I'd say something about gray linings to silver clouds (the other renewals), but one less source of debt is one less source of debt, and that's always a good thing.

hoorah?

Always nice to get out from under a car payment.

Hooray....

Congrats!

Well, nice to have something large you can lean a loan on, I suppose!

Now for the real trick:

Keep making the "car payments" but to yourself. Save that money up, earn instead of pay interest, and before you know it you'll have accumulated enough to buy the inevitable replacement -- for cash.

^This

^That! =^.^=

Excellent advice, if I didn't have other large debts to pay off first.

No reason you can't work at both. (Dave Ramsey favors the "snowball" effect of paying off the smallest -- not the highest interest -- first, rolling the extra "minimum payments" into paying off the next. But he also advocates putting aside a basic emergency fund first. There's nothing worse than having an unplanned but predictable expense come along and not have the money for it.)

Me? I figured out how much it would cost to replace all the things I want to keep and how long they're supposed to last, turning that into a monthly dollar amount of how much I need to be setting aside for such things. But then I never let myself get into the "consumer debt" habit. And haven't had any big financial crisis, knock on wood.

Good to hear.

Now you can shuffle that money you aren't spending anymore to other things.

So you have to have two forms of insurance for your car in Australia? Here in the US, you only need liability insurance once your car is paid off (basically the lowest insurance coverage allowed by the state).

Either way, I get my truck paid off in a year. I'll use that extra money to pay off some bills, then save some up to buy land and build a house. I'm not worried about my truck, its a Ford, so its really reliable.

CTP is equivalent to the liability insurance, and is paid to the state. Money is paid out from that by the TAC (Transport Accident Commission). All other forms of insurance for the car are optional, but I choose to ensure my for its current book value.

Now just take good care of it! I paid mine off and promptly crashed it. ;P

Believe me, I intend to make this car last for a long time! I'm getting a bit more careful now that I can't afford to replace it!

I'd hoped to run my last car into the ground, but sadly, I failed. :P Maybe this time I'll be luckier.

YAY!!!!! =D You have gotta be happy about that. I can't wait for Dec to roll around, since that's when I make my last payment on my 04 (bought it used) Ford Ranger. Still debating whether to keep the stock truck bed, or get an Aussie ute box put on.

It's a great feeling making that final payment and now freeing up that much more to take care of those pesky bills that have been hanging around for too long.

A Holden Commodore? Don't go spending too much of the freed up cash on upgrading the gun turrets.

i'll buy more of your books from amazon to help with the payments goldie lol

Congrats Goldie!

woot! Holden is a down-under "Chevy"?


=^.^=

Actually it's pretty much the other way around. We export the Commodore to the States!

Well congratulations on finally getting the Commodore paid for. I hope you two will enjoy many long, happy miles together.

Hey good for you!

I'm holding onto my 1979 Toyota 4x4 pickup it's old but it's paid for and owes me nothing after 25 years of use. I can also work on it and keep it going with out a computer.

I know how it feels. I have only ever owned a car that I had to make payments on. I can combine the total amount of 8 other vehicles I have owned since 1995 and they still wouldn't cost as much as the $6,300 USD toolbox I bought to use at work.