Is it just to hard to go from a 08 car to a junker

[bigtim6656]

I got a question i see where some people run out and buy a 30k or even a 50k car after discharge. I understand wanting a nice car. Heck i ate 4000 jumping car to car from a 1990 junk f150 to the 07 chevy i am in now. But is it to hard to go from giving up the new car in bankrupcty and going to a 900 car. I have been there luckly i do not see losing my truck in filing chapter 7. since it is just about the only thing i own. But if i do i am not running out and buying a 30k truck. I would like to want to but looking at what it will cost me to through that money away just ant going to happen.

[wrigley1976]

I agree- I am turning in my nice 05 Toyota in a few weeks.
I have been looking at Carmax recently- I will most likely get into a Cobal or HHR- with $2500 down. My payments will still be almost $300 considering my interest rate.
But I need a dependable car to commute 60 miles a day- and to drive the kids around on the weekend.
I plan on either refinancing or trading it in in about a year or two once I get get a better rate.

I got a question i see where some people run out and buy a 30k or even a 50k car after discharge. I understand wanting a nice car. Heck i ate 4000 jumping car to car from a 1990 junk f150 to the 07 chevy i am in now. But is it to hard to go from giving up the new car in bankrupcty and going to a 900 car. I have been there luckly i do not see losing my truck in filing chapter 7. since it is just about the only thing i own. But if i do i am not running out and buying a 30k truck. I would like to want to but looking at what it will cost me to through that money away just ant going to happen.

[bigtim6656]

Good plan you have laid out. Sure i could sell me truck and use the cash for other things. But not going to happen nice having a dependable truck i can drive anywhere. 15000 miles in 8 months no proplems. THere are many reason people go out and buy new car after discharge. But i know two who did it because "i wont be caught dead driving a piece of junk"

My sister has had about 12 buy here pay cars never paid one off. She drives them for a few months or year they brake down you she wants something new. Then she goes out buys a 2000 car for 5000 and a 1000 down. My dad keeps telling her drive one for a few years save the cash hit a auction and pay cash.

I agree- I am turning in my nice 05 Toyota in a few weeks.
I have been looking at Carmax recently- I will most likely get into a Cobal or HHR- with $2500 down. My payments will still be almost $300 considering my interest rate.
But I need a dependable car to commute 60 miles a day- and to drive the kids around on the weekend.
I plan on either refinancing or trading it in in about a year or two once I get get a better rate.

[MomIcantFindmy]

At the time we filed we had never driven a car that was more than 4 years old. When we filed we had three cars. My daughters (registered in my name because she was a minor) and my husbands (2 years old) and mine (1 year old). We were all set to reaffirm the cars and it turned out that we could not appear before the judge on our reaffirmation hearing day. So we decided to to turn in the cars. We bought 2 different cars. (14 year old Honda and a 8 year old Mercury) Best thing we ever did. No car payments. We have put in about $1000 in repairs to both cars over the last year ($83 a month on average for two cars) and the insurance is unbelievably cheap. Plus I never worry about someone stealing it or it getting dings in a parking lot. We chose to bank the money and someday we will buy another car. Probably another old used car. Keep it in perspective.....a car is only a means to get from one place to another...not a indication of who you really are deep inside.

[bigtim6656]

COngrats hearing all you guys talk about buying old cars makes me feel bad that after i get discharged i am going to get a auto loan. Though i own the truck i will get it on. It is to help build my credit. Not buy a new car. Properly 1000 to 3000. FIgure i will use the money to either improve the vaule of the truck. such as adding some extra stuff to it. Or use it to buy a CD that will help to pay the interst rate on the loan.

At the time we filed we had never driven a car that was more than 4 years old. When we filed we had three cars. My daughters (registered in my name because she was a minor) and my husbands (2 years old) and mine (1 year old). We were all set to reaffirm the cars and it turned out that we could not appear before the judge on our reaffirmation hearing day. So we decided to to turn in the cars. We bought 2 different cars. (14 year old Honda and a 8 year old Mercury) Best thing we ever did. No car payments. We have put in about $1000 in repairs to both cars over the last year ($83 a month on average for two cars) and the insurance is unbelievably cheap. Plus I never worry about someone stealing it or it getting dings in a parking lot. We chose to bank the money and someday we will buy another car. Probably another old used car. Keep it in perspective.....a car is only a means to get from one place to another...not a indication of who you really are deep inside.

