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Shazbot v2.0
May 12, 2001
CYBERBEGGING IS A GREAT WAY TO MAKE FRIENDS
I bought a used car in March 2013, and have since moved closer to reliable public transit and would like to ditch it in favour of autoshare & bikeshare programs, and taking transit to work.

I paid about $15,500 + tax, and my biweekly payments are $183 for 4 years. Insurance has risen to $225/month after moving, and I estimate that I spent about $125/month on fuel when I take both transit and my car to work depending on the day. Parking is also $80/month, and ideally I will rent the spot if I sell my car.

I currently owe $11500 on the car, and have it posted online for this price. Nobody is biting, and I've been lowering the price with no luck. I realize I need to be patient, but if it sits for another 6 months then I'm still making payments and paying parking.

A dealer has offered me $9500 best case for the car - however it's worth around what I currently owe (but nobody wants to buy it after 3 weeks of being posted online).

I've calculated that by the end of January 2015, I will have spent over $2000 on gas/insurance/parking/payments. And that is with only driving the car until Oct 31, and letting it sit over the winter. If I keep the car insured, then I will have spent closer to $3000 by that point.

So BFC - Do I sell the car for a loss now, or hold on? I would like to ditch my car as I'm currently spending approximately $850/month on it, not including maintenance or transit tokens that currently get me to/from work half the time. The price of an autoshare and transit pass works out to be about ~220/month, and this gets me 4-8 autoshare rentals a month to get to hockey & baseball etc. Since moving downtown, the car has become much less necessary. I have a plan in place to clear my 10k debt regardless of whether or not I'm paying for a car, but this will help speed things up big time.

Thanks!

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RIP Paul Walker
Feb 26, 2004

What kind of car? That sounds like a situation where taking the loss wouldn't be an awful idea...

That's an awful price range to sell a car in, IMHO. Not many people will have cash for it, and it's kind of tedious (tho far from impossible) to get a loan for a private-party purchase.

Shazbot v2.0
May 12, 2001
CYBERBEGGING IS A GREAT WAY TO MAKE FRIENDS
Car is a 2010 Mazda 3 GT-E Sedan. Manual transmission (I think hurting the resale) with just under 100,000km. Car has every option available and a few scrapes/dings which might lower the price a bit too.

RIP Paul Walker
Feb 26, 2004

Shazbot v2.0 posted:

Car is a 2010 Mazda 3 GT-E Sedan. Manual transmission (I think hurting the resale) with just under 100,000km. Car has every option available and a few scrapes/dings which might lower the price a bit too.

What's the next car payment/insurance/parking/whatever deadline? If it doesn't sell by then, I say sell it to the dealer. It's a loss, for sure, but so is keeping a car you don't want in the city. Call it a "stupid tax" and move on.

Shazbot v2.0
May 12, 2001
CYBERBEGGING IS A GREAT WAY TO MAKE FRIENDS
Payments are biweekly (one comes out tomorrow, bringing the amount owing to 11500), and insurance is taken out at the beginning of each month. Parking is paid through my rent monthly and I would ideally rent the spot out. Not spending much on gas while I primarily take transit to work, but having the car makes me tempted to drive.

Stupid tax absolutely - at the time I bought the car I had received a new job/sizeable raise, but transit wasn't an option. In the grand scheme, 2k doesn't matter and I'll feel much better being debt free even if it means giving up my sweet sweet car.

RIP Paul Walker
Feb 26, 2004

Shazbot v2.0 posted:

Payments are biweekly (one comes out tomorrow, bringing the amount owing to 11500), and insurance is taken out at the beginning of each month. Parking is paid through my rent monthly and I would ideally rent the spot out. Not spending much on gas while I primarily take transit to work, but having the car makes me tempted to drive.

Stupid tax absolutely - at the time I bought the car I had received a new job/sizeable raise, but transit wasn't an option. In the grand scheme, 2k doesn't matter and I'll feel much better being debt free even if it means giving up my sweet sweet car.

Sounds like an easy choice, then.

:byewhore:

Warmest Regards,
--Someone who has wasted tens of thousands of dollars on cars, Esq.

