A New Old Car

I mentioned before how awful last week was here on Birch St., but I must say it's a huge blessing to know and trust that everything is going to work out. We put God in control of our lives (which is a hard thing to do, really) and it's been proven time and time again how faithful He is to us in our times of trouble (even in blessing).

We've been having a headache with the finance company for our van. When we bought the van, we made much more money than we do now. "Life happened" and we can no longer afford the car payments. We've fallen behind and struggled often to catch up. We've been pleading with this company for a few months now to help us out and allow us to keep this van that we've invested so much into already by lowering our payment - but they won't. No matter how much we pay them, they always tell us that we can't afford this and threaten to pick up the van. It's true - we can't afford it on our current income. But they won't adjust what we pay every month. And this is coming from the company who recently decided to give all of their hourly employees a $5,000 bonus.

It was getting pretty awful last week dealing with them. I don't think I could talk to someone else they way they talk to us and be okay with myself at the end of the day. Ya know? Last week, they actually showed up at my inlaw's house looking for the van to repo. Thankfully we no longer live with them, but it was only a matter of time before they found out where we do live. We are really trying to do the right thing with them, but they aren't so helpful on their end. So we had to think fast and pray God gave us answers quickly.

We finally decided to make the sacrifice and give up the van no matter what. If they want to pick it up, that's fine. If we need to drive it to a dealership and surrender it, that's fine. We tried trading it in, but our credit score is too low now (thanks to this finance company) that they won't let us trade for something cheaper.

Then, we found this great used car dealership in Tulsa and told them our story. They specialize in helping people like us who have/had problems and/or bad credit get into a vehicle and rebuild credit - but don't rip you off with a humongous car payment. Since we are surrendering our van, they decided they would finance us for something new (used). We had a few issues getting into the new vehicle, but God worked it out. We feel like we're doing the right thing because we kept seeing what we call "little God blessings" through this process.

First, we got approved. Second, we found a great vehicle at an incredible price. We managed to have payments we could afford for at least $100 less than our minivan. We put down part of our tax return which helped a lot. We later found out that the vehicle we chose has a brand new engine and 4 new tires plus a full size spare. It also comes with 18 months or 18,000 mile warranty on the engine, transmission, and other main parts - but not bumper to bumper. The left tail light was broken but the bulb still worked. They had ordered a part for that and will install that when it comes in.

Then the "little God blessings" came through.

Just before we went in to sign the paperwork, we realized the radiator was leaking. So we had to put our down payment as hold money in their layaway program so they wouldn't sell the car to anyone else. We didn't drive home with our new vehicle, but they were putting in a new radiator for us on their dime. Where is the blessing in that - you ask?

Come Monday, our dealer called us with some good news. He said because we didn't finalize the deal, we could take advantage of their new promotion. There was a $100 coupon online that we could print and bring in for $100 off our vehicle. Then, they just started a new promotion that matches our down payment up to $1,000. So instead of putting down $1,500... it was like putting down $2,600. That lowered our payments even more in addition to getting an already amazing deal on the vehicle.

We are now paying over $150 less on our car payments than we were on the van. We have a new engine, tires, and radiator with a tail light on order. We will have just over a year before our vehicle is PAID OFF! And the best part is no matter what happens with the van - they can't touch this one!

Oh, but the blessings didn't stop there. We're significantly saving on our car insurance now too!

^"The Lord will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."

Psalm 121:7-8 NIV