Well, this weekend I heard back from my insurance company. They sent a claims adjuster out to look at my car, and apparently they're considering it a total loss. Now, some people might be glad to have their car deemed a total, but for me, it's about the worst possible outcome of this whole fiasco.
Back in February of 2001, my first car (purchased while in college) conked out on me. So I began my first hunt, and the car that I found was perfect. The loan wasn’t quite as perfect, considering I still owed a little bit on the first car and had to roll that remaining debt into the new loan. But whatever, my payments were affordable and I had a happy shiny automobile.
Then in August ’01, or maybe it was July, I was in a big pile-up on highway 590. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt, but there were four or five cars totalled in the ordeal, including mine. So six months after getting the new car I was back on the hunt again, and of course thanks to depreciation the total value of my car from the insurance was much less than I owed on the loan I’d just taken out.
I got desperate. I rented a car for the maximum amount of time my insurance would allow. Then in early September I got very exasperated and was completely taken advantage of by a local dealership. It was mostly my fault—partly because I figured, hell, I can afford an actual new car this time, if I go low-end.
I went through hell: First the salesman (his first day on the job) quoted me a price and a down payment (which I then paid). Then when I went back, the finance guy couldn’t get me a monthly payment as low as the salesman had estimated, and was expecting additional money down that I hadn’t agreed to (and didn’t have). I should’ve fought, but I was pretty exhausted, and had no way to get home if they didn’t give me the car. And of course, the guy that actually sold me the car wasn’t there that day. The hoops I had to jump through to get that extra money are still having an effect on me today, and now I’m automatically distrustful of anyone in auto sales. But in the end, I had a new car, and although the payments were right on the edge of what I could afford, I wasn’t in the toilet or anything. What really annoyed me was that once again I had to pay for two cars on a new loan.
Then my company went into the red. October 2001 was a shitty month. Layoffs, pay cuts, employees storming out. The decline continued until July of ’02 when the office finally closed its doors and I was out among the wolves. For two years, I bounced between inadequate unemployment checks and menial jobs, while my inability to pay my school loans started my credit on a downward spiral. I’m still at the bottom of that well, only now after over a year of steady employment(s) I’ve been able to take the first couple of loose, shaky steps back out of the slime.
So, to recap: As of last week, I had a car/lifestyle I was starting to be able to afford. But the nature of my car situation was such that the loan I had was far greater than the sticker price, since I had to include the February–August 2001 loan remainder. So with the car totalled (and the total loss value being frankly pitiful), I’m once again in the crapper, because any new car I buy will require a roll over of what I have left on the current loan. But, the two years of unemployment ruined my credit to the point that I have basically no chance of securing any kind of loan for anything, automobile or otherwise.
I’m unsure of my options at this point. Do I go without a car, and continue making payments on the loan with nothing to show for it? Do I go to one of those “we sell cars to deadbeats” places and beg for mercy? I really can’t afford even the tiniest increase in my monthly expenses, especially considering we’re moving at the end of the month and I need to start coughing up rent. Do I find a junker at a mechanic somewhere and lay down cash (which I don’t have)? How long will that last me before I’m right back in the same situation?
It’s kind of interesting. I’m not feeling panicked or anything, but this is pretty major bad news. I think I have some kind of karmic scale that’s tared way too low, because these Big Bad News things always seem to hit shortly after I get any kind of positive shift. Oh, you’re getting married? You’re possibly getting a nice new place to live? You’re on the road to recovery from your years of economic despair? Well, we’d better steal and total your car so that you have to take the bus home from the mall after your twelve-hour workdays.
Oh well. I’ve still got all four limbs.
Would the cost savings of not owning a car (loan payments, gas, insurance, repairs), by any chance equal or exceed the amount of revenue you take in from working part time at FYE?
Then, maybe you could bike to Cazbah?... or better yet, convince them they need to let you work from home at least a few days a week.
—Art
Sorry to hear (or read) about your car. It’s really good that you and Sarah are getting out of there.
-Dave