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I would really appreciate some input as well. I own a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am (SE) that I've now had for 11 years. It has 109,000 miles on it and the only "major" thing that has gone wrong with it (so far) has been a cracked vacuum hose. I am militant about taking it in for oil changes and I've kept every record of every type of service done to it, ever. However, I'm always worried that something else will go wrong and it'll cost too much to fix it. It was in a low-speed rear-end collision about a year ago, which cost the other driver $2000 just to replace the plastic bumper cover. There wasn't even any serious damage, just some paint scuffing and a small crack at the corner. It's also the only car between my husband and myself, so if anything does go wrong, we are both in trouble. And we're in northern Wisconsin, where winter is notoriously hard on everything, especially cars. Consequently, he's anxious to replace it with a new car. Newer cars have better safety features, better fuel economy, and shinier gadgets, but I've never had a car payment. The idea honestly terrifies me. I don't even know where to begin with car financing, and we don't have more than $5000 to put down for a car right now. I'm also irrationally attached to this car (my first and only car), and I don't know which would make me freak out more: trading it in, or seeing it hauled away to a junkyard. Does anyone have any advice? Is the Grand Am likely to go at any moment, or am I being paranoid? If you had only one car to share between two people, how would you decide when "it's time"? If you were in the same position, would you just go for a new car?
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Apr 22, 2011 02:27
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Does anyone have any advice for me? I am a 21 year old white male who is about to get his license. I don't have any parents or anyone whose insurance plan I can sign up under. How bad am I going to get assraped on insurance? Is anyone even going to want to insure me? What can I do to lessen the blow?
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Apr 22, 2011 03:15
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Before you buy any cars, make sure you check how much it's going to cost to insure it when calculating running costs. Ya it might be a little expensive, but if you're just getting minimum coverage it shouldn't cost too much. I paid my own insurance when I was 18, only had my license for a year at that point and was paying $60/month for insurance (in BFE midwest though). It's gonna depend on where you live. Make sure you shop around.
Russian Bear fucked around with this message at 09:39 on Apr 22, 2011 |
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Apr 22, 2011 09:37
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LoreOfSerpents posted:Does anyone have any advice? Is the Grand Am likely to go at any moment, or am I being paranoid? If you had only one car to share between two people, how would you decide when "it's time"? If you were in the same position, would you just go for a new car? If I were in your shoes I'd find the best $5000 car I could and be prepared for the Grand Am to give up the ghost. Then, you won't be searching for a car at the last minute and end up with something even worse. You didn't really give a picture of your finances, so it's hard to give good advice. I'm going to assume that since you've had this car for a long time and can only afford $5,000 up front that a used car would be a much better use of your money. Nocheez fucked around with this message at 14:11 on Apr 22, 2011 |
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Apr 22, 2011 14:08
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Fixed Gear Guy posted:Does anyone have any advice for me? I am a 21 year old white male who is about to get his license. I don't have any parents or anyone whose insurance plan I can sign up under. How bad am I going to get assraped on insurance? Is anyone even going to want to insure me? What can I do to lessen the blow? Call an insurance agent, tell them the car you plan on driving and they will tell you the cost of insurance. Some will even do this online. Cost is very location specific.
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Apr 22, 2011 16:05
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LoreOfSerpents posted:I would really appreciate some input as well. If its running well i would not worry about it. Assuming its maintained and running well then the expensive stuff thats going to break is stuff you can ignore till you find another car, stuff like the a/c. For now id just worry about building up a good emergency fund so when the time does come you guys arn't scrambling to come up with money to replace it. Right now though you are driving a car that only costs gas and maintenance. Thats way cheaper than a car payment.
