Junk.

18 months ago, Brian bought my uncle's car off of him for $570.
A few months ago, the alternator went out in it. It was replaced for $120.
Yesterday, I drove it and it was the last ride that car will ever take.

In the 2 mile round trip the car and I went, it completely shut off and turned back on 1 time. It stalled out 4 times. The gas gauge went from 1/4 tank to 3/4 tank to below empty in 30 seconds.

Honestly, I don't know what is wrong with the car and I don't care. I wanted to junk it after the alternator blew but every one we spoke to told us not to do that. "What if Brian's car breaks down at work? You'll have to replace it that night!" was the biggest argument, but it is no longer a valid one.

We have enough money in savings to fix any sudden repairs we might have to make on the current car. We will save over $450 a year in not paying for insurance on the second car. I work from home. I don't go anywhere. If I go into labor while Brian's at work... well labor doesn't mean the baby is coming RIGHT now, it means I have plenty of time to call him and for him to get off work and come home. We're not ill prepared to be a one car family- again. We've survived as a one car family before. With winter coming up, I'm even less inclined to leave the house. If that's possible.

So honestly, it's time to junk it. It's getting sold to the junk yard for cash and I'm canceling the insurance policy on it. I'm ready to be done with this car. The next car we get (once we decide to get one) will be something more affordable and of course, paid for in cash. In the mean time, we can apply the extra monthly savings from insurance ($38) into our car fund and keep that stocked for those rainy day emergencies/regular car maintenance.

As frustrating as it is to be back down to a one car household, we've done this twice before so hopefully it will be less annoying this time around. In 4 years we have gone through 3 cars. Obviously we are picking the wrong ones. Ah well.

It's hard to believe this is the 3rd car we will be junking. The first happened right after Brian and I started dating. He had just paid off his car loan when something incredibly stupid happened. The support beam for the control arm rusted through and broke off. It was quoted at a $1400 repair, and Brian's original loan was less than that, so we junked it. The second car, a Mercedes, broke shortly after he got approved for the loan. We had dumped so much money into keeping it running, but it too was a money pit. We just left it to rust while we tried to pay off the loan as fast as possible. Now it's the Taurus' turn.

Sigh.

Good bye, car. Thanks for the miles.