My car's title arrived from the finance company. When I purchased it, the Toyota Finance gave me a preferred customer deal, 39 months, interest rate just a few percent. Each month they debited about $460 from my checking account, sending me a notice that they did that. I never kept track of the number of remaining payments until the final two. Now the car is mine.
It's been a reliable car. 26K miles at purchase, the title says, about 30K added to that while under lien. One collision in a parking lot, covered by insurance, not jeopardizing anything beyond the exterior metal. No big repairs. Replaced tires at a reasonably anticipated mileage. One windshield repair.
The car enabled two road trips to places I've not been previously: Mammoth Cave when it still had the temporary dealer plates. More recently, the car completed a longer multiday drive to Tennessee and back. Most of the mileage came locally.
Starting next month, those monthly deductions, totaling about $5K each year of post-tax money, will no longer take place. I didn't miss the money as it got debited each month, probably not likely to reallocate it to a different expenditure now that it stays in my checking account. It is silent money in both directions. Yet I can now anticipate another significant spendable resource. Some travel, maybe. And not necessarily by the car that I now own outright. My car creates mobility, even freedom. So does an accumulation of what is best assigned as discretionary money. Get ahead money. Enjoy myself money.