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Apr 22, 2011 16:40
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Thanks for the feedback so far.  My concern is that I've never heard of Grand Ams being reliable, long-lasting cars, the way people think of a Camry. I think CornHolio even said in his "Help me budget" thread that a Grand Am with the best of care will still fall apart at 100k. When my car passed 100k miles, I was seriously expecting the engine to explode or something. Is that unjustified? Can I really expect the Grand Am to last another 70k+ miles? For clarification, if we were to get a new car, it would replace the Grand Am. We don't need two cars. Nocheez posted:If I were in your shoes I'd find the best $5000 car I could and be prepared for the Grand Am to give up the ghost. Then, you won't be searching for a car at the last minute and end up with something even worse.  $6k), or anything else along those lines, which we could do if it was an actual emergency and still not have to touch retirement savings. But with a car that's currently running normally, I flatly refuse to dip into any money that we've allocated for other things. We both work full-time and we have a small house with modest bills, such that either of our salaries would still more than cover all of our bills if one of us lost our job. That said, I don't want to be buying a car when I need to, which is exactly where I'll be if the Grand Am gives up. Don Lapre posted:If its running well i would not worry about it. Assuming its maintained and running well then the expensive stuff thats going to break is stuff you can ignore till you find another car, stuff like the a/c. For now id just worry about building up a good emergency fund so when the time does come you guys arn't scrambling to come up with money to replace it. Right now though you are driving a car that only costs gas and maintenance. Thats way cheaper than a car payment.
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Apr 22, 2011 17:13
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The conventional wisdom is major stuff (engine, trans) are more susceptible to failure after 100k but I don't think that's really true (generally). It's true that given how old the car is and wear and tear, bigger things than oil changes and brakes do start happening (shocks, suspension). However, that's still typically less than an auto payment. It's also true that the average American replaces their car at about 100k. I would start making imaginary car payments to a car fund now. That way, you've already made the necessary budget adjustments and adapted to having less money but you're growing the car fund for when the Grand Am gives up the ghost.
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Apr 22, 2011 17:30
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LoreOfSerpents posted:We just had the A/C looked at last summer because it wasn't blowing cold air, but I think all they did was refill the coolant. It has been working fine since then. The brakes were completely replaced around 3 years ago, and new tires were put on 1.5 years ago. Are there other things that I should be expecting to come up? You need to change your brake fluid regularly, 30-60k miles. Change your coolant every 60k miles, change your oil by the manufacturers recommendation. If you have a car manual you should have a maintenance schedule to follow. It will tell you when to change what fluids, spark plugs, air filter, etc... Generally your engine or tranny isn't going to just fail. You will maybe start burning oil, or hear a noise.
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Apr 22, 2011 18:50
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LoreOfSerpents posted:I would really appreciate some input as well. You're being paranoid. 100k on a '99 does not mean there is impending doom, even on a late 90s domestic. If it's been at all reasonably maintained (fluids and filters on schedule, mostly), then it's probably got another 100k in it barring any unpredictable catastrophes. If the engine isn't making weird noise and the transmission isn't clunking, you've got little to worry about. Yeah, there might be little minor annoyances on a 10 year old domestic car like rattling trim pieces, but that doesn't affect reliability. Every car, new or old, requires maintenance in the form of oil changes, air/oil filters, coolant/brake/trans fluid changes, brake pads/fluid/rotors, tires & alignment, lights, etc. These are all expected and scheduled maintenance items whether the car is a 2011 or a 1960. Keeping your paid off, totally functional, decently maintained car going is going to be far, far, far cheaper than buying a new car, even if it does require a bit of maintenance and upkeep every now again. If you're looking to save money, drive your current car until something major happens (major engine, transmission, or other significant drivetrain/suspension failure). At that point it wont' be worth fixing, and THEN think about buying a new car. In all likelihood you'll get at least another 50k miles out of it, probably more, if you keep up on basic scheduled maintenance (which, again, you have to do on any car).
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Apr 22, 2011 19:28
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LoreOfSerpents posted:I think CornHolio even said in his "Help me budget" thread that a Grand Am with the best of care will still fall apart at 100k. When my car passed 100k miles, I was seriously expecting the engine to explode or something. One of the problems is that most Grand Ams aren't maintained very well. For most people it's an appliance like a refrigerator or lawnmower, and so they end up falling apart early. That said, Grand Ams historically do have things that go wrong with them, for instance the famous lower intake manifold gasket and the window regulators are known to fail regularly. And they're difficult to work on - you have to rotate the whole engine to access the rear plugs and the alternator, and the drive belt wraps around a motor mount - another reason maintenance is usually not done. If yours has been properly maintained, I would just keep an eye out for coolant leaks and an overheating engine and you should be good for some time.
