• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Convince me this is a bad idea

Sell the Fit?

  • Yes, sell it.

  • No, keep it.

Results are only viewable after voting.
AstroManLuca

AstroManLuca

Lifer
I own a Honda Fit. Bought it new in 2008. Took out a loan for $15k to pay for it, and I'm just past the halfway point on those payments so I have about $7k left.

Now I'm thinking about selling it already. Here's why.

My wife needs a new car (posted a different thread about that). And in doing all this research, I am starting to not like the Fit so much. It's underpowered and doesn't have cruise control. Those aren't such big deals but now I sort of wish I had bought a used car instead of a new one so I could have gotten something a little nicer. My priorities have changed a lot since I got it.

What I'm thinking is I can get at least $10k if I sell it, maybe $11k, pay off my loan, and then put the remainder of the cash I get towards the down payments for TWO used cars at around $7k each. One for me, one for my wife. Add that to what we can get together for a down payment already and we can probably get some really low payments. Like $150 or less per month, per car. That would be less than my current payments on the Fit ($350).

We've been up all night thinking of reasons TO do this... she gets a decent car to replace her beater, I get one that's more to my liking, and our monthly payments go down.

The main reason we've thought of why not to do it is the Fit is still a really new car (around 33k miles) and will probably last for another 150-200k miles. But that's the only reason we can come up with. Meanwhile, her car is a junker and she's going to need to replace it.

Basically, if we keep the Fit, we'll have a good $500/mo in car payments because she will need a car as well. Whereas if we sell it, our combined car payments would be more in the neighborhood of $300/mo. Sure, I'd be replacing my relatively new car with an older one, but that's the only big reason I can think of not to do it.

It all seems to make sense but maybe this is all fueled by restlessness. Am I dumb for even considering this or is it a good idea?
 
You're looking at taking on 2 liens, which means 2 cars that will have to carry collision and comp until they're paid off. Before you do something like this, you'll need some insurance quotes as well.

How's your cash on hand/credit? If you have, let's say, $4-5K on hand, or can borrow it unsecured at a good interest rate/payment, then perhaps just buy something outright and keep only liability insurance on it. $4-5k can buy a very decent "seasoned" car if you are patient and hold out for the right one.

Unless you're really chomping at the bit to drop the Fit... like I said... you might find some good deals on finance, but you'll be fully insuring 2 cars for a while.
 
Currently we have a really good deal on insurance, although part of that is because one of our cars is an old piece of crap that only has liability on it. It's a good thing to consider, though; I will see how much it will cost to increase our insurance to cover two cars instead of one. Is there a chance my rate would go down, though, since I'd be moving from a newer car to an older one?

We don't have enough cash on hand to buy anything better than another beater. Only way we'll get a decent amount of cash is if I sell the Fit. Probably looking at a decent tax return come April, but I'm not counting on it. We're saving money too but it's a slow process. I do have good credit, though.

I'm not exactly in a hurry to replace the Fit, just seeing if it would even make any sense to do this. The prospect of lower (possibly much lower) payments is nice, and I certainly wouldn't mind if I had a little bit older car.

EDIT: Got some quotes and while it would fairly significantly increase our insurance premiums, that would have happened anyway because she's getting a new car regardless of whether I sell mine or not. It would make them go up by like $200 or so per 6 months.

Insurance premiums for my car could increase or decrease depending on what I get.
 
Last edited:
I think it's a bad idea. It's obvious that you don't have a lot of spare cash floating around, so potential repairs on two $7k cars could hit you in the pocketbook hard. All you're looking at is payments. The repairs/maintenance on the Fit are basically nothing. A $7k car could require any number of things times two if you get two of them. The fit is boring but when you're short on cash it's the adult, responsible thing to do to put pragmatism above "I just don't like it and want something nicer".

At the end of the day if you keep the fit you have a fairly lightly used Honda and will know that you can always rely on it so one car is essentially stress free. You've already eaten the most aggressive part of its depreciation.

Also you will pay more in gas. The Fit is a good starter car.

I would consider not buying this car for your wife for $7k unless it's an econobox with factory warranty left. If it's not then I'd think about taking a gamble on something for $3k. That way you don't have much tied up in it, potentially no payments, either.
 
