Car or debt?

[Staysea]

I have a car that is paid off. It is getting old and has a lot of miles on it. I'm afraid it might die if we continue to use it like we have been ( Driving 20 min to and from work everyday, going to visit family a few times a year,) and it would be really nice to have two cars. Dh is deployed, and we would really like to buy a new car when he returns. I have been agressively paying down our debt while he is getting extra deployment money. By the time he returns the only debt that I should have is mine and his student loans and hopefully we might even have mine paid off. Dh is supposed to be getting a bonus in a couple months. We were thinking of using this as a down payment on a car, and then agressivly paying off the balance. We will probably be putting at least half down. Is this a bad idea? I'm afraid that if we don't do this and I put all the money on the debt then we'll be left with nothing and end up going into even more debt if the car dies. I initially wanted a used car, but I found a small SUV that just came out this year that gets excellent gas milage for not a whole lot more than we would probably spend on a used car. We're trying to start a family and our car now is not a family car at all, so we'e trying to be prepared. Should I really use that money to pay off Dh's student loans, even though it would put us in a bind if our car died?

[wannabedebtfree]

Personally, I would avoid a car payment if at all possible. Maybe you could save $ now so you can pay cash for a car later. Save the bonus and add to it so WHEN the time comes (not IF), you have the money saved and can pay cash and have no more new debt. Good luck, whatever you decide.

Shandra

[Marie78]

I would save the money, I wouldn't put it towards the student loans but save it for when you absolutely need to make a car purchase. Maybe put it in a short term CD to earn more interest then sitting in your savings account. That way when you do need it for the car purchase, it will still be there and it will have earned interest for you to apply towards the new car too.

[Samigirl]

I too, would save it and use the money to buy another car when yours actually dies. Maybe your car will last longer than you think.