Heather558

Wow 14,000... (Every year) that's a lot of money....

I like your advice of "enjoy your car don't stress out"

I'm working on a budget now!!

ToothDoc

Do what feels right. If it's scaring you, get rid of it. There will always be another IS-F, another RC-F, another GT-R, etc. Why stress about it and not enjoy life? You should only get a car if it doesn't stress you out. Otherwise, you're just raising your BP, decreasing life span, more stress = more stress hormones = more belly fat too. I've been there done that already. Of course, despite my advice, I would've still kept my cars just the same because a nice car is worth dying a few years early for. Hahahaha

Having said that, I am finally in a position (now that I'm 40) that I can afford my IS-F but the problem is now I want to sell the F and get another kind of F... as in Ferrari!

Taking my own advice... it doesn't quite feel right yet so I'll have to wait on the Ferrari and enjoy my fully paid off IS-F.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Keep in mind, getting paid in NJ is quite a bit different than getting paid in MO.

The key to it all is to plan ahead and save for the predictable. Tires are predictable. Brakes are predictable. Painting your house and cleaning your gutters are predictable. Just because someone isn't sending you a monthly bill doesn't mean you should wait until the bill is presented to prepare to pay it.

The other thing that is predictable - everyone who owns an IS-F is doing something right. Regardless of how you got yours, the fact remains you're living a lot better than most and staying there isn't something to worry about, it's something to focus positive energy and effort on. Worrying saps your strength, makes you doubt yourself, and does awful things to your body. Focusing on what you do best, and making the unpredictable a smaller presence in your life will help a lot to keep you where you want to be. As far as the car goes, you should have money saved for tires, brakes, oil changes, filters, and your insurance deductible in the event of an accident. How you choose to get those things done affects how much money is earmarked for those things, but regardless of what the actual cost is, you need to be prepared to pay it when it is time. Make sure this is in your budget. This is true of cars, homes, or any other major purchases with maintenance costs.

Think of it this way - the HVAC in your brand new home has a typical service life of 20 years. If you maintain it carefully, you might get 25. That means when you move into your new home, you need to save 1/20th of the replacement cost of your HVAC system annually. Or, you can call it an unexpected expense - even though it isn't - and borrow money which you will pay back over time with interest. Your choice. I put money away now...

dannyk8232

If you can save $10k over the course of one year, and have a bit of trouble (we all do) being tempted from time to time by C&B/PB/etc. then consider putting half of that $10k into an IRA via monthly direct deposit. You won't miss the $400 each month as much since you won't physically have to deposit it into a separate account. It's much, much more difficult to take the $$$ out of an IRA once it's in there (although there are exceptions for emergencies to take $$$ out of an IRA without penalty). Plus, there are myriad reasons and benefits to throwing money into a bucket like an IRA. Just my $.02

BluISF

Lot's of good advice here. Good luck getting your finances in order. This car has such a nice build quality - just opening the door and sitting in the car - you can feel that quality/refinement. Don't get me started on the sexy exterior (and interior) and how it makes you feel when you drop the hammer in 2nd gear as the 2ndary intake opens The reliability is excellent overall - I've just heard of the water pump and digitizers/nav as the main issues. I have had both of those taken care of with warranty - but I can definitely self insure against that (and other potential repairs) once my warr. expires in about 5 yrs/2mos.

Once you get your F paid off, with proper maintenance, you can drive this great car for many years with no payment. This can help you gain ground financially by not starting the process over: trading it in,+ large down payment for another expensive toy/ mo. payment (which you can do much later when finances permit). It's not like a BMW where once your warranty expires you head for the hills........

Good luck.

PS, do what you can to avoid tickets and drive defensively to help avoid accidents - lowering your car expense/insurance expense. Make sure to save for your 60k mi service.

NYC ES3

iTrader: (7)

............

sleepyray

iTrader: (11)

I can't agreed any better with Doc there!

Yea Ms Heather, If you are stress about all the maintance cost on the F and it taking to joy and fun out of it....just may as well try to sell it and get somthing you are comfortable with. When you able to get more income and a little more spare money, that will always be another better car out there . I always tell people that we have a nice car, I take pride into the car for baby it! but it really ain't the BEST one out there IMO; I am always ready to get a better one as long as I can afford and won't put me on a cup noodle diet for the next 10 years.

Good luck to you Heather!

MYISF

Your welcome and realize it is a bit of a process at first as you need to sit down and identify all of your monthly expenses (have to's and want to's)...then break them up into buckets (I like to call them) in Excel...so if your mortgage is $2,000 a month and u get paid twice a month then your "Mortgage Bucket" should be for $1,000 a payday...so at the end of the month u have the $2K to pay your mortgage...this is a very simple one but like I said u need to go through each spending scenario and create a "payday" bucket for it. And after each payday all your buckets should reconcile to your check book.

And your commnet about C&B and Pottery Barn are exactly those "Want to's" that can eat away at your finances...good luck!

WillRockwe

Get a cabin filter from Pep Boys for about $20 and change it yourself, it takes less than 5 minutes. Watch this video to learn how.

Stuno1

If it's causing you to stress then move on to a car that won't. It's only a car after all. Later in life when you have more money, buy something then.

vmatheboss

iTrader: (1)

couldnt agree more

Clownshoes

iTrader: (1)

I just did rotors and pads. I used Hawk HPS pads and the set was $150.00 or so. Rotors are Raybestos, and were $240.00 delivered for the pair. Install was a dirty, but easy job and took two hours because I had to BS with my neighbor an awful lot. Next time, I am working with the garage door closed... BTW, WAAAYYYY less dust with the Hawk pads!

SeanGTS

iTrader: (1)

Sell sell sell. If you drive it and all you think about is the next bill, what joy is that?

ISFPOWER

iTrader: (20)

lol, all those things you listed was cheap for me. rotors are 100 bucks each. pads, got a set of 4 for 80 bucks that stop well and dont dust. tires, thats up to what kind you want to get. you will be worried about every car besides old 1990s vehicles.

CalitriSC

iTrader: (13)

Lol people telling her to sell. The ISF is one of the most reliable cars that I've had. In 3 years all I've had to do besides oil changes was a new battery and brake pads that have lifetime warranty. She only owes $10k and her payment is $300 a month. It's gonna be a huge huge down grade if your expecting her to find a cheaper payment than that and owe less than $10k.