Hi everybody! I need a little advise. I purchased a 2001 Toyota Camry yesterday. Great, right? Problem is, I still have my 1996 Toyota Camry that I owe $11,000 on and it has 163,000 miles.(I travel a lot.) They wouldn't take it for trade because it would have been negative equity. Now I'm stuck with two cars and two car payments! I'm wondering if I should just turn my old car back in to the finance company because I can't afford two payments. My question is, how bad would a voluntary repo look on my credit? Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Worse than bankruptcy...no one will touch you with a 10 foot pole. Get a second job, sell something...anything, but do not let it become repossessed (voluntary or nonvoluntary). Hope everything works out. Dani
You need to take the *2001* Camry back. Today. You only have 3 days to return a car to the dealership. After you get the new car returned to the dealership, then figure out the questions below and - if you choose to get a new car - try agin with financing that will roll over the negative equity. 1. How much neg. equity do you have in the 1996 car? When will it be paid off? 2. Why did the dealer/finance officer refuse to roll the negative equity into a new loan? Was this Toyota Finance? 3. If you really want a new car, have you looked into other financing options that will roll over the negative equity? General questions to think about... 4. A 1996 Camry with 163,000 miles is fine, barring major mechanical problems which shouldn't exist if the car is maintained well. My mom's '91 Camry has 225K on it and is running just fine. Do you really need a new car, because if you don't... ...it is VERY tough to get out from under the neg. equity until the car is paid off - unless the new finance rate is super low and you pay more than the minimum.
Well, the thing is, I DO need a car because I live in a rural area and if I break down somewhere it would be hard to get help. And the car does have a lot of mechanical work that has to be done to it. I'm not making excuses, believe me. But I'm a single mom and need reliable transportation. But I thank you for your comments and suggestions. I will give it some thought. (A quick thought with that three day cancellation in effect. 1 day to go. LOL.)
Well, then, to answer your question... If you do a voluntary reposession on the 1996 model, you will STILL have to pay the difference between what you owe and what they eventually sell it for - which is your negative equity. So a voluntary reposession will not rid you of a second car note. That second car note will still be there, until you pay off that negative equity, AND your credit rating will be destroyed. Since you say you *need* a new car, then I suggest rather than doing a voluntary reposession, that you take the 2001 car back to the dealership TODAY. Then find out why they didn't roll over your negative equity into a new finance package. Once they tell you, then go home and do some research into financing options that WILL take negative equity. If you get dealer financing that will take the neg. equity - then buy your new car with that package. How much negative equity is in the 1996 Camry (i.e. what is the dollar amount)? What's wrong mechanically with the 1996 Camry (I'm curious b/c my family loves Toyotas and have driven them for years)?
Hey Marci, Well, actually, they would have taken my trade but I would have needed to put down about 4500 and my payments would have still been around $550-575. Mechanically, the engine is slipping, the oil pan is leaking, the air compressor needs replacing, and some other stuff that probably will cost $500 or more. I love Toyotas also thats why I got another one. I would like to explore other finance options but with my credit score only being 533 (Equifax) I figured this was probably the best I was going to get.
You bit off more than you can chew, i'm afraid. You should have turned in the camry for negative equity, and purchased a car that you can afford. You don't really want another 7+ years of bad credit do you? This is bad. You should not have spent so much money on a new car i'm afraid to say.
If the costs of the 1996 repair are $500 or even $1000 (because you don't have MAJOR issues, like wheel barings or transmission issues, and Toyota's aren't prohibitively expensive to repair), I still think you are better off returning the 2001 car and taking a personal installment loan of $1000 (Wells Fargo Financial will give you one, for example) and using that to repair the 1996. Even if you were able to pay two car notes ($550 for a Camry?, whats your interest rate?) - your credit rating would tank b/c of the huge debts being reported. At least do yourself a favor and take the new 2001 car back today, get out of that contract, and give yourself some time to secure more livable financing. Also, you may need some legal/professional advice wrt returning that 2001 car to the dealer. I've never done that before, so I don't know if there are any restrictions. For other opinions, there is a board that is frequented by car dealership salespeople and financial officers. They'll be able to give more advice, especially re the ins and outs of returning a car to the dealership: http://boards.fool.com/ register to be a Fool; it's free and you get nice goodies click on "Managing your finances" click on "buying and maintaining a car" post your question that you've posted here
How long have you had the 1996 Camry. Did you buy it new or used? I'm just curious why so much is still owed on it? Dani
YIKES! why didn't you think about all this PRIOR to going and signing a paper? You still owe $11,000 on the old one? Sounds like you need to seek a dependable lower budget vehicle to drive for awhile. Can you sale your old car yourself and make a little off of it? You might have to eat a few dollars on it, but at least you will be rid of it and no extra marks against you. I agree with the other posters here.....take the new car back and rethink everything. There are other options available... do the research, figure the math, and bring home something you can live with.
