I've got to give them props for making the commitment, but it seems like all they did was convert the car from a "thing" to cash. It also raises my eyebrows when she says that they sold the truck for $5200, then ended up with an extra $9000, $1500 of which was in tires that they were going to buy some time that year. They then took the $9000 and made an emergency fund and paid off $8000 of their mortgage?
Seems like some fuzzy math to me.
It wasn't a bad idea to sell the truck, but her "gains" seem a little short sighted. Are they going to sell the other car next year, and maybe sell another car the year after that?