Hey Everyone! I'm a long-time lurker and first time poster. I have enjoyed the great advice on the blog and on these forums for about the past year. I finally have something of my own that I think I might need some advice on.
So earlier this weekend my car was stolen from in from of my house. This part definitely sucks, however I have a solid chance to make some lemonade out of these lemons. The short and sweet is that the car was an 08 Honda Civic and I did still have comprehensive insurance (I kept it for the fear of tornadoes but it also covers theft). I had driven the car for the last few years and just last year my parents were awesome and surprised me with the title of the car (college graduation). So I owned the car outright. The car was parked and locked Friday night and was missing by Saturday morning. I contacted the police and also called the insurance company so I think I've already covered my bases on this part. My parents were obviously sad to see their gift get stolen but were happy I kept comprehensive insurance on it.
Moving forward I have a few options. Thankfully my roommate is out of town for training and he was kind enough to let me borrow his car so I don't have to make any rash decisions right away. I definitely would like to replace the car so I can enjoy the luxuries of arriving to work dry on rainy days among other lazy habits I have thanks to having a car since I was 16...
I am assuming the car won't be recovered and the insurance will pay me the actual cash value of the car less the $1000 dollar deductible. A ballpark on that number is somewhere between 5 - 7 thousand. I expect that the insurance will wait 2 - 3 weeks to see if the police are able to recover the car. Some other details about my position is that I have about $2800 cash in my checking account. I also have $3200 cash in a taxable vanguard account that I should be able to get to within a few days but would honestly rather leave that alone. I might face some early withdrawal fees because about $2000 of that investment account has been this summer's extra contributions.
- Be a badass and wait for a good value car 3-5K
- Buy a beater now for under $2800
- Get a small loan for a value car now
- Cash in some investment for a value car now
Option 1 would mean leveraging my bicycle heavily for commutes and my network of friends for trips to the store. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world but the emotional feeling of not having a car at all is pretty foreign to me. Option 3 and 4 are almost the same they are just different places to get the funds. The only real reason I'm considering a small loan is to build additional credit (I'm only 23). To be completely honest after typing all of this out I really think the best option is to wait and find a good value car I will be happy with. Maybe I just need some validation from other people who are great with money. (My Dad's suggestion was a new truck. I'm not doing that one haha)
What do you guys think? Any advice beyond MMM's car buying article?