crapy resale value.

[daveshapellSVT]

Hey, i have an issue i need some insight on. a yr ago i bought a 2002 sl1 for 13,900 after i rolled over some from a trade in. i basically did this cause i wanted a lower monthly payment. now i'm totally screwed cause the damn value of the car absolutely dropped. almost half. i had my car apraised at 4 dealerships and the max they will give me for it is 5 grand, and at this point i still owe 12,400 on the shit box. where do i turn from here? i mean i can't come even on this car because by the time i save the difference i'm upsidedown on the cars value will have gone down even more. i can't get rid of the negative. i mean even if i buy a car with 3000 in rebates thats still not taking away because the rebates are just an alusion to make you feel like your getting a deal when really your just getting the price they want you to pay anyways. i mean i'll always be negative. the car bussiness is the bigest scam ever. i'll never finance another car in my life from now on it's cash.

[Cat Fuzz]

First off, sounds like you paid to much for it in the first place. You were upside down to start with. Second, dealers will never give you retail value for your trade in because they have no room to turn around and make money on it. Third, it's ALWAYS a bad deal when you borrow money to buy cars. By the time you make all the payments you've paid three times what you borrowed and the car isn't worth 1/4 of the original price.

Not the fault of the car.

[Tacuvito]

Originally Posted by Cat Fuzz

First off, sounds like you paid to much for it in the first place. You were upside down to start with. Second, dealers will never give you retail value for your trade in because they have no room to turn around and make money on it. Third, it's ALWAYS a bad deal when you borrow money to buy cars. By the time you make all the payments you've paid three times what you borrowed and the car isn't worth 1/4 of the original price.

Not the fault of the car.

Well put Cat, sorry bro, but it looks like you are stuck with the car unless you want another hit to your wallet.

[Onimacus]

Was the car used? I can't believe you paid 13k for an SOHC..... Although this car will last you for an extremely long time if you take care of it properly... 13k is a lot of damn money for used Saturn. If it is brand new that's a different story. And yes... dealers screw you. Period. If you weren't expecting them to screw you I don't know what to tell you...

And what makes your car such a shit box?

[wrparks]

Sounds like you got suckered with the old "we'll pay off your trade no matter how much you owe" line. If you traded in your old car which you still owed on for this car, they just rolled what you owed on your old car into the loan for the new one, hence you were upside down in the loan the minute you signed on the x. You got screwed, but it was perfectly legal and you should have known better.

Sure your payments were lower, hell, they probably financed you for 7 years at 7% to get them down. The only way to come out of this kind of thing ahead is to suck it up. Make sure that there is no prepayment penalty and pay as much as possible each month so that the interest will decrease and once it's payed for don't trade it in. Keep driving it until the wheels fall off. After 4 or 5 years of having it paid off all is well again because you can afford the occasional repair bill. It should last 10 years or more easy unless you drive a whole lot. Live within your means. If you have to finance a car for 7 years you cannot afford it. Also, you may want to check into gap insurance to cover the difference between what it's worth and what you owe in case you total it. Sorry man, life sucks sometimes and your not the first or the last this will happen to.

[drew300]

Curious, in 1 year you've only paid off $1500.00.
Well you did want lower payments.....
That works out to over 9 years of payments.
You'd better drive it nice so it'll last 10 years.

[PlayStation3]

Originally Posted by drew300

Curious, in 1 year you've only paid off $1500.00.
Well you did want lower payments.....
That works out to over 9 years of payments.
You'd better drive it nice so it'll last 10 years.

it looks more like that he paid just the miniuim each month .

[saturnspeed_12]

yeah like cat said, it sounds like you got jipped big time on the price. depending on mileage, id say $5000 is good from a dealer. thats not its value, but pretty good. the cars didnt cost much new, so really their value stays pretty well. i mean my car was appraised at $2,800 with 160K+ on the odometer. the only option my car had was a sunroof, everything else was basic with the dohc and a manual. the car was a 97, and brand new retailed for like $13000

[daveshapellSVT]

well i mean i'm really good at buying cars and most times i always get the deal i want, but in this case the cars value was one big issue. the car itself cost 8999. then you add in taxes. the car i traded in i had to roll over like 4k. my old monthly payment on the car i traded was 335, and i could afford it but i figured i want more cash a month to play with so i now pay 242. the thing that sucks is that the value of the car went from 7-9k to freakin 3800-5200 in less then a yr. if i woulda known saturns don't hold their value i woulda bought something else. i used to own a 2004 civic that i leased. a yr later i traded it in and didn't roll over a penny. i jump around from car to car a lot. i guess i'm gonna have to get use to the noisy engine and complete lack of power. at first it didn't bother me but now the damn thing drives like its gonna stall all the time. the freakin gas mileage is very eratic. one week i can manage 30+ and another week i'll get 25. i dunno i guess my plan to pay less for a car was a bad move. And i don't see the point in doubling up in payments cause the value drops faster then i can make money lol most of the dealers told me that within another yr the car will be worth 2k. which i know they always low ball the hell out of you on.

