Cary Payment allowance VS Car maintenance allowance?? Unclear on difference

[seanp951]

under this theory of going over the allowance and paying the difference... could I sell my japanese car and buy a Porsche Cayman S... then just pay the difference????

wait.. i can't do that, I have kids... ok, I'll get a BMW M5.... much more practical!

[catleg]

Yes but there's usually a little wiggle room between categories.
We hardly spend anything on clothes and haven't had major expense items in the house.
But I do need some new tires pretty soon.

[catleg]

There is a guy in NJ who had a new Mercedes in his chapter 13 plan, I followed him for a while in Pacer, I don't think it worked out very well in the end.
But 100-200 over you should be able to swing.

[mountanddo]

There is a guy in NJ who had a new Mercedes in his chapter 13 plan, I followed him for a while in Pacer, I don't think it worked out very well in the end.
But 100-200 over you should be able to swing.

I still don't understand how they allow you to do this. If you have a car over the allowance and you are able to afford $100-$200 to "eat the difference" wouldn't the trustee require you to pay that to the creditors and surrender the car or get a car that was at or below the allowance?

[catleg]

No. It's all part of the negotiation.
Come to think of it, for the OP, you could buy new tires and rims and finance it with a 2nd lien on the car itself. That should bump your payment a bit.

[8forme]

I am not understaing the car allowance thing. I thought that was only for the means test. That you could use your actual car payment to figure out DMI. One of our cars was over the allowance, but since we were clearly no where near CH7 territory was under the impression it did not matter. Our cars are included in our plan payment, both of them but we had them 4 years when we filed. So in reality our plan payment is our car payments plus about $150 more a month until our 401K loans get paid off. Then the payment steps up by the 401K loan amount as they pay off.

[catleg]

In theory you can put whatever you spend on a car loan on your schedule J.
The trustee can object but in the end it is decided by the judge.
Since I had a figure in mind of what I was willing to pay I made the offer and they took it and went away.

Chapter 13 is all about protecting secured creditors.
In theory if you have a boat or a snowmobile (financed) they should let you pay that debt in the plan.
The only elements to look out for are the chapter 7 liquidation preference and the 'totality of circumstances' objection.
Also it is possible to keep 3 cars for a married couple, if you have, say, a truck for weekend projects.