How do they determine the worth of your car?

[bal_ny]

Do they use NADA? Edmunds? Or, if it's a recent purchase, do they go by the price paid?

I'm not reaffirming my auto loan (very upside down on the car, payments are high and the car is starting to have serious - expensive - mechanical problems). As a result, I have to get some form of inexpensive transportation to and from work.

My lawyer cautioned me to stay under $2000, otherwise I risk losing the car. I thought it would be no problem, but it seems that the cars for sale locally - found via the paper and AutoTrader, etc. - all have a book value of over that. The least expensive ones are listed at between $2300 - 2500 dealer retail. The one exception is an '86 Volvo... is that, for now, my only option?

[jp2861]

Do they use NADA? Edmunds? Or, if it's a recent purchase, do they go by the price paid?

I'm not reaffirming my auto loan (very upside down on the car, payments are high and the car is starting to have serious - expensive - mechanical problems). As a result, I have to get some form of inexpensive transportation to and from work.

My lawyer cautioned me to stay under $2000, otherwise I risk losing the car. I thought it would be no problem, but it seems that the cars for sale locally - found via the paper and AutoTrader, etc. - all have a book value of over that. The least expensive ones are listed at between $2300 - 2500 dealer retail. The one exception is an '86 Volvo... is that, for now, my only option?

I'm assuming he said 2000 because thats your exemption level. In the 2000 range I wouldn't worry too much about how they value it. More than likely it will have high miles and not be worth them trying to wholesale it out. Buy a clunker now, get the discharge, then worry about getting something a little nicer.

[lrprn]

Do they use NADA? Edmunds? Or, if it's a recent purchase, do they go by the price paid?

Each local court seems to have a preference - it's not consistent. If you have retained a lawyer, he/she can give the answer to this question for your local court. If you haven't, then you can get the answer from making several initial consultation appointments with 2-3 bankruptcy lawyers in your area.

Are you concerned about your car values when you file?

[PaKettle]

Do they use NADA? Edmunds? Or, if it's a recent purchase, do they go by the price paid?

I'm not reaffirming my auto loan (very upside down on the car, payments are high and the car is starting to have serious - expensive - mechanical problems). As a result, I have to get some form of inexpensive transportation to and from work.

My lawyer cautioned me to stay under $2000, otherwise I risk losing the car. I thought it would be no problem, but it seems that the cars for sale locally - found via the paper and AutoTrader, etc. - all have a book value of over that. The least expensive ones are listed at between $2300 - 2500 dealer retail. The one exception is an '86 Volvo... is that, for now, my only option?

I was told www.kbb.com was the place to get my estimate.

[phoenyx]

Jp's totally right. Even if the car is valued slightly higher than your allowed exemption, I can't see a trustee seizing a car because it's a few hundred dollars over your exemption. It's not worth their time to sell a low value used car for a few hundred dollars. Ask your attorney first before spending over the $2,000 he recommended, but I think you should be fine if you buy a car for $2,300-2500.

Your attorney's right, if you go over your exemption amount, you risk losing the car. But if it's a few hundred dollars, in my opinion, your risk is negligible.

[Flamingo]

Our attorney used the Blue Book right in front of us. It all depends what the Trustee in your district/state uses.

[bal_ny]

Ok, thanks. I meet with the attorney again on Tuesday so I'll clarify it with him.

It's hard... I remember a few short years ago, you could find a car for around a thousand bucks around here. Sure, it was beat up and not necessarily pretty, but you could get 6 months of use out of it. Now that I need one? Nothing. *sigh*

I guess I have a couple of months before I really have to panic - my car payment isn't behind so it's not like they're thinking repo at this point. As long as they don't request relief from the stay after I've filed, I have some time.

Thanks again.