What to do (car troubles)?? - Page 2

[Herausgeber]

Originally Posted by skueppers

Because if the money is in a savings account somewhere, you can still spend it throughout the year when you come up with "emergencies" which require it. If the government is holding onto it, you're guaranteed to get a lump sum once a year, which a lot of families seem to find very helpful.

Plus it makes filling out your tax returns something to look forward to, rather than a horrible chore that might cause you to suddenly owe the government $1000 that you don't have.

Personally, I try to organize my taxes in such a way that I receive a small refund back, rather than owing money. I know the smartest thing financially is to set it up so I'd owe them money, but I hate having to dig into my savings to pay the tax bill, so I err on the side of caution.

Well, this is actually what you are supposed to do. I'm talking more about the situations in which people get refunds of thousands of dollars a year. This is just a sore spot with me, since I watch my sister get $5,000-plus refunds each year and turn around and dump it all toward the credit card debt she accumulates paying for necessities throughout the year. She just gets worse off every year, but she just loves getting that magical refund, like it's free money or something and not what she's worked hard to earn all year long.

[Stayseeliz]

About the taxes issue, we usually get a big tax return. Several thousand dollars a year. A lot of it is EIC since DH makes an okay salary but not great. We want to make sure we're not going to have to pay but we'd like to get more back during the year since we do struggle. If DH is claiming 4 (the number we now have in our family) what would we do? Change it to smaller number that he'd claim? Any suggestions? Thanks!

[skueppers]

Originally Posted by Stayseeliz

About the taxes issue, we usually get a big tax return. Several thousand dollars a year. A lot of it is EIC since DH makes an okay salary but not great. We want to make sure we're not going to have to pay but we'd like to get more back during the year since we do struggle. If DH is claiming 4 (the number we now have in our family) what would we do? Change it to smaller number that he'd claim? Any suggestions? Thanks!

The IRS has a calculator on-line that you can use for this:

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/artic...=96196,00.html

Also, take a look at IRS form W-5, which you can use to determine if you are eligible to get the IEC in advance, and if so, to request that it happen.

[kijip]

Originally Posted by Herausgeber

If it's a discipline issue, why not just have the money taken out of your check automatically by direct deposit? I dunno, I guess I just don't see the benefit, especially if you are paying on high interest debt. It can be incredibly damaging to your networth in the long run.

And most tax credits can be accounted for as well. I know I account for the child tax credit when estimating my own taxes. And EITC is refundable in your paycheck. Honestly, I wish they would make it the default for low income workers to take the EITC in their checks.

Only part of the EITC can be taken in advance on your paycheck. When I got advance EITC (years ago, when my brother was legally my foster child), I still got a refund, even though I paid no taxes throughout the year and got advance EITC.

[Mama Dragon]

EITC is magical - it's a miracle the government keeps giving it! It is free money as far as I'm concerned.

I don't want A-EITC - that just an extra 200 or whatever a month for us to blow on crap. I much prefer one big check. (I've done the advance, and it did just get wasted. The more money we have each month, the more we feel we need)

[Stayseeliz]

Originally Posted by Synthea™

EITC is magical - it's a miracle the government keeps giving it! It is free money as far as I'm concerned.

I don't want A-EITC - that just an extra 200 or whatever a month for us to blow on crap. I much prefer one big check. (I've done the advance, and it did just get wasted. The more money we have each month, the more we feel we need)

That's what I'm afraid of!!!

[oneKnight]

On the car troubles:
If you've been driving around with a busted radiator it does have a good chance that the "heads" are cracked from overheating. Which might be what youre mechanic was trying to say. THAT will cost around 2k to fix if you do the work yourself - I know personally because that was the condition my truck was in when my grandpa bought it for me.

Rebuilding it was a learning process for me though, and in the end we didn't pay any more money than the "value" of the truck (a little over $2k). If the heads are cracked (and they might not be) and if you can't do the work yourself I would recomend selling it to someone else. Unfortunately you won't get much for it in that condition.

If you haven't actually overheated the Kia then it's possible that it will be ok with just a radiator replacement. That sure does sound like an awfully high price to my do-it-yourself ears. I guess it's for labor because of taking off the fan.

[Sharlla]

Originally Posted by Stayseeliz

Right now it needs a new radidiator. !

Are you sure? There are stop leak products that actually work. I actually had a cracked head last summer and used it and that fixed the problem been driveing the car ever since with no overheating issues at all.

[Sharlla]

Originally Posted by Herausgeber

Not car related, but something I think is important nonetheless: STOP getting a tax return. If you are getting money back every year, you're overpaying. Adjust your withholding to keep that money in your paycheck now. This is always a good idea, but it's especially so if you are in any sort of consumer debt. Why let the government keep your money all year without paying you interest while you pay out interest on your car loan?

