Big Purchase Mistake - In need of serious help!

Not old enough to co-own? I owned my own car outright at age 16. Car was in my name. So was the insurance. Insurance for a year cost almost as much as the car, with minimum required coverage. This was in 1968, a 1961 Morris Mini 850, cost of vehicle, a whole $60. Plus hours of work making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. About another $60 in parts to get it on the road.

Like I said earlier, increasing the deductible to $1000 on both only saves a total of 62.52 (or about $10 a month). Doubling the deductible does not mean the premium is going to be halved.

-C

former insurance agent, son

word to the wise..... next time, find out a firm price on insurance,before you sign for the car note.... make sure you can afford both

I drove crap until I was 25, got my first new car then

Chris,

I know that you probably consider yourself "all grown up" but let me give you some advice as a parent myself. This is NOT just your problem. While abNormal Nabisco is a troll and all that, he happens to be right.

Your father and mother are responsible for you and your financial decisions until you are 18. Period. You cannot and did not legally obligate yourself to the contract on this car. They did, and the law says this.

You are NOT more grown up than your parents. Your talking the talk like you want to be responsible for your own actions. Fine. Why then don't you believe in giving your parents the opportunity to be responsible for THEIR actions? This is NOT YOUR PROBLEM it is _their_ problem. YOUR responsibility is to get yourself financially secure so you can go on to college or otherwise get yourself established as a young person, so you can become a contributing member of this society. Your not going to have much of a chance to do this when saddled with a $600 monthly car/gas/insurance payment. And even if you can somehow swing the insurance payments lower, if you ever get even the slightest dent or tap on the car from someone else, or a simple speeding ticket, even if it's not your fault, your rates are going to go through the roof.

You need to call your mother and tell her that you cannot swing this and she is going to have to figure it out with your father. Then just leave the car parked in the driveway and cancel the insurance and don't make another payment on the car ever. You can certainly offer to supervise the sale of the car, that would be a kindness as your mom is in another state. But if she does nothing and the car gets repoed, that's HER fault, NOT yours. She has a lot of options here - she can sell the car and take the loss and try to get you to owe her the money, she can use the car, etc. But, you need to understand that the car dealer that sold "you" this car wasn't selling it to you, he was selling it to your parents. He in effect used you to make a sale to your father and mother. They went into this transaction knowingly, and they must bear the conseqences. If you really feel that morally you owe money on this car then fine - owe your parents.

Frankly it sounds like neither of your parents was using their brain. As a parent myself there's not a snowballs chance in hell I'd ever cosign a loan for a _new_ car for a child, the most I might consider cosigning a loan for is perhaps $2K for a used car, just to help my kid establish credit, when the time is right for it.

Ted

Chris Putnam wrote: > What about just figuring out a new way of doing insurance? I may have > to sell the car, sure. But what about my insurance options?

This is a stretch, but have you looked to see if there are any different State Fram agents in your area. I am also with state farm and when I moved I had to switch agents. The guy I am currently with scheduled a meeting with me and we went over all kinds of options to save me some money on my 2 cars (daily driver and classic sunday driver). This is something my last agent wouldn't even think of doing because he would lose money. Like I said, it could be a stretch, but the agent can make a big difference.

Nick

66 Dodge Charger 95 Eagle Vision Tsi

Chris Putnam wrote:

Almost any Buick will fill the bill! :-)

Matt

range....Nissan

LOL! I have a 89 Buick as my second car and it cost me 3$ to cover, my first car is a Dodge Caravan 2000.

Along with Bill's suggestion to try the dealer you may also see if you can trade the car down to them on a used car you can afford. Ideally you would lose the new Neon and the long payments and added insurance and end up driving away in an older car with a much smaller recalculated loan for a much shorter time. The insurance on an older car is generally cheaper as far as collision so instead of facing $500 a month for the car and ins for the next 6 yrs, you may only be looking at $350 or so for 2 or 2 1/2 yrs. Once the car is paid for you can drop the extra coverage if you want to. I would not recommend trying a deal with another dealer or definitely not a used car lot. Just the place you originally bought it.

If nothing else you walk away from the dealer if they won't work with you. It's really a shame to see how you younger people are struggling to get by these days.

-- Mike.................................................... "Opportunities are spawned from crisis"

Chris Putnam wrote:

Among your other plans for selling the car, include going back to your dealer and explaining your situation and seeing what they will offer you to buy it back. A long shot, but the worse that can happen is they say no or low ball you (they may smell blood). You can always walk out too, but nothing will be lost by asking.

Who knows - you may have a dealer with a heart. It could happen!

Obviously this should not be your only plan, but, seriously, it should be one of them.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

What? basic coverage costs the same and is based on the place of registration and the driver's experience and record. BUT there is no way that collision and fire / theft / vandalism are the almost same price for all vehicles. The premiums are based on the cost of repairing / replacing a vehicle of particular value. If a carrier is potentialy going to pay off a $15,000 claim they are going to charge more than if they only have to pay off a $5,000 claim. Be nice if you could insure a new Lincoln Navigator for the same price as a Kia Sophia but it doesn't even come close.

Well you have a bigger problem than just selling the neon. As I am sure you are aware any car that you finance will have to have full coverage insurance. There really isn't much difference in insurance rates for a 5k car and a 15k car so lets assume you sell the Neon and loose 3k (this is probably low) then buy another car that the insurance is 50 month cheaper. It will take you 60 months to break even.

