What should I do?

[TravisT]

Alrighty, here's the situation. I bought my first car on my own a few years ago. It is a 2001 Ford Explorer Sports Trak. The vehicle is still in pretty good condition but the problem is is that it is getting up in mileage and I am beginning to have small things go wrong with it. To be exact, it has 98,000 miles on it now as I drive quite a ways to work (all highway miles).

Anyhow, i'm really wanting to get a lower mileage vehicle. I believe I sort of got the shaft on this one because I was/am young and just let them get the better of me as now i'm upside down on the vehicle. I still owe about $10,500 on it. Every trade in appraisal I have seen has been about $8,500. Although I believe I might squeeze a bit more out of them because my Sport Trak has all the bells and whistles.

A lot of people say trade-in's are horrible deals because the company buying the vehicle is always looking to make money (of course). Would I be better off throwing my truck in auto-trader? Also, I would like to get a vehicle close to the same payments, preferrebly a little under and i'm not interested any longer in the "bells and whistles" as I was when I bought this vehicle. Particularly i'd like something like the Hyundai Tucson that there is a thread about here in OT. A small SUV that gets good gas mileage, but i'm 6'11" so I need enough room to move around a bit. It sounds as though the Tucson is roomy enough to carry more than just myself and 1 passenger in the vehicle comfortably.

Anyhow, enough with what I want. Should I trade my vehicle in? Should I personally sell it? Are trade-in's a rip off? I want to get out from under this vehicle, buy a newer one or atleast something that has low mileage. Any suggestions on what I can do without trying to kill myself on putting an additional $3,000 on any new vehicle i get?

 

[nakedfrog]

If you're gonna sell it, yeah, you'd probably do better to do it as a private party sale.

 

[FoBoT]

if you are upside down, the only way you'll get close to the price you need is to sell it yourself, any other way you have to give some of the $ to the middle man

 

[Pliablemoose]

You're not going to want to hear this but...

You're upside down on it, no way to get out from under it without taking a bath on it financially.

IMHO, suck it up, pay it off & them get a new/different vehicle.

Even counting major repairs, etc, you're always better off financially if you maintian the thing (you should be able to get another 70k miles out of it) and make it's last trip the one to the salvage yard with it, or donate it.

Automobiles are an expense, not a penis extension.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
You're not going to want to hear this but...

You're upside down on it, no way to get out from under it without taking a bath on it financially.

IMHO, suck it up, pay it off & them get a new/different vehicle.

Even counting major repairs, etc, you're always better off financially if you maintian the thing (you should be able to get another 70k miles out of it) and make it's last trip the one to the salvage yard with it, or donate it.

Automobiles are an expense, not a penis extension.

:thumbsup:
Yep.

 

[blackdogdeek]

what does upside down mean?

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
what does upside down mean?

Car's worth less than you still owe.

 

[Pciber]

..ok, first off, you could have a more descriptive title than "What should i do?"

next, why not keep the car you have? what type of small things are going wrong?

failing that, why does it have to be an SUV you want? Yeah, you are 6'11", but some cars have more space for the driver than small SUVs - take, for example, the new VW bug. I am 6'6", and I have plenty of head room in one of those, more than I do in a GMC yukon. Chevy Malibus and/or impalas (cant remember which) have a deceptive amount of driver room, too.

As for trade ins, of course the dealer is going to give you less than you would get elsewhere. Thats just life. Its all a matter of hassle, really - much less hassle to just let the dealer take your old car at a reduced price than to put numerous ads in various papers, wait for someone to call you, work out a deal, sign alot of papers, etc...

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
what does upside down mean?

What you still owe on the car > car's resale value.

 

[maziwanka]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
If you're gonna sell it, yeah, you'd probably do better to do it as a private party sale.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
what does upside down mean?

the remaining balance of his loan for the vehicle is more that the current value of the vehicle

this often happens when you put little/no money as a downpayment and/or take too long of a loan on the vehicle

 

[TravisT]

It means I owe more on it than what it is actually worth. For example, I paid about what it was worth when I got it and put out a long loan. Now i have put so many miles on it that it is worth $2000 less than what I owe for it based on the estimates. And the bad thing is, once I hit 100K miles (which would be in the next couple of months atleast) i'll be even more upside down on it so i'm trying to figure out what I should do. I could stick it out and end up owing $5,000 on a vehicle that has a bad transmission or atleast isn't driveable. Or I'm thinking I could try to get rid of it somehow and get a vehicle that has less miles and is dependable.

 

[woowoo]

Keep the explorer for a year and double up on the payments.
Consider "Gap" insurance

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: TravisT
It means I owe more on it than what it is actually worth. For example, I paid about what it was worth when I got it and put out a long loan. Now i have put so many miles on it that it is worth $2000 less than what I owe for it based on the estimates. And the bad thing is, once I hit 100K miles (which would be in the next couple of months atleast) i'll be even more upside down on it so i'm trying to figure out what I should do. I could stick it out and end up owing $5,000 on a vehicle that has a bad transmission or atleast isn't driveable. Or I'm thinking I could try to get rid of it somehow and get a vehicle that has less miles and is dependable.

As long as you're not abusing it and taking care to make sure you get all regular maintenance done, I would imagine your transmission should last long enough, same with the engine. It's either that or see if you can sell it privately for what you owe, or sell it to a dealer and carry over the negative equity to your replacement car loan, and therefore be almost guaranteed to be upside-down on THAT car for the entire time you own it.