Financing car before filing

[sobeit]

I've found some posts about this, but wanted to see if there are some more current experiences with this.

I own a 15 year old car that needs about $1K in repairs, and seems in general to be falling apart. My credit score is about 655, so I could get a car loan right now. Was thinking about buying a used economy car with low miles and good gas mileage before filing.

However, if I did not have a car payment, I'd probably have to do a Chapter 13 (my income is about 20% above the median). With a car payment of about $200/month or more, I pass the means test and should be able to do a Chapter 7. All of my other possessions are exempt, and I'm a case with no savings, virtually no equity in my house...nothing.

My concern is that this will be seen as abuse, an attempt to get out of paying anything to my creditors. But because everything else in the picture is so modest, I'm wondering if the trustee won't blink an eye. Any experiences with similar situations you can share?

[mylesbp]

I bought a used car 2 months before I filed chapter 7. Without it I would have been in a 13 since I was over the median and would not have past the means test.

Nothing was ever said by my layer or the trustee at the 341.

[keepmine]

Pretty standard advice around here is, get reliable transpotation before you file.
That's not fraud-just realistic bk preplanning.

[LSUTiger32]

I hate the idea of more debt.......but I would have to agree, especially if it keeps you out of a 13. Keep it low like you said, used, reliable and cheap to maintain (i.e. a domestic car). I did the same thing just prior to our filing.