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rcc1201 t1_j6ovbfq wrote

Do you have enough cash on hand to pay cash? Or are you looking to finance the full amount?

If you only have $1k left over, you don't have room in the budget for much. I live near you (I assume, based on your username) but make about $10k less in take home per month. I bought a new Toyota Highlander Hybrid 2 years ago right before the supply chain issues and interest rates skyrocketed, and my payment is $775/month at 0.9%. Nowadays the same car will cost $5-10k more at 5-6% interest. Add in gas, insurance and maintenance and you've already eaten up your extra $1k.

I would spend a couple months tracking your budget on exactly where the extra $8400/month is going (I know it goes quickly, probably $2-3k on groceries and eating out, $2-3k on furniture/stuff for the house, etc.) and what you are comfortable dialing back on to make a new car fit in the budget.

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ThrowawaySF__ OP t1_j6oz15v wrote

You nailed it. Those data points are very useful too. I think we would have to do financing. We have around 40k in a savings account that we could use but that's essentially our emergency fund.

Advice on the budget tracking is heard. I think that's a good idea. I'm not sure how much longer we can go without a second car but at least 2 more months of shared use isn't going to kill us. It's a huge pain to do 3 stops on certain days (daycare, parent 1, and then parent 2) but probably not as much of a pain as overspending on accident.

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