[Keebler]

At the time we filed we had never driven a car that was more than 4 years old. When we filed we had three cars. My daughters (registered in my name because she was a minor) and my husbands (2 years old) and mine (1 year old). We were all set to reaffirm the cars and it turned out that we could not appear before the judge on our reaffirmation hearing day. So we decided to to turn in the cars. We bought 2 different cars. (14 year old Honda and a 8 year old Mercury) Best thing we ever did. No car payments. We have put in about $1000 in repairs to both cars over the last year ($83 a month on average for two cars) and the insurance is unbelievably cheap. Plus I never worry about someone stealing it or it getting dings in a parking lot. We chose to bank the money and someday we will buy another car. Probably another old used car. Keep it in perspective.....a car is only a means to get from one place to another...not a indication of who you really are deep inside.

We did exactly the same thing and we're glad we did too! It never stops amazing me how people tremble in fear at the thought of an auto repair and curse the car beacuse it somehow lost them the money. Nobody EVER seems to think about the hundreds of dollars wasted every month on INTEREST on that new car loan they've got. At least the money you spend at the car repair place actually BUYS you something.

The rule of thumb that helped me see things differently is this... I expect to "waste" $100 per month on each car or 10 Cents per mile. This money needs to cover the cost of obtaining the car and keeping it running. It doesn't include gas or insurance for example. Every NEW car I've ever bought "wasted" a lot more than $100 every month on interest alone.

For example, using my rule of thumb that SUV we bought new several years back needed to keep going for 250 MONTHS to justify the $25,000 price tag. That's MORE THAN TEN YEARS without a single repair! (Not likely) Or, it needed to go 250,000 miles to meet the 10 Cent per mile criteria instead. Is anyone willing to bet that their new car can make it that long without costing extra? Probably not.

Now, take the used cars we bought instead. The first one was a well-used Oldsmobile that we spent $1,800 on including a new set of tires. Using the $100 per month rule, the car only needs to work for 18 Months or 18,000 miles to be considered "worth it". That car isn't great but I'd be willing to bet it'll work at least 18 months. I would never be willing to bet that the brand-new $25,000 SUV would last for 250 Months to be considered "worth it". See the difference?

Using this rule of thumb, it's easier to look at a $500 junker and ask yourself "will it keep running for at least five months or 5,000 miles?" If the answer is "yes" then it's going to save you money in a way that a new car can't.

When repairs ARE needed, the same rule applies. If a $1,000 repair comes along, you just need to ask "will this repair keep the wreck going for an additional 10 Months or 10,000 miles?" If so, spend the money and be happy.

An additional incentive is that we save cash every month for a replacement vehicle and we have a goal to work toward. Once we hit the 18 Month mark our current used car "owes us nothing" and we get to decide whether to keep going or use the money we've saved to buy whatever replacement we can afford at that time.

My most recent purchase was a four-year-old car with only 80,000 miles on it. It's in beautiful condition and it only needs to give me 45 trouble-free months or 45,000 miles to be a good deal. Almost ANY modern car will last WELL beyond eight years old and 125,000 miles so I'm feeling pretty good about that bet too. I'll NEVER buy a new car again!

[BkinTX]

We are turning in a 2006 Ford Explorer. We just purchased a 1998 Plymouth Grand Voyager (minivan) with cash. LOVE IT. The kids love it.

When I see brand new vehicles I no longer think, "That person must be doing well". I think "That person must OWE a lot!"

[debtmonster]

It amazes me that people pay such high dollar for very old, high mileage cars where there are so many on Auto Trader for less money with low miles if you only knew how to look!!

I would never dream of buying a 14 year old car unless it was a nice Ferrari or something. Why on earth would you want to gamble like that? Transportation = FREEDOM.