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Apr 22, 2011 20:32
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Thanks for all of the good advice! It's a relief to hear that 100k isn't necessarily a horrible milestone for the car, and it's really good to know what to watch out for at this point. What happens when you drive a car until it's too expensive to fix? Does the insurance company get involved? Do you sell it to someone who knows what they're doing (a... hobby Grand Am)? Do you trade it in to a dealer and just expect it to be worth almost nothing? I have no idea what a "lower intake manifold gasket" is, but the car doesn't make strange noises and it doesn't have any obvious leaks. Cruise control doesn't always take effect when the button is pushed, but I don't use it very often so it doesn't bother me. I don't know what to expect from shocks/suspension problems; I'm not likely to notice small differences in how the car sounds/handles. I do trust our mechanic, who has worked on Pontiacs for three generations of my husband's family. But I suspect he wouldn't suggest replacing something unless the part in question was a matter of safety. Thwomp posted:I would start making imaginary car payments to a car fund now. That way, you've already made the necessary budget adjustments and adapted to having less money but you're growing the car fund for when the Grand Am gives up the ghost.
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Apr 22, 2011 23:19
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LoreOfSerpents posted:What happens when you drive a car until it's too expensive to fix? Does the insurance company get involved? Do you sell it to someone who knows what they're doing (a... hobby Grand Am)? Do you trade it in to a dealer and just expect it to be worth almost nothing? You either try to sell as a you-fix-it/parts car on craigslist, or you call a local wrecker to come pick it up and junk it. They'll usually give you a couple hundred bucks as scrap value. There are also sometimes places that will take donation non-running cars, but YMMV. Insurance doesn't care unless it's in an accident. If you want to be frugal, keep up on basic and scheduled maintenance items, and drive it until something major/expensive goes wrong with the core engine/transmission. If you want to give yourself good odds that you'll get another 50k+ miles out of the car, follow the owner's manual's schedule maintenance. It will probably look roughly like:
If you don't know when any of the scheduled maintenance items listed in your owner's manual were last performed, it's probably a good idea to do them now. Especially fluids, filters, and plugs. The very best kind of maintenance is preventative maintenance. It's always cheaper to prevent failure than to fix failure. In addition to reliability, a car in good tune is going to be more efficient and safer. And lastly, regular maintenance is extremely cheap if you do it on your own, and most of the basic stuff is really quite easy. A mere fraction of what a mechanic costs. I did the whole 30k mile tune-up (motor/trans/diff oil, oil filter, coolant, air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs, and plug wires) for about $150. The same work would have run about $400-600 at a mechanic. I fully realize it's not for everyone, but if you want to be save a lot of money and learn a bit about car maintenance (also comes in handy when dealing with mechanics), then spending $100 on a basic socket set, some ramps or a jack & stands, and a repair manual is an extremely good investment. Hell, you might even find that you enjoy it (I did). An older domestic car like a 99 Grand Am is not a very complicated or scary car. Just something to think about, is all. Guinness fucked around with this message at 00:46 on Apr 23, 2011 |
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Apr 23, 2011 00:30
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What's the best thing to do with a car that probably isn't salable as a driver? Craigslist as parts? Shop it to junkyards? Donate for the tax write-off? I've got an ancient '92 Civic whose sole virtue is that it still runs. The dashboard is ripped open from a burglary, the interior lights don't work, the A/C doesn't blow cold, it has numerous dents and dings and missing trim from various mishaps, and it makes worrisome clacking noises when steering on an incline. It was $2,500 when I bought it as an emergency college beater five years ago. Right now my job involves a lot of air travel to/from a very walkable city and I'm pretty much only using it to drive to and from the Houston airport; when I finish up with my current assignment I'll be able to put at least 50% down on a new 2012 hatchback, maybe an Impreza for the AWD/CVT or a Golf for the diesel. (Is there a consensus best or worst value for hatchbacks? AI and its brand-specific threads seem ill-suited to these general questions.) Slightly related: assuming I have 12k saved to spend by this point, am I better off using it to put cash down on a car or financing the car and zapping a student loan? I have a Grad PLUS about that size with an 8.5% rate, but I don't know how that compares to a ballpark range from a dealership (or maybe my bank?)
