apologized for not keeping in touch, but he had continued to search for me but with unfortunately no luck so far. After talking to my dad and searching for comparable cars online I decided to call him back to add two other car options to the mix. I found that I really liked the look of the Ford Focus ZX4 sedan as well as the Kia Spectra sedan. I let him know to be on the lookout for these as well as the Pontiac G6 with the same details. Hopefully next week he'll be able to let me know some possibilities and we may just find the car for us soon.

It's a learning experience trying to buy a car and assume that financial responsibility again. But God provided...we didn't need a new car until the old one was paid off....Josh's car still runs, so we most likely will not be without two cars during this time...the insurance provided a sizable chunk which allows us to have a little more wiggle room on the new car price. What a blessing and I know God is in control and He will provide exactly what we need, exactly when we need it. Thank you God!