Trading in a 1.5 year old Malibu

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: JRussellDMD

Originally posted by: JRussellDMD
For ~$25K I would've purchased a pristine second-hand early 2000s 740iL, late 90s Mercedes S Class, or used Lexus LS430/GS430. I didn't think the Chevy Malibu was on any car enthusiast's radar. You could've probably purchased any of these and spent the savings on car maintenance for the next few years.

Here are some examples on eBay:
2002 BMW 745i
~ $21K + TTL

2005 Lexus LS430
~ $26K + TTL

2006 Mercedes-Benz E350
~ $22K + TTL

With these in mind I see no reason to purchase a BRAND NEW car. These have already depreciated more than 50% and they're way better cars than any Chevrolet sedan could be.

Would anyone selling these cars help OP get out from the upside down mustang he started out with??-no. Would insurance for a euro-sporty sedan (esp. w/a V8) be a bundle for a single man less than 25??-yes. OP you might not even have to refinance the Malibu, see if you current loan allows early payment. The only dealer option is a 6 disc CD player W/XM as far as that goes, I would spend the $$ on better sounding after market head unit. The 3.9 was only offered as part of the "SS" package, it makes 240 HP along with sportier tuned suspension and hydraulic steering vs the electric in LS or LT trim. Really not worth the $$ IMO and insurance would again be higher. Just pay down the 'Bu (after sound upgrade), it's a a comfortable DD with plenty of room and gets damm near Corolla MPG..

 

[bamx2]

I have seen 2007 Malibu's for for way less than $9000.00 .

Keep your car well maintained and pay the loan off .

 

[Fraggable]

Originally posted by: BUTCH1

Originally posted by: JRussellDMD

Originally posted by: JRussellDMD
For ~$25K I would've purchased a pristine second-hand early 2000s 740iL, late 90s Mercedes S Class, or used Lexus LS430/GS430. I didn't think the Chevy Malibu was on any car enthusiast's radar. You could've probably purchased any of these and spent the savings on car maintenance for the next few years.

Here are some examples on eBay:
2002 BMW 745i
~ $21K + TTL

2005 Lexus LS430
~ $26K + TTL

2006 Mercedes-Benz E350
~ $22K + TTL

With these in mind I see no reason to purchase a BRAND NEW car. These have already depreciated more than 50% and they're way better cars than any Chevrolet sedan could be.

Would anyone selling these cars help OP get out from the upside down mustang he started out with??-no. Would insurance for a euro-sporty sedan (esp. w/a V8) be a bundle for a single man less than 25??-yes. OP you might not even have to refinance the Malibu, see if you current loan allows early payment. The only dealer option is a 6 disc CD player W/XM as far as that goes, I would spend the $$ on better sounding after market head unit. The 3.9 was only offered as part of the "SS" package, it makes 240 HP along with sportier tuned suspension and hydraulic steering vs the electric in LS or LT trim. Really not worth the $$ IMO and insurance would again be higher. Just pay down the 'Bu (after sound upgrade), it's a a comfortable DD with plenty of room and gets damm near Corolla MPG..

Thanks for seeing my side of all this.

I do get awesome mileage, 34 strictly highway driving, 26.5 average. That's unheard of in a V6 w/217HP. I have no complaints about quality really, insurance is only like $90/month which is pretty low for a 24 year old driving a new car.

I was going to crunch the numbers today and figure out what the advantage of refinancing would be, I know in my head I'd rather have a $650 bill every month that had to be paid than simply plan to pay extra every month on my existing payment - plus I will get better than 7% if I refi now.

 

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: bamx2
I have seen 2007 Malibu's for for way less than $9000.00 .

Keep your car well maintained and pay the loan off .

Less than $9000?? these typically range 12.5-13.5K..

 

[Fraggable]

Originally posted by: BUTCH1

Originally posted by: bamx2
I have seen 2007 Malibu's for for way less than $9000.00 .

Keep your car well maintained and pay the loan off .

Less than $9000?? these typically range 12.5-13.5K..

Cheapest 07 Malibu within 30 miles of my zip on cars.com is $11,900, that's an LS. Cheapest 07 LT V6 is $12,900. I don't know where you saw one for 9K but it must have had a crapload of miles or something.

