Congrats Yelnad, it really is a good feeling to finally get your car paid off! And getting it paid off that early, you should be able to get several years out of it before the old age problems start to creep up.
Me, I've only had three cars in my life that I made payments on, but the frist two don't really count. Back in 1994 I found this '67 Catalina convertible I just had to have, and took out a secured loan through the bank to pay for it. Basically, I just secured a CD or savings account or something like that, and then had to make monthly payments at an interest rate 3% higher than what the CD had. I thought it was a good idea at the time. That way I'd have the car and the money, but after about 3 months I got tired of it, and just paid it off.
In 1998 I bought an '89 Gran Fury that had been a copcar, from a place that specialized in refurbishing retired police cruisers. It was actually a fun car, but fuel economy was a sore spot!
Anyway, my credit was kinda shaky at that point, from still recovering from a divorce. I was just about finished with my CCCS payments though (finished about 3 months later) and had some money saved up, so I just did another secured loan through the credit union. But again, after a few months, I just paid it off. Dunno why I didn't just do that in the first place, but again that idea of having the money AND the car appealed to me.
In 1999 I bought a 2000 Intrepid. 5 year term. I would've tried to pay it off early, but they were offering 0.9% by that time so it just didn't make sense. I was really proud of myself too, having made the final CCCS payment in November 1998, and just one year later being able to get the best financing Chrysler was offering. Made the final payment in November 2003. And now February marks my 15th month without a car payment! And contrary to popular belief, the Dodge has been a good, reliable car. It would've been a real pisser if the transmission failed or the engine sludged up right after I made the last payment.
Or even worse, WHILE I was still making payments! I knew a guy who bought a used '94 Ford Probe and financed it for 5 years. The first transmission went out under warranty, but transmission #2 went, out of warranty, at around 86,000 miles! And he still owed about 18 months of payments! He couldn't afford the $2500 for a new tranny so he just let it sit at his parents' place until it was paid off and he had the money scraped together. Somehow though, in the interim, he was able to score a '94 or so Acura Integra.