[sickcallawayc12]

I financed my 97 sl2 at a used dealer in april 04 for 5995 and 1200 down. paid it off 0 interest in 2 years. had 115k at first. i just traded it in today with 138.5k and the used dealer was so cool about it, gave me 2000 even though it isn't worth that just to help with financing, when it has a rear main oil seal leak and oil pan leak, otherwise good condition, for a 98 blazer lt financed for 7500 and 1500 down. what a good day today (my credit is also worth less than an empty miller lite bottle btw)

[drew300]

Drives likes it goin' stall? What's the "SES" light say? Might be a simple fix. That might also have to do with the erratic fuel use.
Noisy engine? Well, they aren't Hondas but my '99 SW1 is quiet enough, with enough power to keep up with V6s. Since i drive a standard shift, it's nice to know what the engines doing without checking guages. After all, I didn't buy a Rolls-Royce. Maybe the exhaust system has a leak?
And if you want to save money, jumping from car to car won't do it. Buy something that does what you need, and drive it into the ground over 10 or 15 years.
Years ago, I drove my '90 Lada into a GM dealer, just to see a new model. The sales rep said " you know your cars' got no resale value." I replied that that was true, but it cost less than what I'd loose driving 1 of his models off the lot. He did agree. That $8200 (taxes included) Lada lasted 10 years, with minimal repairs. I got $50 for it as scrap. That works out to about $70 a month. A I still got the same looks as Mercedes drivers at the stop lights.

[daveshapellSVT]

i never piut money down. cause the amount your putting down you could just negotiate. i found that in most cases the dealership will meet my price after not putting any down. putting money down is just a way for them to slip by you and not give you what you want for the car. mainly you have to look at what your end financing number is. cause if your paying 400 a month on a 13k car then you'll know there fucking with u. almost everytime i have bought a car the salesman will come out with a monthly payment that is about 100 higher then what it should be. in some cases dealerships have tryed to screw me so bad. one time the salesman tryed telling me my payment would be 500+. so i told him to screw and i went to another dealership and bought the same car for 335 a month. no money down and they paid my trade in full mind u. financed almost 20k for 72 months. sure the term was long but the other dealer wanted 500 for a 72 month term and wanted to give me 3k less for my trade too. on a side note car appraisers and salesmen are idiots. most times they know jack about the cars they are selling. one time i traded in a 2000 z24. first appraisal the car was dirty and had junk in it and they said we'll give you 4000 max. well a month later i go back to the same place, only this time i washed and waxed the car and cleaned the interior, and the ended up giving me 6800 for the thing. they are such fools. all they think is ewww shinny and clean. never ming the cigerate burns or rusted exhaust lol buying cars is an art that is learned only from experience. you gotta be smarter then the dealership. they always try and sucker you cause they know you are gonna negotiate a lower price. they have plenty of room to drop price and still make a huge profit. the key is finding a dealership that needs to sell cars. one dealership might be arrogant and sell cars all the time so they are gonna be pricks on negociations. another dealership might have a smaller inventory and they need to sell sell sell. so they are flexible and take hits. and by saying hits i mean still rapping you but not making as much as they intended off you.

[drew300]

Hmm.
I just read your last entry. If you get such great deals all the time, why did you write your 1st entry?
The dealers aren't idiots, they don't need to know about cars, they just need to sell them, at whatever the market will part with. (wouldn't you do the same if you where on commission?)
I treat car buying like buying pants - something I need to get around town in. And hopefully I won't spend too much, and they'll last a while.
Good luck.

[Cat Fuzz]

If you're financing cars for 72 months YOU are the one that's getting raped. You're not sticking it to the dealer by not putting anything down. You pay alot more interest doing that way. Multiply your monthly payment by 72 to find out what your really paying for that car.

If you bought a beater for cash and then saved the money you would have been paying in cars payments, you could pay CASH for a nice car in no time and not get raped by the finance company.

[Onimacus]

I'm usually not one to flame... but your spelling (Removed by Moderator)

Also if you think not putting money down is helping you, you might be a little misinformed.

Why would you want to spend the next 6 years of your life paying for a car? I can't imagine even owning the same car for 2 years, let alone 6....

Buy used cars they're more fun to play with and you don't have to worry about the next 6 years of financial stability!