 

[imported_sgtbe]

Fraggable,
Been where you are, done what your thinking. Easy for people to say do it, or don't do it, but really, DON"T DO IT! If you've had the car a year or 18 months keep what you have The Malibu is a pretty nice car, good gas mileage, pretty cheap on insurance, payment isn't bad, why look at it any other way. That "BUY A NEW CAR" bug hits everyone, it just isn't worth all the additional cost you end up with. Meaning finance charges, negative equity. What really sucks is if someone ends up stealing your car, know what the insurance company pays off, book value, not high book value either, regular KBB or yellow book and who is stuck with the rest........FRAGGABLE. Keep your money, you work hard for it. pay off your vehicle buy a house. Which reminds me of another point. The more debt you have the less house you get! The less debt you have the nicer house you can get. Here is my point on this. Let's just say you keep the car you have, pay it down another 10 or 12 months. When it's time to check your credit (hopefully) your gold. Youll maybe 10g in a car note with a good score. That's what you want. Buy the house, THEN get another car. HELL if your going to purchase a big ticket item make it one that will pay you back in a few years. A car almost NEVER will, property though will. Especially now that the market is so flodded with homes. Get your good deat on that, use that equity.
If you could see the difference in what you would save and keep for yourself rather then getting that new car, I think you'd change your mind on purchasing one. Listen to that little voice that says "the negative equity bugs me" It's your concience trying to kick your butt.

 

[imported_sgtbe]

Originally posted by: Fmr12B
Suck it up

If BBV is $12,500 ~ real world value is closer to $9,000 as no-one wants the previous gen Malibu's and used car values have plummetted with the percieved poor economy.

Buy yourself a $150 Garmin and leave the stock radio alone, drive the car for the next 12-months while making some extra principal payments to get your equity ratio a bit higher and then revisit you trading up 2009 labor day weekend when new-car bargains can be had.

These figures WOULD be just about right. I worked in car sales a bit, the dealer always leaves room for work. IE, fixing scratches, tires, brakes, even if the car is in pretty prestine condition. They will low ball, or try to hide where the negative equity goes in the new car. BAST@RDS!

 

[Fraggable]

Originally posted by: sgtbe
Fraggable,
Been where you are, done what your thinking. Easy for people to say do it, or don't do it, but really, DON"T DO IT! If you've had the car a year or 18 months keep what you have The Malibu is a pretty nice car, good gas mileage, pretty cheap on insurance, payment isn't bad, why look at it any other way. That "BUY A NEW CAR" bug hits everyone, it just isn't worth all the additional cost you end up with. Meaning finance charges, negative equity. What really sucks is if someone ends up stealing your car, know what the insurance company pays off, book value, not high book value either, regular KBB or yellow book and who is stuck with the rest........FRAGGABLE. Keep your money, you work hard for it. pay off your vehicle buy a house. Which reminds me of another point. The more debt you have the less house you get! The less debt you have the nicer house you can get. Here is my point on this. Let's just say you keep the car you have, pay it down another 10 or 12 months. When it's time to check your credit (hopefully) your gold. Youll maybe 10g in a car note with a good score. That's what you want. Buy the house, THEN get another car. HELL if your going to purchase a big ticket item make it one that will pay you back in a few years. A car almost NEVER will, property though will. Especially now that the market is so flodded with homes. Get your good deat on that, use that equity.
If you could see the difference in what you would save and keep for yourself rather then getting that new car, I think you'd change your mind on purchasing one. Listen to that little voice that says "the negative equity bugs me" It's your concience trying to kick your butt.

On the car stealing, I really wouldn't care. I got gap insurance through the dealer (I now know I over paid a little for that too) but hey, it's there. Stealing or totaling my car is the best thing that could happen to it right now while I have negative equity.

Thanks for your response.

 

[imported_sgtbe]

OK GAP insurance. You may want to look into how much they actually pay. Some companies say they will pay off the difference of what the car is valued at and what you owe. But many actually mean they will pay the difference up to so many dollars. Hopefully you GAP is not like this.

