davyjordi

hi all,

so, i really want the 350 f-sport.

i currently have two ISs, one of which is used by my mom, although I am making payments on both, the other of which is mine and it's a 250. it's not horrible, although i'd like the 350 and there is a reasonably priced CPO 350 in my area that is specced the way i'd want. the problem is that i'm upside down on a six-year loan (i'm half a year into it) by a good 3 to 5k and so i don't know if it's worth it to buy a CPO 350 when i am upside down, even if that's what i really want.

opinions welcomed!

thanks for reading!

dstopsie

Try taking your car to Carmax to see what they would buy it for and then use that appraisal at the dealer to get them to match it if it's higher than what the dealer would give you. if you can afford it roll the balance of your payments due on the loan into your new loan or lease, however you're going to finance the new car. Obviously it's not the best option to roll the negative equity into your new vehicle but if you can financially afford it and you want to get 350 then go for it even though it's not the most financially sound decision. I pretty much do this every year year and a half. I roll all the negative equity into my leases into my current new lease, however my payment is never more than I can afford so it's not necessarily an issue for me. But as you can see from my profile I I do this a lot but I don't finance my car I lease it

davyjordi

this is sage advice. i was thinking of just going into the dealer to talk to them. if i don't like what they have to say, then i can walk away with the 250 -- it's not like i'm walking away with a yaris, so i won't feel terribly bad.

as for affordability -- i can afford it, but i'd like to keep my payments around where they are now, so, we'll see. perhaps i'll just call their internet department and work with them over the phone to see what's up.

any other advice would be appreciated and thanks, dstopsie!

dstopsie

I would still take it to Carmax and get an appraisal it's free and it may be able to get you more money for your IS250 trade. I did this on one of my cars when I traded it early and I was able to get $3k more in the value from the dealer by showing them the appraisal from Carmax and they matched it.

It's free and it takes 30 minutes or less so it's worth it to get the appraisal. obviously if you're the value they give you is lower than what the dealer is going to give you then I would not show them the appraisal. And if they really want to work the deal they can work the numbers to get you where you want to be. I've been upside down negative equity 10 grand in my leases and I never put more than minimum drive off fees down on the mat new car and I was able to reduce my payments on the new car.

davyjordi

thank you for the advice! i'll definitely take it to carmax should i decide to even entertain the idea of trading in the 250. it's not a wise financial move as you pointed out and as i'm well aware, so i'd really be swayed by sentiment rather than practicality. i suppose i have all day to think about whether or not to roll negative equity into a loan before thinking about the dealership or carmax or the like.

thanks you once more, dstopsie

tea

i'd wait til the refreshed 2017s come out before deciding to upgrade

davyjordi

yeah, but i don't want to purchase new, i want to take advantage of the depreciation curve. CPO all the way.

davyjordi

i've decided to keep the car because that was the financially prudent thing to do.

Mike200T

Carmax f***ed me on the appraisal of my Jeep Grand Cherokee. The 2 sales guys I was working with, one who was a good friend of mine, even said "not sure if the appraisal manager is in a bad mood but I think this is really a really low offer" ... Their offer had me negative $3500 on my truck! What was even more f'ed up was that I bought the truck from them! Talk about ****ty customer service! I even told them, listen get me to like $1000 negative and I'll be happy. The guy wouldn't budge at all! I had 2 cars on hold that I was going to buy once they took back the Jeep and worked with me on the price. Now they will NEVER get me back as a customer.

I went to my local Lexus dealers website and they had just been approved to work with the KBB Instant Cash Offer program. http://www.jmlexus.com/Pre-Owned/Value-Your-Trade-(2) I filled out all the paperwork online and took the offer sheet to the dealership. According to KBB and all the other research I was doing, I should have been positive on my Jeep. KBB had me positive $1500.

I took the Jeep to JM Lexus, they inspected it to make sure everything I listed on KBB was correct and they agreed to take my truck and gave me EXACTLY what the offer said! Give JM the Jeep and I took home a 2016 IS 200t!!!

gymjenkie

Carmax offered me $19,000 which is about the same offer that I got from like BMW in Buena Park, CA, but I went through Autonation and they offered me $21,500. I am about 10k negative so I need to get the best offer I could get.

I am glad to read that you kept the car. I am thinking about keeping my car too. I was thinking to trade it in and get a lease to get out of the negative equity ('14 is250 w/ 612xx miles).... But I'm having 2nd thoughts. It's true, I will be throwing money away but I do not know how a 6 year old car with 122k miles will be like in the future, if I do keep it of course.

I would have suggested you to keep yours too. You would keep the cycle of adding negative equity every time you chose to get a new car, finance or lease, except with lease, you can get out of the negative equity, start fresh after your lease terms, but with no car to trade in and stuff, plus you'll be paying way more too.

Vivid101

good decision.

davyjordi

thank you!

TrojanLBC

Smart move man! Cars are already a depreciating asset. Rolling over negative equity into another depreciating asset would be very financially irresponsible. Could save that money aside for the down payment for a new(er) car while your current car loan catches up to the value. (it will eventually). Good luck!

sdiver68

Lots of common sense in this thread, very little financial knowledge.

Smart move though having the discipline to not double your loss.

3actual

I think your comment goes without saying. The biggest issue I've personally seen is this type of behavior is a slippery slope. Some people keep trading in the car early making the negative equity larger each time they trade it.

OP, I'd just keep the car at least another year to see where you are in your equity.