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Apr 23, 2011 00:36
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A running Honda Civic in any condition is always worth some money. I expect you could private-sale that car for at least $500. Maybe $1000+ if the engine is still reasonably good. The donation is worthwhile to help out a charity. It is worth money off your taxes only if you itemize. The advantage is you can usually value the vehicle using its KBB value rather than having to actually sell it for that much. If you really can't sell it as a running car, you can almost certainly sell it as an as-is parts car. Junkyards are for cars that don't run. Lots of places you can call up and they'll come and tow it away and give you some small amount of money for the scrap value. As for your money questions: you should pay off debt and use the remainder to buy a used car outright, instead of buying a new car. If you insist on buying a new car anyway, I think you definitely should be able to do better than 8.5% unless your credit is poo poo. With good credit, much better.
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Apr 23, 2011 00:49
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Elotana posted:Slightly related: assuming I have 12k saved to spend by this point, am I better off using it to put cash down on a car or financing the car and zapping a student loan? I have a Grad PLUS about that size with an 8.5% rate, but I don't know how that compares to a ballpark range from a dealership (or maybe my bank?) 8.5% is an absolutely terrible loan rate unless your credit sucks. If your credit sucks, you absolutely should not buy a new car, especially if you already have a bunch of outstanding debt. The interest charges will rape you on both your current debt and the car loan, and you'll pay both of them off slower than you otherwise would. If you're trying to be even a little thrifty, a new car is a terrible decision. $12k cash will get you a very nice 3-5 year old car depending on what you're looking at. If it was decently maintained, that's still practically new. If you absolutely just have to have a warranty, buy something ~3 years old that is certified used. You'll need a bit more than 12k so either take out a small loan (at better than 8.5%) or save up a little while longer and pay cash. Or to be really savvy, use your cash to pay down your current debt, and spend more like $7k on a 5-8 year old car with a good maintenance history (and records to prove it). You'll significantly reduce your debt, save a ton of money on interest charges, and you'll have a reliable car that you own outright. As an even further bonus, you won't be required to carry maximum comp/collision insurance coverage on the car like almost every car loan requires. A new car is not a universally bad decision, and obviously someone has to buy new cars to later supply the used car market, but buying a new car with a high interest rate loan is a pretty bad idea. Save the new car for when you can get a 3%-4% (or less) loan and your other debts are paid off.
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Apr 23, 2011 01:00
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The engine has given me no trouble, it's just ugly as hell inside and out from all the mishaps and the electrics are hopelessly hosed. If all I'd get is a few hundred I may just give it away to a charity for the hell of it. I've got a 740 FICO and a spotless history so credit shouldn't be an issue. I've got about 100K in student loans, but only 30K of that is 8.5% PLUS loans which I put on a 10-year track to zap fast, the rest are low-interest Staffords on extended repayment and I'm not too worried about them. Beyond that I'm living pretty far below my means so a car payment won't faze me. From what I've seen the used car market kind of sucks for hatchbacks, especially around here. With gas back up everyone and their mother is trading in their SUVs for one. Most of what's available for <12K cash and <100k miles on Autotrader is rancid poo poo like PT Cruisers, and if I'm paying more than 12K I'd rather take the warranty, zero mileage, customizing, and better interest rate on a 20K new car.
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Apr 23, 2011 01:15
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This is BFC, and nobody in BFC is going to advise someone who owes 100k in student loans (which cannot be discharged in a bankrupcty!) to take on more debt of any kind. You absolutely can buy a good used car for less than $12k. If you can't find one in your immediate area, buy one from farther away. You'll still save a huge amount of money over the price of a brand new car. Also, 10 years may be "fast-track" for a huge student loan, but it's still a really, really long time to be paying 8.5%. It sounds like you can afford to pay that off right away, in which case, you absolutely should. You should also fast-track the rest of your debt and try and get that paid off in 10 years or less. Carrying student loan debts for decades is like a giant weight around your shoulders, always restricting your life choices and dragging down your finances. I advise you to live frugally and pay that poo poo off. Frugal-livers never buy new cars. e. What's your zip code?
