A testimony from Jen
We’ve been married for 8 ½ years and have two children. In early 2010, just a year after the birth of our second child, my husband and I decided that it was time to sell his 14-year-old truck and buy a larger truck or SUV that would fit our growing family. We had been driving two cars everywhere we went because we couldn’t all fit into just one of our vehicles.
Having taken Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University in the past, we committed not to finance vehicles, so we knew this was going to be a cash deal. It was time to sell the truck, and just hours after listing it online we had an offer. We took it and three days later we had a large wad of cash for our next vehicle!
We set our budget for buying a new truck and began searching. Two months later we found a Suburban that was within our budget and fit all of our needs. So we bought it — with cash!
A month after the purchase the our new-to-us automobile, the suburban’s engine blew. We were out. Out our truck and out our cash.
Not only that, but it was going to cost more to fix the problem than we paid for the vehicle! We had been scammed and I was mad; the kind of mad where steam comes out of your ears.
I got over myself, and we decided to cut our losses. We picked ourselves up, decided to sell the suburban “as is”, tuck the money away and start saving again for another vehicle.
Once again, we set a budget and decided when we reached that amount we would start looking. This time though, we decided that as we were looking we would continue to save. This way, the longer it took to find another truck, the more we’d have to spend. We began putting money away from each paycheck.
Fast forward eight months to January 2011 and we had reached our goal. It was time to start looking for a vehicle, but this time we knew we did not want to make a private party purchase. We were determined to buy from a dealership.
The search began and on February 12, 2011, we paid cash for a 1999 Chevy Tahoe! The dealer even sweetened the deal by including a three-month warranty because we were paying in cash! As you can see, it’s a beautiful truck, and we now have peace of mind about our purchase because we have a warranty.
The best part about our purchase was we were able to negotiate the price and walked away from the sale with $600 of our budgeted money leftover in our pockets! We were able to put the extra money back into savings for future vehicle needs.
Jen Lowman is a stay-at-home, homeschooling mother of two and lover of the Lord Jesus Christ! Her husband Chris is a wonderful man who also loves the Lord and works very hard to support and provide for his family!
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