vehicle question

[okiemom2008]

I have a question about my vehicle. My husband and I only have one vehicle and he has to have it to get to work. It is a 2008 Durango 560 a month. We thought about doing a 722 redemption but we are just going to give it up and but 2 used trucks instead.

The payment was due 11/9 and I have not paid it yet. We are not filing until February. I do not have the money but I have to come up with it so my husband can get to work to make the money.

Should I pay it until February? It is with Chrysler Financial and they are not the nicest people. I think they will probably repo it if I do not pay it soon as I have been late the last 3 months(about 15 days late each month)

It is only worth 10k on kbb but the payoff is still 28k so even if they did repo it they could not get the money back.

I am just asking for your advice and opinions. I do not want to waste 560 a month since we know we are not keeping it but I realize we have to have it to get to work until we can get another vehicle

[lrprn]

You will be in real danger of waking up without a car after the second month passes without a car payment. However, reaffirming to keep a car that's so incredibly upside down would be crazy.

Also I think you'll find a 722 loan is going to sink you with the incredibly high interest. Not a great way to launch a fresh start after bankruptcy.

If I were you, I'd consider making the payments for your husband's car until you've saved up the money to buy a junker for cash that your husband can use to get to work. Then stop making your car payments at that point and have him drive the current car until the repo man arrives. Just keep all personal belongings out of it at all times. After you've had a chance to build up some good credit history (6-12 months) after your bk is discharged and closed, then go car shopping for a reasonably priced, reliable used car to replace the junker.

Be sure to put this on your list of questions for your lawyer to get solid legal advice about what's going to work best in your situation.

[okiemom2008]

You will be in real danger of waking up without a car after the second month passes without a car payment. However, reaffirming to keep a car that's so incredibly upside down would be crazy.

Also I think you'll find a 722 loan is going to sink you with the incredibly high interest. Not a great way to launch a fresh start after bankruptcy.

If I were you, I'd consider making the payments for your husband's car until you've saved up the money to buy a junker for cash that your husband can use to get to work. Then stop making your car payments at that point and have him drive the current car until the repo man arrives. Just keep all personal belongings out of it at all times. After you've had a chance to build up some good credit history (6-12 months) after your bk is discharged and closed, then go car shopping for a reasonably priced, reliable used car to replace the junker.

Be sure to put this on your list of questions for your lawyer to get solid legal advice about what's going to work best in your situation.

The 722 is 24% interest and a 320 payment. We figure if we can come up with the money to buy a used truck we would be better off and not have payments.

We are fine with the thought of driving older vehicles that cost around 8k. We are actually excited about not having a car payment!! Thanks for the advice

[coloradomrg]

Most lenders aren't sending the repo man until 90 days right now. Robbing peter to pay paul, we had 2 cars that were 60 days late for about 4 months prior to filling.

If you've had the loan atleast a year, and haven't had any extensions, you may be able to ask chrysler for one. This would give you a one or two month window in which you could save those car payments. In my experience, lenders won't give you the extension until you are behind though and this really just brings you up to date.

Another option is to get the 722 redemption, and then plan to refinance within a year. $320 is a chunk of change, but I see local CU's offering people 8mos past dishcarge 4-7% rates on used cars!

You'd be financing roughly 11k @ 24% to get to that payment...
Every payment made @ 320 will pay off approx. $100 principal. So 12 mos = 1200 payed off. So you'd be refinancing 9800 approx. @ 10% = 208... @ 7% = 195.

These are all pretty good numbers for a 2008 suv. BUT... if you can get by with 2 less expensive cash cars then DO THAT!! We financed one, and paid cash for one beater. I can't wait to pay off the one!

[Keebler]

Everyone's situation is very different so its hard to comment. I thought you might feel better knowing about some else's experience.

We originally planned on surrendering a 2006 vehcile with a $370 payment that we weren't too upside down on. We wanted to reaffirm a 1999 vehicle that we had with a payment just over $200 that was going to be paid off in a bit more than a year.

The 1999 we intended to reaffirm had the transmission go out right after we filed and the credit union wanted us to reaffirm everything we owed them which would have cost us double its value and lots more in monthly payments.

We stopped making payments on the 2006 about three months before we filed and drove it almost all the way until we were discharged. We also stopped making payments on the 1999 the month before we filed and it sat in the driveway right up until we got discharged too.

The whole process wasn't pretty and we knew that our only working vehicle could disappear on a moments notice. We're very blessed at the way things played out but I'm not sure I could pull it off two times in a row or recommend it to anyone.

My wife ended up landing a part time job and we saved up enough to buy a nice car that was a bit neglected. I've bought tires, a battery and replaced the alternator already but it seems like it'll get us to work and we're grateful to have it. I think we've spent a little less than $3,000 on that one so far.

A week or so before they ended up towing away the 2006 we got a loan from a relative and went out and bought a well used SUV from Craig's List for half of its normal retail value.

So now we're set for a while. I'm sure I'll be spending more weekends playing auto mechanic and it won't always be pretty. On the other hand, I'm happy with what we got and it suits our needs just fine. I went from having $25,000 worth of vehicles sitting in the driveway to less than $10,000 and we only need to pay back $6,000.

It sure would have been comforting and convenient to reaffirm the 2006 we had but I'm glad we decided to let go of the obligation and choose to get by with a lot less.