Now have 2 vehicles after death of daughter

General Discussion
1
Here's my situation. My daughter recently died unexpectedly, leaving me with the vehicle she drove.
I need advice on what I should do with:
1. A 2005 Nissian Altima 2.5S 4 cyl. with 41,584 miles; is paid for; has 3-month-old michelin tires.
2. A 2006 Hyundai Tucson GLS V6 4WD with 52,477 miles; have about 2,500 (also in my name); I'm the second owner; payoff of loan is $2,500;
Tires need replacing.
I was wondering if I should trade both of them in to buy a new Honda Civic hybrid, or sell one of them. I don't want the hassle of selling it myself.
or am open to other suggestions.


2

You could sell one of them to a dealer. We sold a minivan to CarMax and got a great price for it. Take it to a few dealers and get offers. Both have low mileage and should be attractive to a dealer for their used car lot. Check the trade-in value for the one you want to sell at Edmunds.com. BTW, this is like a trade-in, but you don’t buy a car.

3

I’m so sorry for your loss. As for the cars, if you don’t need the room in the Tucson, I’d sell it and keep the Altima. Unless you drive lots of miles you won’t save money getting the Civic. Of course, if you’d be buing a new car now anyway, that’s different, the Civic Hybrid’s good, but you also might look at the Civic HF, high mpgs with less cost.

4

Also sorry for your loss. You would own the Altima free and clear. With new tires it should be a good car with not too much in maintenance and repairs for the next couple of years. Selling the Tucson means no more loan payments and should give you some money to put away for whatever, or pay off bills and debts.

I don’t see that the Civic Hybrid will give you that much better MPG over a 4 cyl. Altima. I’d drive the Altima for a few years and consider a hybrid as a replacement for the Altima down the road. Save some money from the sale of the Tucson and with a trade in you’ll have a good down payment on another car. For now the Altima should be good, and it gets way better MPG than the Tucson.

5

I like the advice about selling the Tucson. Sounds like the practical thing to do. thank you.

6

lelairene, how are you doing? I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but your loss is my own worst nightmare. I hope to live a long time and die before any of my children do. Yes, we’re a car forum, but we’re people first. If you need any other support, you can count on us to be pals. If you have a great support group already, that’s great. We’re here if you need us.