Bad things that happen aren't always necessarily bad - depends how you look at it!

So folks, our car is ka-put. We have had mostly problems with it since we bought it. As a back-track, when we bought the car we loved the Matrix as a car, but this particular one has/had to many extra options that deterred from it being a good family car. Logan was a month or two old when we bought it so Michael is the one who test drove it and he of course being a guy loved it - not seeing what a girl may/may not see as being a problem (especially with a baby). Anyways, Michael and I have this problem of spur of the moment, or impulse if you will, purchases. And it's usually the -big- stuff that we do it! So it was a joint partnership mistake on Michael and my part purchasing this car without doing more checks into it mechanically, and having us both a part of the test-drive, etc. (I say this because I have harbored alot of negative feelings towards my husband over this car, but I have recently decided that frankly, a relationship is a two-way street and if i'm going to play the blame game, our relationship will not only worsen, but other issues will come of that. It's hard but i'm working very hard on accepting this as a joint effort mistake).

Anyways, we've had the car for 18 months, and we bought it for $12,000. (side note, it hasn't been -awful- the whole time, just ever so often issues creep up, or reminders of certain things pop up too). I took it into the mechanics this week and they did a compression test, and long story short, two of the four cylanders are almost completely shot. We've been trying to sell the car because we have come to the decision of purchasing a van. Last weekend we were into the Dodge dealership and they actually offered us $5000 for the car, and $8500 for our truck as trade in towards a used 2010 but the problem is we would have had to still get a loan for $10,000 and Michael and I have decided we do not want to go into debt for another vehicle at this time. We had thought if the difference was less than $5000 we would consider it, but it wasn't and we walked away (as pointed out earlier, this is a big step for us).

Three days ago, Michael's dad called and said that his brother (michael's uncle) is selling their van (the van we want - the dodge grande caravan - 2004) for $2500 because he bought a new one. It's so 'cheap' as it has 230,000kms on it. I was humming and hawing over it because of the high kms. But I was also thinking that it would be a good (and affordable) way to see if we truly -like- the gr.caravans (as that is the hardest part of a vehicle purchase, a test drive really doesn't do it justice).

Okay, so per my title, how is my car cratering a positive? Well, we have decided to put our car in the Michener Allen auction, and hope for the best. As far as appearance goes our car is one good looking car. It has a lot of extras, and frankly if someone bought it for 2-4000 bucks, went to the wreckers and stuck a new engine in it for 1500-2000, for a good price they have a really good car in the end. But we'll take our chances at the auction as they are 'as is', the end goal getting a take home of at least 2500 to pay for the van.

More positive: Michael has recently purchased a new-to-him truck for $500 bucks. Yup, it's a 1987 with like 150,000 kms on it lol, and we know where it's coming from, so we know the original owner. It's in pretty good condition. Michael wants it primarily to do some off-roading in, and it will be his 5 minutes commute truck. Thus, we'll have the van in place of the car, and his new-to-him truck, so we'll actually sell our 2004 Dodge Dakota. If all goes well we'll be able to sell it for about $10,000 and voila! We have our house down payment nearly saved! (of course it doesn't hurt to save more than the minimum, but you have to have the minimum before you can do much else lol). The deal is Michael will keep out about $1000 to put some 'extras' into his new truck and the rest will be popped into our ING savings accout.

Anyways, I am very sad about the loss on our car, but frankly, that's life and if I were to dwell on it I wouldn't be any further ahead in life. But I am excited that these 'deals' have come up as far as replacement vehicles goes, and when the time comes that we buy a newer van, or a newer vehicle a few years down the road, if we have to finance one at that point, i'd much rather finance a car-loan and have a house downpayment, then have no house dp and a new vehicle.

So here's to hoping things work out for the best! :)