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Apr 23, 2011 01:38
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Elotana posted:but only 30K of that is 8.5% PLUS loans which I put on a 10-year track to zap fast  fast track For perspective, I'm fast-tracking my $22k in 6.5% student loans to be paid off in less than 2 years because the interest is so goddamn expensive. You should try to do something similar and then afterward spend the $10,000+ in interest charges you saved on a new car (or the rest of your loans, 100k holy poo poo...). You'll be paying almost $15,000 in interest if you take 10 years to pay that off. And that's on top of the other $70,000 of principal that you're carrying and I assume are not planning to "fast" track. Even at a modest 3%, that other $70,000 is going to cost you over $30,000 in additional interest charges. Do you not grasp how large these sums of money are, and how much you can save by paying them off ASAP if you have "excess" cash laying around? You're 100k in debt, 30k of which is at an extremely expensive 8.5%, and you're looking at buying a new 20-25k car. This is why America is hosed. I mean, you're going to do what you're going to do, it's your monumental debt (that cannot get discharged through bankruptcy) to deal with. People never listen to advice in advice threads, they just want to get their lovely decisions rationalized. Enjoy your shiny new car, I guess. Guinness fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Apr 23, 2011 |
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Apr 23, 2011 02:13
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I'm a patent attorney, having six-figure debt is not unheard of or necessarily crippling. My loans are federal, and IBR gives them flexibility in lean times that aren't quite lean enough to warrant bankruptcy. poo poo, as a Plan C I could work as an examiner or some other PSLF-qualifying job and they'd be discharged after 10 years of minimum payments. I'm not making the minimum payments on those PLUS loans either. Yeah, I could probably pay them off in three years rather than five, but it seems a bit puritan to min-max my twenties to that degree. I'm making a considerable income as a single guy in a cheap city with a beater car and the same furniture I owned in college. I've got a year's worth of emergency savings (this 12K is on top of that) and the debt is burning plenty fast. I don't object to used cars, it wasn't until I seriously looked for a hatchback that a new car even entered my mind. My current location is Houston if you want to rub my nose in something I was missing, but there appears to be a premium on worthwhile used hatches. (My dim understanding of cars has the list of worthwhile hatches as "Golf, Focus, or something Japanese" so I may be completely off there, too.)
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Apr 23, 2011 02:57
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The problem with purchasing brand new is you have to purchase from a dealer and have another $2-3K in taxes and fees added to your sale price. The only benefit is low new car financing incentives which are typically better than what you can find on used car loans. Unless your state taxes private auto sales you are better off going private party. $16.5K 2010 Mazda 3 18K Miles $14.5K 2008 Mazda 3 31K Miles $12K 2008 Toyota Matrix 52K Miles But if you want to pay $6-10K more for a warranty go nuts. I see no reason to if you have the cash to purchase a similar used car outright.
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Apr 23, 2011 03:20
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Well, based on what I was told in this thread I'm going to finance the car no matter what. If my credit is good enough to where a car loan would be less than 8.5% I'd like to use the savings to zap one of these PLUS loans in favor of a bank loan for a privately sold used car or one of those super-low promotional dealership rates for a new one. The latter is attractive since I'd most likely pay it off before the promotional rate ran out. But you're right, I hadn't considered the extra fees.
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Apr 23, 2011 03:31
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Arzakon posted:The problem with purchasing brand new is you have to purchase from a dealer and have another $2-3K in taxes and fees added to your sale price. The only benefit is low new car financing incentives which are typically better than what you can find on used car loans. Unless your state taxes private auto sales you are better off going private party. You often have to pay sales tax on used cars as well, plus registration. You do avoid a doc fee if its private seller.
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Apr 23, 2011 04:02
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In Wisconsin, buying a used car privately is like buying a new cars with taxes and everything...except the seller can put a fake selling price on the title to make taxes lower when you register.
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Apr 23, 2011 07:08
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Arzakon posted:The problem with purchasing brand new is you have to purchase from a dealer and have another $2-3K in taxes and fees added to your sale price. The only benefit is low new car financing incentives which are typically better than what you can find on used car loans. Unless your state taxes private auto sales you are better off going private party.
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Apr 23, 2011 12:09
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gvibes posted:In Illinois, at least, you just pay sales tax when you title the car. Where does this whole "no taxes if you buy private party" thing come from? No Sales Tax on private party car sales in Georgia. I thought that was fairly widespread. Here you just owe the regular registration tax.