If you can manage to scrape up $4,000 to $5,000 cash, there's so many nice, late model used cars you can find with under 30,000 to 50,000 miles.

I have proven this many times. So why are you guys not doing what I said? Did you not see my posts? I don't get it.

If you need help finding a like-new, cheap car in your area, let me know and I will do a search for you. I just hate seeing people get raped at car dealers.

If you need basic transportation to get to work or just to get from Point A to Point B, I wouldn't be looking at buying some early 1990's car to do this when there are plenty of 2004-2007 cars to do this for the same price if you only know how to look.

Peace!

[bigtim6656]

I do agree with you but the issue with what you have said is it is very hard if not impossiable for some to come up with 3000to5000 to buy a car.

It amazes me that people pay such high dollar for very old, high mileage cars where there are so many on Auto Trader for less money with low miles if you only knew how to look!!

I would never dream of buying a 14 year old car unless it was a nice Ferrari or something. Why on earth would you want to gamble like that? Transportation = FREEDOM.

If you can manage to scrape up $4,000 to $5,000 cash, there's so many nice, late model used cars you can find with under 30,000 to 50,000 miles.

I have proven this many times. So why are you guys not doing what I said? Did you not see my posts? I don't get it.

If you need help finding a like-new, cheap car in your area, let me know and I will do a search for you. I just hate seeing people get raped at car dealers.

If you need basic transportation to get to work or just to get from Point A to Point B, I wouldn't be looking at buying some early 1990's car to do this when there are plenty of 2004-2007 cars to do this for the same price if you only know how to look.

Peace!

[BkinTX]

Debtmonster, we purchased our vehicle for under 2k. We will drive it for a year (or longer if it holds up) while saving "payments". When we are finished with it, we will sell it and use the proceeds plus the money we put back as payments to purchase something slightly newer.

This can be done continually to the point that one purchases a very late model vehicle with cash.

It just takes patience and humility.

We purchased our vehicle private party. We are still in bk (not discharged yet). We did not "get raped". We are very happy with our vehicle.

[debtmonster]

I do agree with you but the issue with what you have said is it is very hard if not impossiable for some to come up with 3000to5000 to buy a car.

So you finance the $5,000 dollar car that's 3 years old and has like 30,000 miles on it... but don't buy the $5,000 dollar one that's 8 years old and has 125,000 miles on it. I see way too many people doing this and there's no reason for this now that there's a flood of like-new cars selling dirt cheap thanks to this bad economy.

[BkinTX]

I would only finance something if I had no other option. Why allow yourself to be charged truly rapacious interest when patience pays?

[debtmonster]

I would only finance something if I had no other option. Why allow yourself to be charged truly rapacious interest when patience pays?

That rate is only outrageous if you allow the payments to drag on for 12 to 60 months.

If you buy the car and pay it off in a few months instead of the full term, it's not so bad.

I would much rather have sometime like a 2007 Kia <something> for $4,500 or $5,000 than buy some 1998 <something> for $1500.

I'd pay the extra money. I don't have time for breakdowns if I get a new job.

[StartingOver08]

BkinTX and Keebler have very sound arguments in my opinion. New/newer cars are just consumerism.

We ended up here at the BK forum for making poor financial decisions or some large unplanned event like illness, or a combination of both. If we did not have car payments and we beef up our savings instead we can withstand the 'unexpected'. Also, if we are paying cash for a vehicle we can ultimately get a better price. Like BkinTx says: Why allow yourself to be charged truly rapacious interest when patience pays?

Having been thru this BK process - now I watch what I buy. All day long we are pushed into wanting X (whatever), for status. I say the new status is: Is it paid for?

[BkinTX]

Yeah, this is a second car for carting around kids. And I prefer to earn interest instead of pay it. My FIL is a mechanic. I'm not worried.

It's great that you know how you want to do things but I see no need to be critical of others' conservative choices. I think pride and the desire to have the newest and best is what got us (my own family) into this mess.

No thank you to a second helping.

$5000 over 6 months (plus interest) is nearing 1k a month. Even my bloated SUV payments weren't that high. I don't know what kind of income you have, Debtmonster, but we can't spare 1k a month for an auto payment.