I just sold my wife's Lexus for Valentine's Day

[kendallf]

Yeah.. and I haven't gotten her flowers, either.  :-)

We have been talking about finding a Prius for my wife, as she's still driving a monstrous amount of miles until we move later this year.  She has an '04 Lexus IS300; it has been a beautiful car in a lot of ways, with zero problems and lots of great features.  Increasingly, though, we have been focused on becoming more frugal and the ~22 mpg the Lexus got (on premium, no less!) wasn't good enough.  Also, it was about to turn over 100k miles and would require a timing belt, water pump and tires soon.

I was planning to put it on Craigslist this week, but decided to take it by Carmax and just see what they'd offer.  Long story short, they gave me about what I thought it might bring on Craigslist, and I had my wife come and pick me up.   Coincidentally, Carmax also has a 2007 Prius with low miles in a color my wife favors, at a decent price.  Tomorrow I'm going to go see about what I hope will be our last car payment ever.  My credit union is offering 1.99% rates on used cars 2007 and newer, which will at least make the prospect of a car loan slightly more palatable.

[tmac]

We just sold our fanciest car as well, and it's feels great. One more car loan to pay off, which will happen this year, and we're done. As I told my husband yesterday, "We may still have a car loan, but we are no longer 'car loan' people. Never again."

Our credit union has a "green car" rate as well, so maybe ask about that.

[Rollin]

Yeah.. and I haven't gotten her flowers, either.  :-)

We have been talking about finding a Prius for my wife, as she's still driving a monstrous amount of miles until we move later this year.  She has an '04 Lexus IS300; it has been a beautiful car in a lot of ways, with zero problems and lots of great features.  Increasingly, though, we have been focused on becoming more frugal and the ~22 mpg the Lexus got (on premium, no less!) wasn't good enough.  Also, it was about to turn over 100k miles and would require a timing belt, water pump and tires soon.

I was planning to put it on Craigslist this week, but decided to take it by Carmax and just see what they'd offer.  Long story short, they gave me about what I thought it might bring on Craigslist, and I had my wife come and pick me up.   Coincidentally, Carmax also has a 2007 Prius with low miles in a color my wife favors, at a decent price.  Tomorrow I'm going to go see about what I hope will be our last car payment ever.  My credit union is offering 1.99% rates on used cars 2007 and newer, which will at least make the prospect of a car loan slightly more palatable.

Gosh, that sure is in contrast to all those TV commercials where the man walks the woman outside to show her a Lexus with a bow tied over it!  Not sure what your commercial would look like, but it sure would be fun to watch (and more meaningful to me).

That is Badassity as far as I know - on Valentine's Day no less.

[kendallf]

I did end up buying her a Prius today, so I guess I'm back somewhat in the land of Valentine's Day cliches.  No bow atop it though. 

We tried squinching our eyes shut and feeling smug tonight, but it's hard to drive that way..

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s10e02-smug-alert

[BPA]

Excellent!  My boyfriend was in the grocery store yesterday and said he felt bad for all the harangued looking men in the line ups buying VD stuff. 

I've seen that before and know the exact looks on their faces.  :) 

So glad that we don't go in for that stuff.

Your wife sounds like she must be pretty cool giving up her Lexus and not demanding overpriced chocolate.  I hope she enjoys her Prius when she gets it.

[uspsfanalan]

Good for you guys. Pay that loan of ASAP and you'll really feel great.

[Mr Mark]

Well done! A great Valentine's day present.

[kendallf]

Your wife sounds like she must be pretty cool giving up her Lexus and not demanding overpriced chocolate.  I hope she enjoys her Prius when she gets it.

She is very low maintenance; I don't think I could cope with a compulsive shopaholic like many of my friends.  Of course, I married her when she was 18 and I was 23 and broke, so we've got a lot of history in that regard.  :-)

Good for you guys. Pay that loan of ASAP and you'll really feel great.

I'm thinking about posting an "asking advice" thread on just this topic.. I have quite a bit of mortgage debt and as we cut down expenses to where I can actually save some money, I'm waffling over where to prioritize our debt payments.  At 1.99%, I don't think the car loan will be #1 priority.

Edited to add: the Prius is $250 a year cheaper to insure, even though it's 3 years newer and worth slightly more.  :-)

[sol]

My wife bought me Vday chocolate.  This morning, for about 80% off the price from two days ago.  Somehow, that makes it a better gift.