4 those who said it couldn't be done!

[mountanddo]

Can I have your 16 yo car with 18,000 miles on it? That would trump my 15 year old car with 135k! I would be in seventh heaven. I wonder though why you are so emotional from comments on a post from someone you don't even know? You don't have to justify your actions with anyone especially people on a forum. All you have to do is justify it to yourself. Your response tells me that maybe you are having a hard time doing that? Yes, you make a lot of money now but if you continue to read this forum you will see that can dissapear in an instant and then where will you be? To put things into perspective I had to file chapter 13 on 20k of debt (less than half of what that car is) and I used to make good money too - enough to purchase a $42,000 car.

FYI, calling forum members stupid B....even if it is starred out generally is not a good idea. You will tend to get nasty responses back though I must admit tradinglife responded rather nice and calm given what you said.

[Flamingo]

I remember when I posted about getting a new car back in the spring of 2006 on here after paying off our Chapter 13 early (could be done at that time as we filed prior to October 2005 and the new BK laws that took effect at that time). Lots of people asked question as to how we did it, etc. and there were those that jumped on me and stated we were nuts and should have gone with a used car. None of those people knew me or understood why I needed a new car that was reliable - I commute 120 miles a day, needed a new car that could last a while and hold up to those mileage and that had a nice big warranty. We did our homework, I was terrified the BK would work against us, but actually qualified for GMAC's incentives at that time and got 0% financing, great trade in on our 1999 van that was a gas hog, paid the car off in 4 years, and still have the car. Since that time we purchased another new vehicle right after Christmas last year and with no BK on our credit reports and an 836 credit score (this is five years after discharge), we had several acceptances from various banks and lenders with only one denial - a bank that took over/merged with a bank that was included in our BK filing (goes to show you BK never really goes away and one can get denied at any time in the future due to the BK as many lenders/banks blacklist).

Why I am saying all this is that most of us don't know someone's reasoning behind a purchase and why they did it. If they got a great deal, and they can afford it, that's fine as we cannot control everyone's finances - we can only offer experience and advice and hope some people learn lessons from filing. Many do, many don't. But Bk is not the end of the world as the OP indicates and one can and will obtain new cars, credit, etc. after discharge. The key is to be prudent, be careful, and realize it does not take much to head back into financial disaster due to too many loans, credit cards, etc. We never know when the income can stop, the job get cut, a medical emergency occur, or another life event take place to disrupt everything.

[keepsmiling]

Can I have your 16 yo car with 18,000 miles on it? That would trump my 15 year old car with 135k! I would be in seventh heaven. I wonder though why you are so emotional from comments on a post from someone you don't even know? You don't have to justify your actions with anyone especially people on a forum. All you have to do is justify it to yourself. Your response tells me that maybe you are having a hard time doing that? Yes, you make a lot of money now but if you continue to read this forum you will see that can dissapear in an instant and then where will you be? To put things into perspective I had to file chapter 13 on 20k of debt (less than half of what that car is) and I used to make good money too - enough to purchase a $42,000 car.

FYI, calling forum members stupid B....even if it is starred out generally is not a good idea. You will tend to get nasty responses back though I must admit tradinglife responded rather nice and calm given what you said.

100% with MD here- both on wanting to have that car, and how to respond to posters.
We really pride ourselves here on being helpful, caring and quite polite as compared to other forums. Calling people names does NOT work here and frankly an apology is called for. TL, nice response btw, very controlled. 99% of the people here truly have the best interests of each poster at heart.

[iknowcupid]

I'm sorry to those that I was really harsh with. Please forgive me for my outbursts. Some days for me are not good days and some are not bad days...it's really the medication that I am on plus dealing with all that I have dealt with and I know that's no excuse.

yes we did get an excellent deal, it's not a brand new car, it's two years old. it was almost $60k new because it was fully loaded but it was a lease that someone turned in. it was in mint condition and they knocked the price down to almost half of the original price, it was at like $35,000 and had full warranties on it ...I added a full maintenence package on it and extra insure in case it was totaled they would pay off the car. if the interest rate was high i would not have done this at all. it's just that we were at the right place at the right time and my car was breaking down. i was going to have to spend a fortune on it to get it inspected by the end of this month. it needed new window motors on the front windows, the air conditioning stopped working and it's a leak somewhere, i was going to have to do some maintence on it and the thing is when you have an older car like this you can count on having these problems, you are either going to have a repair bill or a car payment as the car gets older. so the car was having issues ...i had talked to my bankruptcy attorney as well about this before i even signed the papers and asked for his opinion and he told me that if this is what I want, and that i have more than enough income (which I do and yes I understand we can all lose money at anytime) but the payment is cheaper than what I was paying the trustee and I did that for five years. He told me that it's really up to each and every person's financial situation and that no two bankruptcies are a like.

I don't have anything else that I am paying on except the mortgage. so i don't even have a credit card.

but anyway, i just wanted to say i was sorry

[iknowcupid]

Ok, I think the best thing for me to do is to just leave this forum entirely. Good luck to all of you and I wish you all well.

