Posted by SusanL.–FL on January 12, 2001 at 09:31:08:
Hi R.L. !
When I ?totalled? my (fairly new) Aerostar XLT, the insurance co. decided to rebuild it.
There was still a balance of about $14K on that loan. I traded it in for a Ford Explorer Limited. Since it had been in a wreck, I didn?t get as much for the trade-in as I normally would have for a car in mint condition. What wasn?t covered in my $trade-in had to be rolled over into the next loan (because I didn?t have the cash$ to pay it off). NOT a smart idea but I was kind of over a barrel.
The teenager hit me so hard that my front end was crushed right up to the windshield. When my airbag went off, I thought the dang car was on fire! (cause the whole interior filled with that brownish smoky substance). When I tried to jump out of the vehicle, my seatbelt jammed (momentarily). A scary moment, for sure.
I hit so hard that I bent my steering wheel down on both sides where my fists were gripped—(almost touching the dashboard). The car shouldn?t have been rebuilt. It never ran right after that?so we didn?t keep it long.
?.and ALL for the sake of trying to collect past due rent on my duplex? Boy, the adventures we have to go thru to collect our money, I?ll tell ya?. :-))
Posted by David Krulac on January 09, 2001 at 16:15:08:
have bought many repos, many are abused as owner doesn’t do much if any maintenance if they are going to give it up. There is a big difference between houses and cars, the latter are a depreciating asset.
One Corvette repo that I looked at the kind and gentle former owner remove the oil plug and ran the engine until it wouldn’t. Another kind and gentle soul ripped out the wiring harness. The condition is a big factor in repos. There are some good deals. Once got a Firebird, 3 years old, that had been sitting for over a year for $3,000. Drove it for 6 months then wholesaled it to a dealer. Like houses sometimes the cars are lemons and the owner feels that repo is the easiest way to “sell” the car. And a big problem with approaching the owners is that since its a depreciating asset, most time they are “upside down”, in other words they owe more than the car is worth. The best way to play the repo market IMHO is to buy from the banks and let them take a loss. Their loss your gain.
Posted by Houserookie on January 09, 2001 at 16:01:54:
Thanks for the site. But it’s not what I’m looking for. I’m trying to get someone equity in their car
while saving the person’s credit from the Repo man.
A personal property trust is what your looking for. And you’ll find banks are the same about the cars, they dont wont them back, they just want the payments.
Re: How would you (personally) purchase… - Posted by Redline
Posted by Redline on January 10, 2001 at 21:14:54:
Personally, I get a really great deal and put as little down as possible. I take good care of my cars so when I am ready to trade them in I also get an excellent price thus saving me money on taxes when I buy my next new one.
When I say great deal - I do my homework and usually pay a few hundred bucks above invoice. And I buy cars that I know will hold their value pretty well.
As a general rule, I shy away from leases because for cars below a certain price range it just doesn’t make sense to me. Plus many leases have lots of hidden feeds upfront and in the back that can really add up. I refuse to pay these.
Now some would say to buy a 2-3 year old good car after they’ve depreciated - something the “Millionaire Next Door” tells us that most millionaires do. That’s fine and I’m sure that’s a good strategy. For me, I like new cars - so I buy new cars. I personally don’t want to become a millionaire for the sake of SAYING I’m a millionaire. I wanna have some fun along the way!
I hear ya on shying away from leases. - Posted by SusanL.–FL
Posted by SusanL.–FL on January 11, 2001 at 13:47:58:
Hi
(Husband) Kenny also leans toward buying new vehicles. His rationale is that there is an overall less $cost involved in maintaining it over the life of the car. And I can see your point about ?enjoying? life. Might as well when ya work so hard for it! (I would love my next one to be a Jag?but that will be while?)
My last new vehicle?-I was enroute (on a lunch hour) trying to ?catch? one of my $delinquent renters. A high school student, who was in an equally as big a hurry as I, crashed head-on into me. So for all intents and purposes, my vehicle was ?totalled??BUT the insurance co. INSISTED on ?rebuilding? it. Since the Ford dealership did a poor job of it and my husband felt it was no longer safe to drive our toddler around in, we traded it in and ?upgraded?. Unfortunately, there was still a SIZABLE balance ($14K) on my loan so that was rolled over into the new car loan. Needless to say, I wound up with one HECKOFA monthly payment.
Definitely NOT one of my brighter moves in life!! I have since had to refinance it a couple times to try to lower the payments. (Back then, my payment tipped the scale at around $750/mo.!) As I said, NOTTTTTTTTTTTTTT one of my brighter moves?
My loan is now VERY upside down, and I am living for the day when it will be paid off.
Soooooooo—at this point in my life, I wouldn?t be opposed (at all) to driving a ?junker?—JUST to get out from under my monthly payment.
P.S. But on a happier note, husband?s loan is now low enuf to (probably) pay off this year?IF all goes right.