Here is a solution although quite a stretch. Is anyone from Chris's area on here thinking of buying a Neon? Would you have a problem buying an almost new one with 2000 miles on it? I bet the warranty is easily transferrable.

Can't say we didn't try!!

I'm in big trouble. I can pay for the car, but the insurance people changed their tune AFTER the car was bought. We got a quote ahead of time, and it looked like it wouldn't be that bad. Now that I have the car, everything is going haywire. The insurance is costing around $250/MONTH. There is no way that I can afford this. $240 for the car is already steep for me. I'm just a teenager. I'm not like the little rich kids at school that have everything handed to them. I have enough to pay for my car, but the insurance is outrageous and it looks like there is no way out of it.

The loan is in my mom's name, who lives in a different state. I got insurance with State Farm for the time being, which is pretty high. I tried talking to Geico and Progressive, but they can't beat the rate State Farm is giving me (even though I have TONS of discounts).

I think I'm stuck with selling the car. My parents are stupid and I have to do everything myself. My friend's parents are helping me and it looks like I am going to have to get rid of it before its value depreciates any more.

My question is, how much money am I going to lose? How does this process work? I've put just over 2000 miles on the car. The car is still in absolute mint condition. Not one scratch anywhere. I haven't even gotten the oil changed yet (I was told to at 3000 miles).

I am begging for someone's help on this. I HAVE to work this out. I can't afford this insurance. Please let me know what I am going to have to do to solve my problem. If I haven't put enough information here to adequately describe the problem, please e-mail me at snipped-for-privacy@putnamplanet.com and I'll try to give you a better idea.

Thanks, Chris Putnam

Rufus, this is a excellent idea!

It's amazing how close they actually are when you are dealing with numbers under 20k. Lets be really agressive and say that it cuts 50% of his comp/collision by trading for a less expensive car and he only looses 3k on the Neon. Break even point would be 45 months using the figures the op provided.

Theres no easy way for him to get out of this one.. Mom and Dad need to realize they screwed up and help the guy out here.

Steve B.

Okay, so it looks like I'm screwed and I NEED to sell the car.

Since the car is financed, what is the basic process I'm going to have to go through to get rid of it?

Dealership? Private Party? Ebay Motors?

How am I going to get rid of this thing? I don't want to have it Re-Po'd, but is that the only way to save myself from some sort of huge debt, and will it ruin my mom's credit?

You need to bring your parents back into this, and this time I'd leave it entirely in their hands. Especially your mom's, since she stands to lose the most here if this isn't handled properly. She should be the one making the decisions and taking the final action.

If you absolutely feel abandoned by your folks, I'd call the lending institution that gave your mom the loan for this car, and ask to talk to a loan officer there. That bank has a vested interest in seeing this handled as well it can, so they may be willing to advise you.

And if your folks ever call you for help when you're independent and able to help them, remember how they left you in the lurch on this. Then just hang up the phone.

HellT

You can sell it any way you want, you just have to pay off the loan to get the lien released to allow you to transfer the title to the buyer. So at the time you sell, you need enough extra cash to add to the sales price to pay off the loan.

If you let it get repossessed, it likely doesn't just end there. I think probably ever car loan issued today is guaranteed by the signature of the person taking out the loan, not just secured by the collateral of the car. So, the bank holding the loan will repo the car, sell it, and then come after you and your mother for the difference between what you owe on the loan and what they sell the car for.

Matt

You mean they'll come after Mom if it's repo-d. It's really not a bad idea, although I'm loathe to suggest it. The OP could even trade cars with Mom and just tell her to pay for it and enjoy it.

There's been a lot of good advice in this thread, and I am wondering if the OP has his own insurance and is not a driver on either parents policy. $3000 a year sounds about right for a 17 year old with full coverage and collision on a new car, not on the parents policy. You and Dad need to look into both of you moving to a new agent who is willing to insure you together.

After that, you should try to sell it any way you can. I suggest advertising it in the best private party classifieds in your area. Check out your local papers and also look for a local classified ad paper at the gas station. Eventually you'll find something with a lot of local cars in it. Maybe the dealer (any dealer) will help you out but I doubt it. I don't like ebay for your situation - nobody would want to bid top dollar for a car online. It's better as a buyer to test-drive a car and see it first hand. If somebody agrees to buy it, you'll have to get the title released from the bank. There might be a short delay while you do that, so ask the bank ahead of time what it's going to be like.

If you run out of m> > Okay, so it looks like I'm screwed and I NEED to sell the car. > >

snipped-for-privacy@putnamplanet.com (Chris Putnam) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

First thing you need to do is contact the company or bank holding the loan and find out what the payoff is for the car. This is the amount of money you will have to come up with to sell the car and get the loan company to sign off on the sale. You probably should see what restrictions if any, the lien holder has on someone assuming the loan. If the car is in excellent condition as you said, your best bet would be to advertise the car in the local paper and any local sale or swap rags and try to sell the car. You will have to come up with the cash difference between what you can sell the car for and the loan payoff. To get the current retail and wholesale value of your vehicle, you can go on-line to Edmunds

or other sites who have these prices posted, they used to be free. Most local Banks will give you the info for free also. If you have never attempted to sell a vehicle you need to talk to some people who have and get some advice before preceding on your own. Under no circumstances do you let a stranger take the vehicle for a test drive without you and a friend going along if you decide to try this. Do not deal with anyone you do not feel comfortable being around. Good Luck

Depends on the language in the loan contract, but I think there's a good chance that the answer is yes.

Matt