Walked
Apr 14, 2003

Been there, done that. If youre sure you wont need a car again, defnitely sell at a loss if it means not having that debt, insurance, etc.

Just dont fall into the trap again and end up in this situation again.

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

How bad is your driving record to pay $225 a month for insurance? That is crazy.

Good luck on selling it. Sucks to have to take a loss but oh well.

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer
My money's on younger than 25 and lives in Boston. Yeah, sell it to the dealer, take a little loss, and sleep like a baby, that's what I say.

crazyfish
Sep 19, 2002

slap me silly posted:

My money's on younger than 25 and lives in Boston. Yeah, sell it to the dealer, take a little loss, and sleep like a baby, that's what I say.

Based on the OP's posting history and quoting distances in km, I would assume Canada, particularly a very large city in Canada. $225/mo would not surprise me.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR
Apr 12, 2010



Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22

crazyfish posted:

Based on the OP's posting history and quoting distances in km, I would assume Canada, particularly a very large city in Canada. $225/mo would not surprise me.

The car he specifies is Canada-specific, I believe.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR
Apr 12, 2010



Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22

slap me silly posted:

My money's on younger than 25 and lives in Boston. Yeah, sell it to the dealer, take a little loss, and sleep like a baby, that's what I say.

Even being younger than 25, in Boston, with a more expensive car, my insurance was still only $125/mo. 225 seems absolutely insane.

Shazbot v2.0
May 12, 2001
CYBERBEGGING IS A GREAT WAY TO MAKE FRIENDS
My bad, totally forgot about this post!

I'm going to see a dealership in the city tomorrow in hopes that they'll buy my car and I won't have to take a trip to one about 150km away. I really hope that they'll give me a decent amount, around $950,0 seeing as how they've made money off me already, and will make money again when they sell it for more.

I'm in Toronto, and live downtown. My insurance went from $160 to $225 because I moved into a much more dense neighbourhood and it's right across from Canada's largest community housing block. 29 years old and I've had at fault accident at 17. I'm from Manitoba and as a result, my driving history didn't carry over. Ontario is a lovely province if you want to own a vehicle.

Juando290
Apr 22, 2007

You stopped toe curlin in the hot tub cause you heard sperms stay alive in there and you have seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles enough times to know how that story ends.
Honestly, looking at kbb, it sounds like they are doing a pretty good deal for you. Dealerships give trade value even when they are purchasing outright because the same cost is involved in terms of getting it ready to resell. It looks like they are offering close to private party. Just know that part of the reason they are giving you that info over the phone is because their ultimate goal is to try to sell you another car when you show up, and then they will pick at it when you say you are truly not interested and they will say something like "well, I was assuming that it was in truly excellent condition, but it looks like it needs new tires, and it is really close to its 100k mile services that cost $XXX.xx." Be ready for that. They will talk you down and in this situation, they have the control until you walk away, because if you are not buying a car, they can just say "not interested" at any time. Roll reversal.

Source - myself (I am a long time salesman at a honda dealership on the west coast)

EugeneJ
Feb 5, 2012

by FactsAreUseless

Juando290 posted:

Source - myself (I am a long time salesman at a honda dealership on the west coast)

Tell me something - how well are the non-Honda used cars on the lot maintained? Like if someone trades in a Toyota and you list it for sale at $6,000 - is there really a 100-point inspection done by your mechanics, or is there a chance you're just selling it as-is and it could fall apart tomorrow?

I'm turning in my leased Civic in a few months and want to buy my next car used.

Juando290
Apr 22, 2007

You stopped toe curlin in the hot tub cause you heard sperms stay alive in there and you have seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles enough times to know how that story ends.

EugeneJ posted:

Tell me something - how well are the non-Honda used cars on the lot maintained? Like if someone trades in a Toyota and you list it for sale at $6,000 - is there really a 100-point inspection done by your mechanics, or is there a chance you're just selling it as-is and it could fall apart tomorrow?

I'm turning in my leased Civic in a few months and want to buy my next car used.