I say keep it. You have a reliable car. Selling it for two low dollar used cars is going to increase your repair cost with the potential to far outweigh your savings in payments. If she can get buy until your taxes come back next year you should be able to pay cash for something halfway decent. If you have 3k now, saving another 3k between now and them shouldn't be hard. 6k plus your tax refund should get you something decent enough.
 
Can you give your wife the Fit for now, you pick up a 2K-3K beater (or whatever your "downpayment" is) and drive both of them until you have paid off the Fit. At that point you're likely to have more money saved, a reasonable amount of equity in the Fit and can make a decision at that point.
 
PricklyPete said:
Can you give your wife the Fit for now, you pick up a 2K-3K beater (or whatever your "downpayment" is) and drive both of them until you have paid off the Fit. At that point you're likely to have more money saved, a reasonable amount of equity in the Fit and can make a decision at that point.
Click to expand...

This honestly. It makes the most SENSE. My wife and i both drive used cars. Mine is one year newer than hers, but has about 60,000 more miles. They both have some issues and need certain things but for the most part are good reliable cars, so I can see your thought process as well, but youve already got a good half paid off car with low miles that probably gets fantastic mileage. If her car is dying, try to get another 2 - 3k beater, like an older Corolla, Camry or Civic in the 150k - 175k mile range that will last you a couple of years while you pay off the Fit.
 
honda still sells cars without cruise control????


I agree that prickly pete has a solid idea.

I dont think when you go from the 2-3K range, to the 7k range you twice the car, you mostly get nonessential features or a nameplate, or a prettier car
 
You can add cruise control anytime
I did on my Versa
Keep the Fit add cruise buy a Saturn for cheap or Buick if you want something nicer
 
PricklyPete said:
Can you give your wife the Fit for now, you pick up a 2K-3K beater (or whatever your "downpayment" is) and drive both of them until you have paid off the Fit. At that point you're likely to have more money saved, a reasonable amount of equity in the Fit and can make a decision at that point.
Click to expand...

Paperlantern said:
This honestly. It makes the most SENSE. My wife and i both drive used cars. Mine is one year newer than hers, but has about 60,000 more miles. They both have some issues and need certain things but for the most part are good reliable cars, so I can see your thought process as well, but youve already got a good half paid off car with low miles that probably gets fantastic mileage. If her car is dying, try to get another 2 - 3k beater, like an older Corolla, Camry or Civic in the 150k - 175k mile range that will last you a couple of years while you pay off the Fit.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is what I was thinking would be a better idea this morning. The reliability thing is a big issue. Too big to be able to justify selling the car.

I only have payments for two more years so the whole monthly payment issue will go away if we can just limp along until then. I'm sure we can get something that will at least run for the next two years, possibly much longer.

I told her I'd be willing to give her my car and I'd be the one to put up with a beater, but she can't drive a manual. And this is a touchy manual. I've tried to teach her and it hasn't worked. She's actually gotten worse since our first lesson. Might need to make another attempt, but that's the subject for another thread.

desy said:
You can add cruise control anytime
I did on my Versa
Keep the Fit add cruise buy a Saturn for cheap or Buick if you want something nicer
Click to expand...

I should look into that. I remember looking it up a couple years ago shortly after I bought it but I just sort of forgot about it. Adding cruise might make me like it a bit more. It'll still suck on the highway, but not as much.

Sort of wish I had gotten the Sport model but it was over $1,000 more for a bunch of features I didn't care about + cruise. Maybe I should have sprung for it, oh well. Unlike most small cars at the time, the Fit had power windows and locks even on the base model.

I've always liked this car's handling characteristics, but it is a little bumpy, especially at high speeds.
 
AstroManLuca said:
Yeah, this is what I was thinking would be a better idea this morning. The reliability thing is a big issue. Too big to be able to justify selling the car.

I only have payments for two more years so the whole monthly payment issue will go away if we can just limp along until then. I'm sure we can get something that will at least run for the next two years, possibly much longer.

I told her I'd be willing to give her my car and I'd be the one to put up with a beater, but she can't drive a manual. And this is a touchy manual. I've tried to teach her and it hasn't worked. She's actually gotten worse since our first lesson. Might need to make another attempt, but that's the subject for another thread.



I should look into that. I remember looking it up a couple years ago shortly after I bought it but I just sort of forgot about it. Adding cruise might make me like it a bit more. It'll still suck on the highway, but not as much.