Five years ago, when I had HORRIBLE credit, I bought a 1989 Tercel cash for $1800 with the following problems: slipping engine at 40% capacity -serious inconvenience but not desperate. The car has a lot of miles on it, but truth be told, I can't see a 1996 Camry engine going bad to the point of desperation. Did you get regular oil changes? leaking oil pan and valve gaskets - serious but I added a pint of fresh oil ($5.00) once a week. You can do this yourself and apart from the car smoking when you pull out from a stoplight it's no big deal IF you add oil like clockwork. broken air compressor - controls your air conditioning and power steering - aesthetically uncomfortable b/c it was HOT where I lived and I didn't have the nice power steering - but it was not prohibitive for driving the car safely. This can be fixed if you have the money - but it won't kill you to leave it as is. As long as your transmission and brakes/wheel barings are okay, then you are not in a desperate situation - and even then I'd consider getting a personal loan for $2000 to have that repaired rather than buying a $22K car. If you think you absolutely have to have a new (newer) Toyota - scale down to a Corolla or an Echo.
Another thought... IF they truly want the deal they will find a way to get you in that new car and out of that older one. They already know you CAN be approved for the financing and they will truly work with you if they want the sale. I think especially when they see you bringing it back, they will be like wait a minute. They are going to use all avenues to KEEP you in that car for their commission and they probably have the newer one priced about $4-5K too high to begin with and are most likely offering you $2-4K too low for you older car. They can find a way if they want the deal, if not you will thank yourself in the long run Good luck and let us know what happens in Part 2.
Where are you buying oil? My 1977 toyota Pick-up drinks a quart of oil a week. I buy it at Walmart for $0.84 a quart. Leaking pan/valve cover gaskets are not that big a problem. Just keep the oil level up. I think the valve cover gasket is $13.00 and some dirty knuckles. The oil pan is more involved but mine leaks and its a 1977 and still going strong through the Alaska winter.
Buy an oil additive called Restore (see: http://cartalk.cars.com/Columns/Archive/1999/March/08.html) and put it in every time you change your oil. Also, go to the heaviest grade of oil that is appropriate for your climate. It will leak slower and burn less. Ask the person at the parts counter, they'll know what's appropriate. When I lived in the mountains, with night time temps below zero in the winter, I used 10W-40 in the winter and 20W-50 the rest of the year. As a last resort, add in a Stop Leak to your oil. About 99 cents at Pep Boys. Using all of these tricks, I nursed a 1989 Dodge Grand Caravan to 280K miles. Before that, I got a 1984 Chrysler Laser Turbo up to 312K miles with the original turbo still intact, getting 30 mpg, and running like a bat out of hell until it lost an argument with a truck. Get AAA. Avis, Enterprise, and Hertz will come pick you up if you need to rent a car for the day while yours is being worked on. It can be done. I know.
Unfortunately, you signed a recision agreement which protects the dealership when a customer changes his/her mind. The only way to back out of the deal at this point (WHICH I HIGHLY SUGGEST) is to do the following: 1) Return the car NOW (give the GM the keys) 2) Do not add the vehicle to your insurance policy 3) Contact the buyer at the lending institution (customer service will not have you in their system yet...so, you need to speak to the person that approved the loan...that's the buyer) 4) Take your old car to an ASE certified mechanic (that you trust) and have your vehicle serviced 5) Don't allow this to happen again CardKid
Why would there be a three day right of recission on a car? I thought that only applied to door to door sales. I have never heard of this applying to a car purchase.
Generally speaking, ALL CONTRACTS have a 3 day period where you can recind. It depends on your state laws.