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Apr 23, 2011 14:41
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Guinness posted:Lots of maintenance details I should've thought to do that a long time ago.My findings:
I have no records of the air filter being replaced, but some of the receipts aren't really clear on the service that was done. The manual says to check it every 15k miles and replace as necessary, or at least replace it every 30k miles. It probably wouldn't hurt to replace it anyway. Guinness posted:And lastly, regular maintenance is extremely cheap if you do it on your own, and most of the basic stuff is really quite easy. ... Just something to think about, is all. When I was a kid, I enjoyed "helping" my dad work on his project cars (old muscle cars where everything was so gigantic that you couldn't really screw up). When I'm finished tearing apart and fixing the house, hopefully I will be able to re-learn how cars are supposed to work.One more question, if you wouldn't mind. My Grand Am's manual says the transmission fluid should never need to be replaced under normal usage. Similarly for brake fluid. Should those things be flushed anyway, considering how old the car is?
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Apr 23, 2011 20:12
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I'm looking at a new Altima or Camry with a sunroof, leather seats, and upgraded audio system. I've test driven both and like the Altima slightly better, but would be happy with both. My questions: 1) Other than out the door price, financing, and insurance rates, is there anything else major I should consider when deciding between these? 2) My first offer from Nissan is $336 under Invoice and $27 under market price. It feels like I can get another $500-$1k off to close the deal. Should I be pushing for more? 3) I found out that I qualify for the college grad rebate due to being a slacker and graduating in just shy of a decade. Should I bring this up during negotiations or is it ok to bring it up when the rest of the price has been negotiated? 4) The Nissan salesman has stated they can remove the "Moonroof Wind Deflector" there since the closest model they have in stock has it and no models are close to the options I want without it. He claims there will be no issues and I won't be able to tell. Is this true or is he just trying to close the deal? 5) The Toyota salesman states they can add the "Smart Key System" there after purchase since the closest model he found to what I want does not have it. I'm concerned about the warranty since it does not come with the car as well as installation quality. Am I overreacting or should I tell him to keep looking and find what I want? 6) Finances: I had Nissan run my credit report and since I haven't used a credit card or had a loan of any kind since 2003 or 2004 the report comes back and says I have no credit score. I'm currently looking to put down $8k and finance $16k that I will pay off in the next year. Other than my bank and/or local credit union, who else should I speak to about financing? I do have ~5 years of on time rent payments. What range of interest rates should I expect to find for my situation?
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Apr 27, 2011 04:12
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Aredna posted:I'm looking at a new Altima or Camry with a sunroof, leather seats, and upgraded audio system. I've test driven both and like the Altima slightly better, but would be happy with both. 2: haggle until they let you walk out the door 3: It sounds like the college rebate is through nissan financing http://www.nissanusa.com/buying/nissan-financing/college-student-programs.html so you will want to mention it to the dealer. 4: The wind deflector is probably just taped on there, Removing it shouldn't hurt anything. 5: The smart key may still be OEM. Its possible the cars have all the connectors built in and its just a matter of plugging it in behind the dash and programming it. If they are doing an aftermarket system then I would shop it around.
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Apr 27, 2011 04:20
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So I'm looking at a 2003 Ford Focus. It has 40,000 miles on it, full service history, no major repairs, etc. $9,000 and I'm financing $7,000 of that - easily knocked off within a year, if that. I have more cash to put down but don't want to take it out of my emergency fund. My question is, is there anything about a Focus I need to be aware of? After speaking with some mechanic friends they seem to think everything is fine, but I thought I'd check here as well to see if anyone knows of any small things I should know before plunging in.
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May 2, 2011 03:20
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CelestialScribe posted:So I'm looking at a 2003 Ford Focus. It has 40,000 miles on it, full service history, no major repairs, etc. $9,000 and I'm financing $7,000 of that - easily knocked off within a year, if that. I have more cash to put down but don't want to take it out of my emergency fund. It's a good choice generally but the price seems high. Maybe try for closer to $7k? If it has the CVH engine then you need to watch out for the timing belt change interval. You should post a question in the AI stupid questions thread since there are a lot of guys there who know a lot about Ford Focus.
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May 2, 2011 04:02
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CelestialScribe posted:So I'm looking at a 2003 Ford Focus. It has 40,000 miles on it, full service history, no major repairs, etc. $9,000 and I'm financing $7,000 of that - easily knocked off within a year, if that. I have more cash to put down but don't want to take it out of my emergency fund. $9000 for a 2003 ford focus is way too much. You should be paying $5000-$6000 for that car.