I think it really depends on the dealer, but I could see that happening. I would trust getting a used car if you are going to buy from a dealership that sells that manufacturer new though, since the service techs that are doing the inspection are more familiar with the vehicles. Out dealership group has a pretty good reputation in our area, but we also put 12k drivetrain warranties on any used car under 100k miles, and service is separate from the sales, except that with used cars, the sales department is required to do the things recommended by the service department after inspection or wholesale auction the car, and service will do those inspections with a fine toothed comb (much like how when your car is under warranty they never have recommendations but suddenly at 65000 miles they are telling you every reason why your car is going to blow up without their help). They want to get paid.

Basically, check out their ratings on dealerrater.com and google reviews. Focus more on their service department reviews. no one will have perfect ratings, but if the dealer has higher than 3.5 stars with a fair amount of reviews, you should not have a lot to worry about.

Nocheez
Sep 5, 2000

Can you spare a little cheddar?
Nap Ghost

EugeneJ posted:

is there really a 100-point inspection done by your mechanics

I'd wager that these are BS. The car probably gets 90 points for being able to move under its own power, and 5 points for having seat belts.

SiGmA_X
May 3, 2004
SiGmA_X

Nocheez posted:

I'd wager that these are BS. The car probably gets 90 points for being able to move under its own power, and 5 points for having seat belts.
A number of my friends (I went to tech school and was a certified Indy tech for 4 years before changing careers) worked at Honda and Toyota dealerships. The inspections are a joke. Look for leaks, shake wheels, scan. That's about where it stops unless something is obvious.

Juando290
Apr 22, 2007

You stopped toe curlin in the hot tub cause you heard sperms stay alive in there and you have seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles enough times to know how that story ends.

SiGmA_X posted:

A number of my friends (I went to tech school and was a certified Indy tech for 4 years before changing careers) worked at Honda and Toyota dealerships. The inspections are a joke. Look for leaks, shake wheels, scan. That's about where it stops unless something is obvious.

I tend to agree in the long run. I am glad our dealer is a little different, but we are able to because it is the largest dealer group in the region. I was annoyed one time because I took a 2 year old Mercedes glk 350 with only 16k miles on it and it did not pass inspection. A competitor bought it at auction and did just that, sold it, and I saw it broken down on the highway a week after that.

Part of it, is the owner of the warranty underwriter also happens to be the owner of our dealer group, and he obviously does not want to pay on those 12 month 12k mile warranties, so they are pretty anal about those inspections. At any given time we have about 1000 used cars, and in the past 4 years I have only had one customer come back after the purchase due to any mechanical issue.

Juando290
Apr 22, 2007

You stopped toe curlin in the hot tub cause you heard sperms stay alive in there and you have seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles enough times to know how that story ends.
So? What did you end up doing?

Shazbot v2.0
May 12, 2001
CYBERBEGGING IS A GREAT WAY TO MAKE FRIENDS
And I forgot again!

I ended up selling the car in late November for just under $9000. The initial deal was for $9k, but then as you predicted, they told me that they had to machine the wheels, and fix a couple other things that even I didn't notice. I countered their offer and we were good to go, but part of me wants to drive out there to see if they really did machine the wheels.

The car went up for sale for $13,999 which was only about 500 less than I paid for it, and at a higher interest rate. It's down to $12,999 now and I'm still happy I got rid of it. I'd say I'm about even now for the loss I took, and I don't regret selling it at all.

SiGmA_X
May 3, 2004
SiGmA_X
Machine the rotors you mean, probably?

Shazbot v2.0
May 12, 2001
CYBERBEGGING IS A GREAT WAY TO MAKE FRIENDS
Nope, the wheels had some curb rash and they wanted it fixed before they sold the car. Most of the damage was there when I bought the car and I know I didn't care too much.

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FrozenVent
May 1, 2009

The Boeing 737-200QC is the undisputed workhorse of the skies.
For what it's worth, the price the dealer is posting the car for isn't what they expect to sell it for because they'll give the buyer "a deal" since they're such a nice guy or whatever, hopefully the manager will go along with it, jeez don't pass on this deal they don't come around often like that.

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