I can't afford my vhicle. Can anyone help me?

Question

Last sept I went and trayed my saturn in and I got a Jeep well I'm now relizing that I really just can't afford it. Honestley the people at the Delership should have know it because its way out of my price rang its about 35% of my income. I want to know how I can get ride of the car w/o it getting repoed. I still need another vehicle I would just perfer one that's not so expensive. Can anyone help me

Answer 1

It's not their fault you didn't know exactly how much you could afford per month. All they look at is the price, your credit & if you have a job.

You should see if it is smarter for you to trade it in for a cheaper car. Or if it is smarter to sell the car & pay off the loan. Either way you will most likely end up owing money. But you won't have a black mark on your credit from defaulting on a loan.

Trading it in for a cheaper car seems like a better option because you still need a vehicle. If you sell the car & pay off the loan you will still need to get another car.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, the dealer took advantage of you. After all, most car salesmen aren't really your friends. They are there to make a profit however small (or big) it will be at the expense of the customer.

That being said, there are 2 things that you can do (and I've done both even after getting a good deal).

First thing I'd do is go to Lending Tree and fill out a new car refinancing loan. I had an Acura RSX Type-S, and while I was able to afford the payments, I found the interest rate to be too high. I was able to get a better loan with an APR of 5% LESS than what the dealer approved for (14.5 vs 11%). I can tell you that it makes quite a difference in monthly payments (about $40-50 LESS a month). Now I have a Subaru WRX and went to Lending Tree again, and I got an even lower interest, since I was being 'preapproved' (as opposed to refinance). So try them and see what offers you get.

The second option, is to either sell the vehicle yourself and try to come up with the price difference. Ex: if you owe $14,000, but the car is valued $11,000, you need to come up with the extra $3k in order to release the title.

If that is not feasible, what you can do is trade it in for another car you can afford and add the difference. (ex: a new $20k car will cost you $25k because the payoff is added to your new loan). This is what I did because my car was a defective car and I didn't want strangers joyriding the car and it's just less hassle. But keep in mind that the dealer will give you the wholesale value of the car, not the retail value. Go to either Edmunds or Kelly Blue Book to get an estimated value for your car.

The bottom line is, no matter what, GET PREAPPROVED FIRST. That way you can tell the dealer flat out that you were preapproved for X amount of money, and if they can't work with you, you are leaving. Don't let them talk you into filling in another credit app and lower your credit score even more! Tell them again you are sticking with your preapproved amount, take it or leave it!

Which brings me back to the Lending Tree thing. There is a question in the application that asks you how much do you want to apply for. So once you decide on what car you want (Ex: a $20k Honda Civic Si). Make sure you request $26k, so that it gives you wiggle room for your payoff difference.

If you are not sure what you can afford yet, go to Edmunds.com and find their financial calculator. It's a very easy tool and you can play around with the numbers and it will give you an estimated monthly payment. You also have the option of reading about the cars in question, and using the car's retail price into the calculator.

Hope all this helps. And good luck! Trust me, it's not as bad as you think, been there before. There's always a workaround.

Answer 3

Hi,

I would do all that I could to keep the car a bit longer. Maybe work some extra hours, get a small part time job, etc. Keep it a little longer so you can build some equity.

Another thing you might consider is trading the Jeep in for something way less expensive like a Kia Rio or something very affordable & dependable. The dealership will tack on what you owe from the Jeep into the Kia but your payments will probably go down. Go check it out-- you have nothing to lose.

Answer 4

your fault for buying the car, not their fault for selling it to you.

And sell the car, do your best to pay back your loan, and buy something very inexpensive and reliable. Go get an old (early-mid nineties) tacoma, or a camry/carolla or something. Youll come out behind (not as far as you already are), but its better than ruining your credit via repo.

now you should know how to budget properly. Cars are expensive. A nice car is not a need, its a want. If you cant afford a nice car, dont own one. Buy something that acts as nice cheap transportation.

and i would NOT trade it in. thats a bad idea because dealers give you terrible value on trade ins. Sell the car yourself, then buy somehting cheap.

and stay away from dealers generally, especially if youre bad with money. Theyre professionally trained in raping you of your money.

Answer 5

The people at the dealership aren't all that interested in if it's a large % of your income if you finance it through someone else. They get their money regardless and it becomes your problem to make the monthly bill...all they were worried about was if your credit score and income were high enough to qualify you for the loan.

Not to be ugly, but you should've known also that the monthly note was going to be more than you could afford....however, as suggested definitely try to sell it yourself. Lookup the value of it online (kelly blue book and edumunds are good ones to use) and then see if you can sell it yourself...trading it in will amost certainly cause you to take a loss, possibly a significant one...you may owe more on it now than its trade-in value is.

What about a part-time job to make enough to cover the note? It's an idea.

Good luck!

Answer 6

I would definitely try and sell it yourself. You must be awfully young. If you knew it was way out of your budget then why would YOU want it? It has nothing to do w/ the "delership" or the people who sold it to you, that is their job to try and sell you something no matter what. Next time you buy something or think about buying something, then I would get someone else's opinion first. It sounds like you need help w/ logical things, as well as financial situations, and of course... spelling.

Answer 7

The best bet is to sell the vehicle yourself. You probably will not get enough on trade in to pay off the car and will just bury yourself deeper in whatever you trade for. Try to sell it for what you owe or a little bit more dipending on your equity situation.

Answer 8

We all have to lose sometimes to learn.You are rite about the guys down at dealership. There are people out there that cant afford their homes anymore,the realators even knew this,but only wanted to make sale.Sometimes we need to make extra money,another job,or even overtime.You could stay at home,instead of going out.I have my own business,and sometimes i wont work during the winter,i stay at home and try to spend as little of my hard earned money as possible.Im sure you will figure it out.

Answer 9

Its only 3 possable ways you can get a ride,1 GET A JOB!!!!, 2 GET A HIRER PAYING JOB, 3 get a rich person to get it 4 u