In these uncertain times, buying a new car is probably not advised, however we have been saving for a long time and planning for a long time. It just so happened to take place during a recession.

I have had my old car for 15 years and while it was running fine, I knew a little while ago that I would want something smaller and had my eye on a Volkswagen Golf, and a specific model at that, with certain requirements.

It turned out that the things I wanted were going to only be put into cars at the very top of the range from 2018 onwards and we did not see the need to spend that much money. Therefore we decided to get the model we wanted at the price we wanted.

The car I got is a 2016 model and it is a little hatch with a slightly larger engine size and is very zippy! It drives like a dream and has all of the mod cons which I am finding exciting to have. (Of course as I keep my cars for around 15 years they won't be mod cons for long!!)

We paid $7000 cash and had to get a loan for the remaining $20000. Because I got the renovations loan last year I could not get the loan in my name so we had to get it in B's name. Oh, the headaches involved in getting that loan!!

It took 3 weeks to get the loan, because we decided to get a secured loan. The secured loan interest rate was much lower however if we knew of all of the requirements for information and the fact that the bank dictates what you can buy with the money, we never would have opted for a secured loan. It was an absolute nightmare. I thought getting a secured loan was like years ago when I got one and you basically got the loan, and provided the car registration certificate and they listed it against the contract, but no this was not the case at all.

We were very lucky that the seller of the car was not in a hurry to sell and could see that I really wanted it so was happy to wait.

The loan is for 5 years and repayments are $428 per month. We were already saving $270 each month so this is a bit higher but not too bad for us.

We also sold my old car straight away because B simply mentioned we were selling it to someone he works with and they instantly said they will buy it because they want a safe car for their daughter and they know how well we treat cars. In fact, we dropped the car off the day before our second lockdown.

I am so so so happy with the car though!!! Now that the dust has settled, and I have got over the very busy few weeks this process has involved, I am enjoying it so much and am so happy!!!

We tinted the windows and I am hoping to get some nice wheels for it if there is enough received from my tax return. It looks gorgeous.