Worth selling car a newish car for something cheaper?

[monkeydelmagico]

You can get a Prius for like $5-8K now.

Which means he could get the same year crown vic with the same miles and have enough cash left over to buy gas for 5 years.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

You already took a big hit with depreciation.. I would just keep the car you have for like 20 years...

Best long term financial advice in the thread.

Also remember a beater is going to require more maintenance and likely some visits to the shop in the near future. Putting that $2500 loss and what you'd pay for your beater ($3000) together is $5500. You put $5500 into that car loan and you're down to owing around $10,000 on a newish car with some very low mileage.

 

[tortillasoup]

Which means he could get the same year crown vic with the same miles and have enough cash left over to buy gas for 5 years.

Prius is lower maintenance than the Crown vic and has better resale value. There is more to ownership than the price of gasoline. Also those crown vics driven in city situations use a hell of a lot of gasoline, think 13mpg or somewhere around there if putting around in the city.

 

[Brinson]

Prius is lower maintenance than the Crown vic and has better resale value. There is more to ownership than the price of gasoline. Also those crown vics driven in city situations use a hell of a lot of gasoline, think 13mpg or somewhere around there if putting around in the city.

+1

All the cars the OP is considering are poor values. They msrp for higher than most economy cars but get poor mileage, low reliability, and tend to not last as long. They're big, heavy sedans. Sorry if this offends anyone, but...they're american classics from a time when america had didn't priorities. Time has changed and they're not very optimal anymore.

Sell your car and buy a cheaper one if you're going to buy a fit, acura, elantra, forte, spark, fiesta, etc. But to a Marquis or Crown Vic? Ehh, you won't be saving too much money. If you want to save money, 4 cylinders and so light it gets blown around in the wind is the ticket.

Eventually the old beater you buy will be beaten to death, and then you'll have to buy another car. That's where the downgrade will really hurt you.

I'm assuming you'll have to pay taxes on this new car, so as the very least, you're losing the tax money.

You've already

 

[Belegost]

Best long term financial advice in the thread.

Also remember a beater is going to require more maintenance and likely some visits to the shop in the near future. Putting that $2500 loss and what you'd pay for your beater ($3000) together is $5500. You put $5500 into that car loan and you're down to owing around $10,000 on a newish car with some very low mileage.

Agreed, I don't see a good reason to take the hit selling a decent car, plus buy another car that's likely going to need more maintenance and repair than the current one, and have a shorter usable life.

Also, if the money was to go towards paying down the Buick, it would be enough to pull some good rates on refinancing it - get a 36 month loan for the 11k or what have you, and with decent credit and that much cash going into it, you can probably get less than 3% interest. Payment would be about the same as a 6 year loan on 16k, but paid off fast.

The only reason I could see for selling the Buick is if the payments are too much strain, but that wasn't mentioned as a reason.

As for the psychological issues of having a nice car, and worrying about it - 1) relax a bit, it's just a car. 2) good insurance with comp coverage so that you know you can get it fixed if something falls off a truck, or someone backs into it and runs off. A 16k loan probably already requires that.

 

[WackyDan]

You are going to lose your ass on it letting a dealer buy it. Just keep it. As it gets older and beat up anyway you'll end up with a reliable car you won't be worried about.

 

[debian0001]

Agreed, I don't see a good reason to take the hit selling a decent car, plus buy another car that's likely going to need more maintenance and repair than the current one, and have a shorter usable life.

Also, if the money was to go towards paying down the Buick, it would be enough to pull some good rates on refinancing it - get a 36 month loan for the 11k or what have you, and with decent credit and that much cash going into it, you can probably get less than 3% interest. Payment would be about the same as a 6 year loan on 16k, but paid off fast.

The only reason I could see for selling the Buick is if the payments are too much strain, but that wasn't mentioned as a reason.

As for the psychological issues of having a nice car, and worrying about it - 1) relax a bit, it's just a car. 2) good insurance with comp coverage so that you know you can get it fixed if something falls off a truck, or someone backs into it and runs off. A 16k loan probably already requires that.

Thanks, my used car loan is 5 years @ 2.74 % which is pretty decent. The main issue is getting over the damage. I just had the windshield replaced, there were so many knicks from when I went on a road trip, it cost 250 bucks to fix through insurance.