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May 2, 2011 04:44
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I'm in Australia. Will that affect the price at all?
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May 2, 2011 06:37
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CelestialScribe posted:I'm in Australia. Will that affect the price at all? Definitely! That's pretty crucial info, since it can also mean you're getting a different car (or a car with different features/options), and also warranty (dunno what warranties are like in Aussiland). I'm sure everyone's advice was based on the assumption you were talking US dollars and US miles on a US ford focus.
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May 4, 2011 22:55
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I've been trying to sell my car. Get some pretty ridiculous offers, but this one has got me all   quote:Times right now are tough for me. I just blew my tranny on my 91 eclipse. And I lost my job a week ago. I also am a single father of 2 growing girls and I figured that the evo Is the best family car around. I'm sorry to say that the $10000 that I'm willing to spend are my life savings and it's all I can afford. But I can also understand if your not willing to part with it Yes, my Evo is the best car you could get for your situation. Yes I should let you lowball me 35% and be complicit in letting you put your life savings into a car.
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May 6, 2011 04:00
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kimbo305 posted:I've been trying to sell my car. Get some pretty ridiculous offers, but this one has got me all I literally laughed out loud at that. Before I even read your response, I was thinking the same thing. Hold out, and good luck!
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May 6, 2011 05:33
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kimbo305 posted:I've been trying to sell my car. Get some pretty ridiculous offers, but this one has got me all But don't you see, you are literally the worst person in history if you don't sell him the car for $10,000! Think of his children! Surely a transmission in a 1991 Eclipse would cost less than $10,000 to fix?
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May 6, 2011 12:38
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Alright, I've got a mess to clean up and I'm hoping someone can help me find a solution here. About 3 or 4 years ago, my sister and her common-law husband decided they needed a new car (even though they didn't). They more or less took advantage of my grandfather and roped him into co-signing. He didn't have too much of a problem doing that since he's cosigned for my mom and uncle without trouble before and figured my sister could take on the responsibility. What my sister and her husband didn't mention or didn't pay attention to was the fine print on the loan for their 2007 Malibu. They just got hit with a balloon payment and 16% interest, making their monthly payment around $600. They owe 10-12k on a car with an average resale value of 7k to 8k as a result, and since they barely make it anyway, there's no way they're going to be able to make that payment. They both have college degrees but live in an area with a terrible job market and her husband is a lazy jackass who's scared to don some workboots or a fast food uniform and is trying to sell real estate in a goddamned college town. My grandfather, in attempt to preserve his credit, was going to take out a loan from his bank, pay the balance of the car loan off, and get it down to a loan with 6% interest and ~$300 payments. Unfortunately, when the bank found out that the car has an astounding 160,000 miles on it they said no dice. Now we're in damage control mode and the reason I'm posting this. Is there anyway to save my grandfather's credit? My sister and her husband are the absolute last priority. Obviously this should have never happened in the first place, but her husband is a scummy turd, she's a doormat and my grandfather is too nice. We're basically looking for the least worst outcome here and wondering if there are any tricks we can pull to at least keep my grandfather's credit out of the mud. If my sister and her husband end up on their asses with $10k of debt that's fine, we're just trying to mitigate the hit to my grandfather's credit if possible. Perhaps selling the car at a loss, applying it towards the car loan and then finding a way to pay off the difference? I suck at this whole financing thing, I've never had a credit card and any cars I've purchased have been with cash. The closest I've had is medical bills. DELETED fucked around with this message at 18:48 on May 6, 2011 |
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May 6, 2011 18:45
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They should take out personal loans / CC cash advances / sell blood and semen until they can get the principal on the loan down to under the resale value of the car, then sell that fucker ASAP. Alternatively, while it still puts your grandfather's credit at risk if they can't make the new loan payments...can he get a loan that's not secured by the car (or ideally, by anything at all) that would get the payments where they need to be?
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May 6, 2011 19:13
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 01:15 |
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If your grandfather owns his home he could take out a HELOC to pay off the car. Then he should take the car, sell it for what he can get for it, then pay the rest of the loan off himself and call it stupid tax.
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May 6, 2011 19:56
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