<prompt> Human: I have a vehicle that perfectly suits my lifestyle that I bought new, financed a chunk of at 1.9 4 years ago. Ive applied extra money to payments over that time so its nearly paid off. The car has 65k miles on it and according to Kelly Blue Book and what Im seeing for online sales, I have about 17k equity if thats even the right phrase for a vehicle. Basically, I could likely get that amount for trading it in. I have been considering purchasing the same car, newer model year for about 29K. This would keep my payments about the same and I would be paying that amount each month for a new car instead of the one I have. Am I off base for thinking this is a reasonable approach? If it were an older car with less trade in value, I probably wouldnt consider it. Any thoughts greatly appreciated. OTHER FACTORS: I can make the payment each month and still pay all of my bills and put several hundred into savings; my husband does the same. We will likely start our family soon if thats any consideration... thinking I dont want to be dealing with vehicle repair bills once I have a kid?  <response>: Keep on driving the car, and after you pay it off, continue making a car payment to yourself. That way, when your current car starts giving you maintenance problems, you should have almost enough cash to buy a new one. Now that youve taken the hit on the depreciation, its silly to do it all over again with another brand new car. 