Upside down car - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

raging moderate · 04-25-2010, 07:23 PM

but no, seriously, I have a question about being upside down on a car.

I've got an 05 prius that I'm hopelessly upside down on and am concerned b/c of all the bad press that I may have a hard time selling it anyway. I bought it with 90k miles on it and now it has 150k miles. I'm trying to get rid of debt and all that but oweing a bunch more money on a car (around $3-4k) doesn't really help further that agenda.

so the way I see it, I can either hang on to the thing until it dies/hybrid battery dies/etc and I still will probably owe money on it at that point (the internet points to a 180k mile life span on the battery), or sell it at a loss (actually this isn't really an option at this point due to not having the cash) or try and attempt some sort of wheelie-dealie trade in and end up in a similar situation on a different, at least younger, car. Or of course I could keep it for awhile and just try to pay the thing down and see if I can sell in a year or so.

So, ye of TFP, how do y'all think I should proceed here? Is there another option I'm not thinking of?

Cynthetiq · 04-25-2010, 07:55 PM

I'm curious how upside down you got on this loan when you bought a used car with 90k miles on it. I'd assume that the vehicle was 3 years old and the biggest depreciation hit was already taken by the first owner.

If I read the OP right, you still owe 3k on the vehicle? Or do you mean if you sell it for what it's worth now, Kelly BB value around $8k. Normally being upside down on a vehicle means that you owe more than it's worth, so if you're by the OP you're saying you still owe like $12k?

raging moderate · 04-25-2010, 08:04 PM

yeah it was about a year ago and I had no car and no idea about how screwed i was getting...didn't really look at what I was signing like I should have. the numbers you said are pretty much spot on. i owe about 12k and it's worth about 8k. i bought it for 14k something like that and i'm on one of those ridiculous payment plans where it is streched out over 5 years.

---------- Post added at 11:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 PM ----------

at the time the kbb price more or less matched what i paid for it

Cynthetiq · 04-25-2010, 08:18 PM

If it were me, I'd be prepared to hang onto the car and be willing to purchase the replacement or repairs that are required of the vehicle. I'd be trying to reduce the amount of mileage on the vehicle and considering the actual benefit. What I mean by this is that if the primary goal was for gas/mile benefit and you're driving 50 miles on the highway, you aren't getting the benefit of the battery anyways.

The vehicle itself isn't the same kind of debt you should be ridding yourself of, unless this is an extra vehicle. By the mileage driven on it, it sounds like your daily driver or primary vehicle.

Three kinds of debt you can hang onto, housing debt, student loan debt, and vehicle debt. While you can control how much debt you get into for these three items, I'm of the opinion that if you're a nickel in, you're a dollar in.

Two ways to reduce the debt of these things, first and foremost, paying it off faster than the interest accumulates. Or restructuring the debt in some fashion such as getting a cheaper loan ala refinancing the loan or consolidating debt into one loan.

I assume that you're doing all the rest of your debt clean up? You've got other debt in cards and other loans? If that's the case, then you should be piling up your money onto those loans first and this one rides until a later time that you've finished paying down all the other loans like credit cards and lines of credit.

For what it's worth now, whenever looking at financing look at the TOTAL amount of the payment to get an exact idea as to how much you will be spending. My guess is that the Kelly BB was probably what was listed but you're paying so much more because of the interest, thus when you signed on the line, you were buying that vehicle not at the BB value but at the value at the end of the loan.

04-25-2010, 07:23 PM	#1 (permalink)
raging moderate Insane Location: Whatever house my keys can get me into	Upside down car but no, seriously, I have a question about being upside down on a car. I've got an 05 prius that I'm hopelessly upside down on and am concerned b/c of all the bad press that I may have a hard time selling it anyway. I bought it with 90k miles on it and now it has 150k miles. I'm trying to get rid of debt and all that but oweing a bunch more money on a car (around $3-4k) doesn't really help further that agenda. so the way I see it, I can either hang on to the thing until it dies/hybrid battery dies/etc and I still will probably owe money on it at that point (the internet points to a 180k mile life span on the battery), or sell it at a loss (actually this isn't really an option at this point due to not having the cash) or try and attempt some sort of wheelie-dealie trade in and end up in a similar situation on a different, at least younger, car. Or of course I could keep it for awhile and just try to pay the thing down and see if I can sell in a year or so. So, ye of TFP, how do y'all think I should proceed here? Is there another option I'm not thinking of? __________________ These are the good old days... formerly Murp0434

04-25-2010, 07:55 PM	#2 (permalink)
Cynthetiq Tilted Cat Head Administrator Location: Manhattan, NY	I'm curious how upside down you got on this loan when you bought a used car with 90k miles on it. I'd assume that the vehicle was 3 years old and the biggest depreciation hit was already taken by the first owner. If I read the OP right, you still owe 3k on the vehicle? Or do you mean if you sell it for what it's worth now, Kelly BB value around $8k. Normally being upside down on a vehicle means that you owe more than it's worth, so if you're by the OP you're saying you still owe like $12k? __________________ I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. What's the best nation in the world? DO-NATION!

04-25-2010, 08:04 PM	#3 (permalink)
raging moderate Insane Location: Whatever house my keys can get me into	yeah it was about a year ago and I had no car and no idea about how screwed i was getting...didn't really look at what I was signing like I should have. the numbers you said are pretty much spot on. i owe about 12k and it's worth about 8k. i bought it for 14k something like that and i'm on one of those ridiculous payment plans where it is streched out over 5 years. ---------- Post added at 11:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 PM ---------- at the time the kbb price more or less matched what i paid for it __________________ These are the good old days... formerly Murp0434

04-25-2010, 08:18 PM	#4 (permalink)
Cynthetiq Tilted Cat Head Administrator Location: Manhattan, NY	If it were me, I'd be prepared to hang onto the car and be willing to purchase the replacement or repairs that are required of the vehicle. I'd be trying to reduce the amount of mileage on the vehicle and considering the actual benefit. What I mean by this is that if the primary goal was for gas/mile benefit and you're driving 50 miles on the highway, you aren't getting the benefit of the battery anyways. The vehicle itself isn't the same kind of debt you should be ridding yourself of, unless this is an extra vehicle. By the mileage driven on it, it sounds like your daily driver or primary vehicle. Three kinds of debt you can hang onto, housing debt, student loan debt, and vehicle debt. While you can control how much debt you get into for these three items, I'm of the opinion that if you're a nickel in, you're a dollar in. Two ways to reduce the debt of these things, first and foremost, paying it off faster than the interest accumulates. Or restructuring the debt in some fashion such as getting a cheaper loan ala refinancing the loan or consolidating debt into one loan. I assume that you're doing all the rest of your debt clean up? You've got other debt in cards and other loans? If that's the case, then you should be piling up your money onto those loans first and this one rides until a later time that you've finished paying down all the other loans like credit cards and lines of credit. For what it's worth now, whenever looking at financing look at the TOTAL amount of the payment to get an exact idea as to how much you will be spending. My guess is that the Kelly BB was probably what was listed but you're paying so much more because of the interest, thus when you signed on the line, you were buying that vehicle not at the BB value but at the value at the end of the loan. __________________ I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. What's the best nation in the world? DO-NATION!