 

[thomsbrain]

As most of the others have said, you dug yourself into a hole when you bought your current car, and the damage is already done. The number one thing you DON'T want to do right now is make it even worse by buying ANOTHER car and running into the exact same issue, only three times as bad as the first time around (because you'll have three cars depreciation to pay off instead of one). You'll also end up with a payment that is even larger than your current one.

Buy a Garmin if you really "need" one, and drive your current car until it drops dead. It would be really nice to drive a nicer car, and at your current salary you should have been able to afford a nicer car, but because you jumped the gun and bought more car than you could afford when you were still paying off your first car, now you CAN'T afford a nicer car. You can't even afford the car you have, but you're stuck with it for now.

Remember that each time you roll-over your car payments into new cars like this, you are still paying for the first car. Right now your payments are so outrageous because you are paying for two cars, even though you only have one car to show for it. Do you really want to pay for three cars and still only have one car to show for it? Because having three new cars on your salary would obviously be foolish, and that's exactly what you'll be doing, only you won't even get to keep the cars.

 

[Fraggable]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
As most of the others have said, you dug yourself into a hole when you bought your current car, and the damage is already done. The number one thing you DON'T want to do right now is make it even worse by buying ANOTHER car and running into the exact same issue, only three times as bad as the first time around (because you'll have three cars depreciation to pay off instead of one). You'll also end up with a payment that is even larger than your current one.

Buy a Garmin if you really "need" one, and drive your current car until it drops dead. It would be really nice to drive a nicer car, and at your current salary you should have been able to afford a nicer car, but because you jumped the gun and bought more car than you could afford when you were still paying off your first car, now you CAN'T afford a nicer car. You can't even afford the car you have, but you're stuck with it for now.

Remember that each time you roll-over your car payments into new cars like this, you are still paying for the first car. Right now your payments are so outrageous because you are paying for two cars, even though you only have one car to show for it. Do you really want to pay for three cars and still only have one car to show for it? Because having three new cars on your salary would obviously be foolish, and that's exactly what you'll be doing, only you won't even get to keep the cars.

I'm only paying for the Malibu, I said they paid off my Mustang when I bought this. Why do you think I'm paying for 2 cars?

 

[KDKPSJ]

Originally posted by: Fraggable

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
As most of the others have said, you dug yourself into a hole when you bought your current car, and the damage is already done. The number one thing you DON'T want to do right now is make it even worse by buying ANOTHER car and running into the exact same issue, only three times as bad as the first time around (because you'll have three cars depreciation to pay off instead of one). You'll also end up with a payment that is even larger than your current one.

Buy a Garmin if you really "need" one, and drive your current car until it drops dead. It would be really nice to drive a nicer car, and at your current salary you should have been able to afford a nicer car, but because you jumped the gun and bought more car than you could afford when you were still paying off your first car, now you CAN'T afford a nicer car. You can't even afford the car you have, but you're stuck with it for now.

Remember that each time you roll-over your car payments into new cars like this, you are still paying for the first car. Right now your payments are so outrageous because you are paying for two cars, even though you only have one car to show for it. Do you really want to pay for three cars and still only have one car to show for it? Because having three new cars on your salary would obviously be foolish, and that's exactly what you'll be doing, only you won't even get to keep the cars.

I'm only paying for the Malibu, I said they paid off my Mustang when I bought this. Why do you think I'm paying for 2 cars?

He's saying you are paying depreciation of 2 cars, not whole payment.

From your OP:

That price may seem a bit high, but the dealer paid off my 01 Mustang V6 for what I owed, which was a couple thousand more than BBV so I didn't get much wiggle room on the price.

Maybe you haven't realized, but the dealer simply dumped in the difference of BBV and your mustang into your new car payment by not negotiating the new car price much. There's no free lunch.

And yes, if you keep doing that (especially with American car, which depreciates the most right next to Korean car), the difference will be kept cumulated, and at some point, it will be same as paying 2 cars even though you own only 1. Even now, with 6k difference, it's almost a half price of new econobox already.

 

[LTC8K6]

Yeah, the dealer didn't pay off anything, you did.