Sort of wish I had gotten the Sport model but it was over $1,000 more for a bunch of features I didn't care about + cruise. Maybe I should have sprung for it, oh well. Unlike most small cars at the time, the Fit had power windows and locks even on the base model.

I've always liked this car's handling characteristics, but it is a little bumpy, especially at high speeds.
Click to expand...

This thread? 😀

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2098433&highlight=

Adding cruise will be the best thing you ever did, i use it just to stay away from the popo's speed measuring tools when the foot sinks too far and i'm not paying attention to speed. This way you're always safe as long as you set it safe. Then you can zone out all you want to music and not worry about getting tagged while youre spacing out.
 
She can learn to drive a manual.

I've heard that the insight also lacks cruise standard. I thought for a sec wait is this 1997? Get real!
 
Skoorb said:
She can learn to drive a manual.

I've heard that the insight also lacks cruise standard. I thought for a sec wait is this 1997? Get real!
Click to expand...

A lot of cheap cars don't have it. Hell most really cheap economy cars (<$15k new) have crank windows and manual locks and you have to buy a $3,000 options package to get those features.
 
I have to say that newer Honda's have the easiest manual transmissions to drive in the world.

And keep the fit, you went through the major depreciation already. Limp the beater until you can buy a slightly nicer used car.

And teach her how to drive the manual. It's not hard.
 
Just as an update, I'm keeping the Fit. It just didn't make sense to sell it, as everyone pointed out. To help keep our payments manageable, I refinanced it - this lowered them enough to allow us to afford to replace the other car.

As of this morning, we're now the proud new owners of a 2005 Nissan Altima! It was a good compromise of price, miles, and features. My wife didn't want a completely basic car, and I didn't want to overspend on something too fancy (or end up with a car with way too many miles on it). The Altima is a pretty average car, but we got the nicer 3.5 SL version.

She's already taking it on its first road trip today.
 
PricklyPete said:
Nice. The Altima with the VQ should be a great all around car.
Click to expand...

Yeah she loves the power but it's still very smooth and tame when you want it to be. The ride and handling seemed just right when I test drove it - neither overly light or overly stiff. Great on the highway, so it's a perfect complement to my Fit.
 
Howard said:
http://racinglineperformance.com/shop/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=8
Click to expand...

Yuck, I would never want to ruin a nice car by adding that crap to it.

EDIT: To elaborate, I strongly dislike visual mods on cars and a V6 Altima has enough power that there is absolutely no need to spend money on performance mods. Plus it's like throwing money away - modded cars sell for LESS the more you put into them. I even usually prefer stock wheels over aftermarket ones.

I might consider a simple CAI for my Fit just to give it a little extra power (it could sure use it), but it's not really worth it.
 
Last edited:
I was going to say refinance it, but you already did! Good Job. We did the same thing with my girlfriends car. Refinanced and halved the payment. Gotta love super low 3.5&#37; APR through credit unions.
 
ZOMG! You took out a loan on a depreciating asset? Everyone knows you never do this...oh, and your car is wrong wheel drive, what were you thinking? You should have bought an S2000 or a 350Z to do track days.
 
halik said:
Your first mistake was spending 15K on that car...
Click to expand...

I think it's more complicated than that. My mistake was getting a car that was hot and popular at the time in a segment where none of the competitors were very compelling.

At the time I wanted a tiny car because I didn't need anything bigger and for the better fuel economy. A used one would have cost more than a new one. I could have gotten something like a Nissan Versa, Scion xD, or other competing hatch, but the Fit was the best one available. And in order to get at least a basic level of features, it would have cost $15k regardless of which car I got.

Anyway, I saw the used prices and came to the probably foolish conclusion that if buying a used one is more expensive than buying new, I should just buy a new one. A more logical conclusion would be to look at getting a different type of car. Maybe snagging a midsize or full size since everyone was dumping their big cars at the time (gas was $4/gal that summer). And at the time I had this prejudice against sedans and thought hatchbacks were so superior because of their cargo space. I still like hatches but drawing that conclusion limited my choices too much.

So in retrospect, maybe not the best choice. Seemed fine at the time though. Another thing I will remember - it seems small cars depreciate more slowly than large ones. At the time I assumed that I'd only be able to afford a small car if I wanted something kind of new with low miles. But I could have probably gotten a midsize sedan for the exact same price if I had just broadened my search.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top