I don't mind lending my money to the government.

[aggie11381]

If you're doing the Dave Ramsey plan like me, you know the drill. Never finance a car! Spend the $500 on the repair or buy another $500-$1000 used car with your emergency fund. Take that payment you would be making on the car to rebuild your emergeny fund and then put it toward saving for a newer car for when the Kia dies. If you do have to scrap the car, be sure to grab any valuable parts for Ebay (headlights, floormats, etc).

Also if you guys are handy, some repairs are actually not too difficult. My husband self taught himself on our old cars using Haynes manuals and the internet. If anything, it keeps you from getting swindled when you can "talk the talk".

[oneKnight]

Originally Posted by Sharlla

...I actually had a cracked head last summer and used it and that fixed the problem been driveing the car ever since with no overheating issues at all.

I think you mean a cracked radiator or some crack in the water pump system, not cracked heads. The heads are part of the motor on top of the pistons, and if they are cracked it will run but not pull very well - it loses compression.

If you do have to scrap the car, be sure to grab any valuable parts for Ebay (headlights, floormats, etc)

Or sell it "as is" in the paper, Or you could sell it to U-Pull-It/some car junkyard coz they will pay for cars. I think selling car parts on ebay would be a total PITA, but that's my opinion.

[Stayseeliz]

We're still waiting to hear. I'm about the call them..This is ridiculous..The Kia did overheat BIG time two weeks ago. We had to have it towed because stuff was gushing everywhere. Not fun..

We were offered a car for free yesterday but it needs new tires, brakes and of course we'd have to pay for the tags, etc. So it would be about $400 minimum which it was the Kia supposedly will cost to fix. We're going to wait until we hear back from the mechanic and go from there!! This it taking forever!!

[xmysticprincessx]

Originally Posted by Stayseeliz

We're still waiting to hear. I'm about the call them..This is ridiculous..The Kia did overheat BIG time two weeks ago. We had to have it towed because stuff was gushing everywhere. Not fun..

We were offered a car for free yesterday but it needs new tires, brakes and of course we'd have to pay for the tags, etc. So it would be about $400 minimum which it was the Kia supposedly will cost to fix. We're going to wait until we hear back from the mechanic and go from there!! This it taking forever!!

how old is the kia? how many miles? how about the age and mileage of the potential free car? who would this free car be coming from?

[Mama Dragon]

Originally Posted by Stayseeliz

We're still waiting to hear. I'm about the call them..This is ridiculous..The Kia did overheat BIG time two weeks ago. We had to have it towed because stuff was gushing everywhere. Not fun..

We were offered a car for free yesterday but it needs new tires, brakes and of course we'd have to pay for the tags, etc. So it would be about $400 minimum which it was the Kia supposedly will cost to fix. We're going to wait until we hear back from the mechanic and go from there!! This it taking forever!!

has anyone checked the thermostat?

[Stayseeliz]

Originally Posted by xmysticprincessx

how old is the kia? how many miles? how about the age and mileage of the potential free car? who would this free car be coming from?

We're getting the radiator replaced and the heat gasket. It's going to be around $300 plus the towing bill. The mechanic suggested that if we don't want the car anymore to clean it up and sell it and we should be able to get between $1000-1500 for it. We're thinking about doing this. We're probably going to have the other car checked out to see if it's as good a condition as we think it is.

The Kia is a 96. Under 100k miles. The other car is a late 90s either Mercury Cougar or Ford Thunderbird. Around 50k miles. It's coming from DH's great aunt. She basically drove it back and forth to work (in the same town) and that's it. We are going to have it checked out though. If this car ends up being a better car than the Kia we're definetly going to sell the Kia and pay to have the tires and brakes fixed on the other car. We'll come out ahead this way.

[mamimapster]

Originally Posted by Stayseeliz

The Kia is a 96. Under 100k miles. The other car is a late 90s either Mercury Cougar or Ford Thunderbird. Around 50k miles. It's coming from DH's great aunt. She basically drove it back and forth to work (in the same town) and that's it. We are going to have it checked out though. If this car ends up being a better car than the Kia we're definetly going to sell the Kia and pay to have the tires and brakes fixed on the other car. We'll come out ahead this way.

One thing to be aware of- if gas is as high by you as it is by me (3.50 gal and climbing) You might want to make sure the mercury gets remotely close gas milage to the kia- we have a mercury sable wagon and a geo prizm (totota knockoff)- our geo gets almost double the gas milage that the mercury does- our geo is about 25-30 per week to fill, and our mercury about 50.00 per week to fill- this adds up quick! We use the Geo wherever we can and only use the Mercury for larger groups or when we both have to be somewhere at the same time( it seats 7 people).