[SiftedLikeWheat]

To each his own! Enjoy your new car. If you can pay it off in one year, then it doesn't sound like a problem. You've been through heck the past 6 years -- blessings and enjoy your new car!!!!!

[SiftedLikeWheat]

p.s -- I think a lot of people do things like this but they wouldn't post here for the judgment they'd receive. I appreciate knowing someone was able to get a car loan.

[Billssuck]

When I first read the OP, I just took it as encouragement that we will be able to get a newer vehicle soon. We will make our final ch13 payment on May 1st and over the last two weeks, my two cars (the first one with 197K miles-listed as a tool of my trade on my ch13 and the second one with 213K miles) have had serious costly mechanical issues. For the one I use at work as a tool of trade, I am trying to find something I can pay cash for. But the other one will need to be a much newer car that we'll need to finance. I am thinking a $15,000 car and just think $42K is way too much for what we need.

Then I read further and saw the words of caution about going back into debt so soon after a ch13. Makes me reconsider even financing a $15K car but my family has no reliable transportation at this point to go anywhere to see my 82 year old father about an hour away, or my 75 year old mother who is closer, or to even drive a 60 mile round trip to go grocery shopping (we live in the boonies). Tonight I got in the second car and the engine coolant light came on as the transmission was slipping while I have my four-year-old in the back seat. It does not feel safe to drive anymore and we weren't able to get a new car before filing 3 years ago to get us through the BK; we were fortunate to get this far with the cars. Anyway, I will weigh all the pros and cons, look at my post-bk budget when I get discharged in a few months, and I will make a good decision.

[SiftedLikeWheat]

One of the frustrating things about BK for me now toward the end is waiting to buy new cars when the old ones are failing. Without the BK, it is more prudent to trade in the old car before it fails and while it has higher trade-in value. Since you are forced to wait until the end, you end up with expensive car repairs and falling trade-in value. BK is a way to pay off allowed creditors, it is not the path of best financial planning. I am also heading straight to a car dealer once my discharge arrives, for these reasons: hope to get a good trade-in price before the car fails, hope to get a car with much better gas mileage, hope to get something very reliable and live without car repair bills for the next 4 - 5 years, hope to get a good deal on a 2012 before the 2013s come out.

Also, when criticizing someone for buying a car, you do not know their financial situation. The amount of my BK payment is easily enough to take on two car payments, but we will only be taking on one. The rest will be going toward my child's 1st year of college.

[karm43]

Congrats but I have to agree thats a heck of a lot of money I could buy 2 all wheel dr for that much. a lot of debt.

[tradinglife]

It is interesting what some wealthy people drive. My landlord who owns over 20 paid for rental properties drives an 88 S-10 pickup, his wife has a 96 Cadillac. I'm sure most of us including myself would HAVE to have a car by the end of the month if we drove cars like that. That is why he is rich and I am still struggling. He is a super nice guy by the way, wish I had met him years ago and listened to some of his financial advice. My uncle who is probably one of my wealthiest relatives drives a 2003 Ford Focus, cheapest one he could find,lol. He is so tight I had to loan him a suit when he had to be a pallbearer in a funeral, lol. Just saying........many people with money do without things we all think we have to have......

[df04527]

Yup....that's exactly how they keep thier money by living a frugal life. They know the differece between need and want.

[Nofilb]

That's crazy. $42K for a car.

[SiftedLikeWheat]

It all depends on how much a person makes and what their other bills are. No one here has enough info to judge anyone.

Two AWDs for 42k? I'd like to know where. I have been pricing them lately and none that cheap. One I want to get with better gas mileage is pretty pricey, but I figured at $4 per gallon, I will save on gas in 2.5 years. Less pricey AWDs get less worse mileage. You have to do the arithmetic.

The rich guy with the old cars--well, you have to be rich to keep repairing those old cars. I bet they don't have to commute very far. Probably don't have to worry about breaking down far away from home in a snow storm.

Everyone is not in BK because of irresponsibility. Some people ended up here with a run of bad luck, illness, bad economy, etc. They say the average person in the US lost and average of 100k in the economic downturn--lost from home values and retirement accounts. People who had done the right things and not screwed up.

They say to have 6 months savings. Well, I did. Guess what--it ran out in six months! Then I owed taxes!

Will I have more than 6 months savings in the future and less debt?-- You betcha!!!! But the economy I lived in had not experienced such a downturn in 30 years. We are now living under a new set of rules. Homes had gone up in value (with some small dips) for 30 years. Then they crashed.

Also, you only live once. Someone wants to get a new car, let them! I had cancer once. Could get it again. I could die before I wear out the car. Have to be careful, sure, but also have to live a little, especially after the heck we've been through the past five years!

Blessings. Have a nice evening!

[AngelinaCat]

This thread has gone on far too long. It is now closed.