My DH bought a used 1995 BMW almost 2 years ago. He has 3 years left to finance on it. Now, the car is completely falling apart, and we don't have the money to fix it. His finance charges are also outrageous since this was our first 'BIG' purchase, and it's too small for us now that we have a baby. There's another problem... what he owes on the car is more than what the blue book value is. So my question is, can we bring his car to a different dealership, trade it in or something, for whatever they'll give it to us for, and buy one of their cars, and add the remaining money that we owe on the BMW loan onto the loan of the new car??? It may be a stupid question, but I just thought I'd ask. There's no way this car would last another 3 years! Thanks!
Xelindrya
Posted:
Member since
Re: Buying and selling a car...
That’s rough. Sorry to hear about this. Same thing happened to me. It’s called being Upside down on the vehicle value. When your car is worth less than you owe.
The only way out (from what I understand) is to trade it in for a cheaper vehicle. You can add the difference of the value you owe on the car and what it’s worth to your NEW car but remember that will be charged finance charges too. It’s really tough when you sit and figure the math out.
If you owe $15,000 more on your car than it’s worth then you can basically just think of any car you buy as $15,000 more expensive because you have to add that back on. This causes even more of a problem because then you end up right back where you started. Upside down and with more years to go.
I have no real good advice. I ended up keeping my car. I held my breathe and crossed my fingers that I never got into a wreck because the total loss of my vehicle would have left me still owing the bank after the insurance paid the claim.
Good Luck.
HearzBellz
Posted:
Member since
Re: Buying and selling a car...
You can do exactly what you stated... add the balance. What I would also do is refinance the new loan after 6 - 9 months of 'good behaviour,' becuase you may get a higher APR% for trading in Upside-down.
no stress bride
Posted:
Member since
Re: Buying and selling a car...
Posted by HearzBellz
You can do exactly what you stated... add the balance. What I would also do is refinance the new loan after 6 - 9 months of 'good behaviour,' becuase you may get a higher APR% for trading in Upside-down.
