question about equity in car(s)

[limage]

I am filing Ch 7 in the next couple of weeks. I am in the process of filing out the paperwork for my attorney.

Florida has a 1000 vehicle exemption.

I have 2 vehicles. One is 2002 Miata paid for and probably has a private retail value of about 6500. I plan on surrendering this vehicle to the trustee. It is my main assett that I cannot exempt.

My other vehicle is a 2001 Ford F250 with 89k miles. I paid 8200 for it (retail)a year ago. The balance on my loan is 6900. I would like to keep the truck since my payment is very low (178) and I need a car of course.

When I look up the value of my truck on kbb, the value is much higher than I paid for it. It does need work- it is running rough and the AC has not been working. I don't know if I will get it fixed before I file or not.

Should I get an appraisal on the truck? I don't think it is worth more than what I owe and I could use the exemption elsewhere.

Advice appreciated!

[StartingOver08]

Look up the posts by IBroke here in this forum regarding using a 'carmax valuation'.

Many of the Trustees are accepting a valuation by Carmax - because the actual value is less than what either KBB or NADA has listed.

[sophia]

Hi, I have yet to file, but I am in Florida.

I justed wanted to respond and say that we found a certified car appraiser that charged $80 for each of our vehicles.

One car is 18 years old and the other is 8 years old.

In my district we were told they trustee only uses The Nada book and goes by retail price.

The 18 year truck has a retail value of over 3K but after the appraisal it came in under $1700.

The 8 year old car that has front end damage and other things wrong and has a Nada value of almost $3800 but after the appraisal came in under $1600

edited to add that I did the private appraisal so that we could use one of our $4k wild card exemptions and be able to keep both cars.

[limage]

Hi Sophia,

I am in St Petersburg and I have a note from the clerk's office saying only certified appraisals or NADA retail is used. NO CARMAX appraisals allowed. I guess I will be finding an appraiser. Do you mind sharing the name and number of your appraiser?

[sophia]

Hi Sophia,

I am in St Petersburg and I have a note from the clerk's office saying only certified appraisals or NADA retail is used. NO CARMAX appraisals allowed. I guess I will be finding an appraiser. Do you mind sharing the name and number of your appraiser?

Seeing that I have not yet filed I'm not comfortable sharing the name of the place.
I do not want to responsible for recommending a place when I do not yet know if the trustee will have issue with the company I used (for whatever reason) KWIM?

The way I found them though was i just used the online yellowpages.com and put in Auto Appraisers in Tampa, Fl and called a few and went with the least expensive place. I made sure they were certified and experienced with bankruptcy appraisals.

They drove out to my home, looked over the vehicles, I paid them and within 5 days they emailed the info to my attorney and to myself, they also will provide the trustee with any info requested in regards to how they determined the value if need be.

[hopefulbk]

Hi Sophia,

I am in St Petersburg and I have a note from the clerk's office saying only certified appraisals or NADA retail is used. NO CARMAX appraisals allowed. I guess I will be finding an appraiser. Do you mind sharing the name and number of your appraiser?

I'll be filing in the same district and I can't believe they would go by retail?! I thought they took an avg of trade in and retail? I wonder why carmax isn't accepted and I wonder why an outside company would be allowed. My car is 11 years old with 132K+ miles on it- the trade in is almost nothing but the clean retail is 4500.. now I feel sick... Plus, the car has been in 2 accidents and there is stuff missing, holes in the carpet so there is NO way that is considered clean!

[StartingOver08]

Go get that certified appraisal done - it sounds like your car would be in the exemptions if you have a third party certified appraisal.

[sophia]

I'll be filing in the same district and I can't believe they would go by retail?! I thought they took an avg of trade in and retail? I wonder why carmax isn't accepted and I wonder why an outside company would be allowed. My car is 11 years old with 132K+ miles on it- the trade in is almost nothing but the clean retail is 4500.. now I feel sick... Plus, the car has been in 2 accidents and there is stuff missing, holes in the carpet so there is NO way that is considered clean!

I imagine the guys at carmax are not certified auto appraiser's, just car sale persons which is why they are not acceptable here in our district.