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My new to me car

May 27th, 2012 at 01:07 pm

I posted a while back about my aunt and uncle gifting me a car. They delivered the car a couple of weeks ago. They ended up selling the car to me for one dollar. I guess to properly transfer the title, and remove the car from their insurance, it needed to be sold.

When I took the title into the Secretary of State office, I had to state fair market value, so the state could get their share of sales tax. I had no idea what FMV was, so I said $2,000? The guy behind the desk was nice enough to tell me that was probably a bit high for a 1997 Mazda with 200,000+ miles. We settled on $1,500. I just checked kbb.com, and it turns out that that car may be worth as much as $2,036. It's in good condition. Turns out I was closer than the guy behind the desk, and he saved me $30 in sales tax.

So the car is legal now. Have I mentioned the it has an automatic transmission? Learned to drive on a stick shift, so not a problem with me. DW, however didn't know how to drive a stick. Until yesterday. She needed to drive the car, and I needed to teach her. If you were Facebook friends with both me and DW, you could see our respective sides of the story of me teaching her to drive the stick. Let's just say it was entertaining.

I'm keeping my old car. It's a 1993 Chevy Lumina with 140,000+ miles. If the Mazda craps out, I'll have a back-up. Plus my sister drives a POS, so she can have the Lumina if she needs it.

Posted in Personal Finance | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “My new to me car”

  1. SicilyYoder Says:
    May 27th, 2012 at 05:46 pm 1338140784
    1338140784

    I have to laugh, because I can't drive a stick. When I had interviewed to do a Hostess bread route, the interviewer really liked me. I had helped my step-granny at the Butternut bread store that she worked in, so I had experience. When he got to the part that I would have to drive a stick, I was in sure horror, as I had no idea. I had pictured myself in the middle of New Circle Road, with traffic all around me beeping their horns. I didn't get the job.

  2. snafu Says:
    May 27th, 2012 at 08:26 pm 1338150383
    1338150383

    What type auto insurance did you chose ? Did you get a two car discount? If you carry house insurance with the same company you likely get a major discount on all three.

  3. Jerry Says:
    May 28th, 2012 at 01:36 pm 1338212219
    1338212219

    I agree with snafu, it could probably lead to a decent two-car insurance discount even if one isn't being driven very much. (I have always been annoyed at having to insure a car that isn't being driven, but it makes sense... just in case.)
    Jerry

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