Trying to, anyway.

OK, so I've been promising myself for months that when I finally got the rest of my money I was going to buy myself a slightly used car and not let anyone else drive it. Now that the money's finally here, does that really make sense to do? What I'd been thinking of doing was buying a car similar to the G6 I drove to Texas last summer from Enterprise Leasing, which would set me back somewhere in the $20k range. I just made reservations for a similar car for the last two weeks in December, which will cost me about $380. (At that rate I could rent a car for right on a year for $20K.)

I think the better way to define my needs is that I need to quit sharing a car with my sister's son Scotty. For one thing, there's the clutter factor, although he does eventually decide it's time to bag his trash and get it out of the car when it gets deep enough. Also there's the fact he's about 8 inches taller than me and most if the difference is in his legs. That means there's no way we'll ever be able to agree on how far the driver's seat needs to be from the steering wheel and brake pedal. Between the two, something has to give. He has a steady part time job and he's finally gotten serious about getting his GED diploma, but it's going to be a while, probably some time after he gets his diploma and a better job, before he can buy himself a decent car without help.

On the other hand, other than times I have out of town medical appointments or head for Texas for a while there's not really any reason my sister and I can't share a car if I can just get Scotty out of the mix somehow.

What I'm thinking of doing within the next few weeks is buying a practical (4 cylinders, in decent condition) used car for Scotty's use, with the understanding that if he doesn't follow through on getting his GED he loses it and if he does get his diploma it's his to keep. He's been working hard toward the diploma already -- too bad the attitude change came about 4 years to late -- and I think he'd end up getting it without any extra incentive but if buying him a car gets him out of mine I'll figure it was worth it.

OK, so now we're down to two people on one car. Where to from here?

If I buy Scotty a car, I'm going to figure it's well within reason for him and my sister to work something out on days I need to go to a medical appointment. That leaves my trips to Texas about 3 times a year. Even if I call it 4 times a year it'll take between 6 and 7 years for car rental at two weeks per trip to add up to the price of a used car that would satisfy me, assuming I'm even up to making the trip by car in another 6 or 7 years.

I think I just talked myself down from spending $20K for a slightly used G6 to spending about a 10th of that for something for Scotty.

That still leaves the question of what becomes of the car I have now. I don't know of anything major wrong with it other than needing tires before long but it has enough miles on it that eventually it's going to start needing some upkeep, aside from the fact it wasn't a very fancy car even when it was new (a 4 cylinder Malibu Classic.) I've been making payments long enough I should have some equity built up but I don't know how much without making some phone calls and doing a little online research. What I'm thinking right now that I want to do, after I get Scotty in something, is have my sister start shopping around for cars she'd like to trade it in on, be it a G6 or something more to her fancy since she'll be driving it a lot more than I will. I'm sure she won't pick anything out I'd feel too bad about having to drive to Marion on occasion and if I'm going farther than that I'll plan on renting something.

Now for some sleep so I can change my mind in the morning.