Upside down car loan

[GoodSteward]

Good advice so far. LivingAlmostAtLarge pinpointed it. Like Steve, I have never lived, or even visited for that matter, in a place where a car was more of a luxury than a need. I wouldn't know how to function without having my own car all the time. I'll throw my .02$ around while I'm at it.

What you do with the car depends on what you are trying to do. If you are trying to either free up cash flow or get out of debt asap trading in on something much cheaper car(probably have to be smaller but still kinda newer car) that would absorb some of the difference. If you have good credit, and maybe 1k$ down I'm sure the car dealer can find a bank that will do the deal. No, this is not the best idea from a value standpoint but if it took away 20k$ in debt and/or reduced the payment(might, just depends on the next car) then that's a huge win towards debt freedom.

Dave Ramsey often suggests even borrowing the difference just to get rid of a stupid high loan/payment. You owe the money regardless (difference in payoff to value) of it is in the car you have now or you roll it into a different car that gets you out of debt faster. It really all depends on the goals you have and what you need right now for your budget.

Btw, was that value based on trade in or retail? If it is trade in you might can make that happen. If that was retail, then trade in is several thousand less than that even and you will have to have money down to make it up.

[bjl584]

A car paid in full is a better value than any uber or ride sharing garbage

I think it depends.

I live in a rural area. There is no Uber, or taxi service to speak of. At least not in any reasonable time frame. I absolutely need a car where I live if I want to be able to go shopping and get to work. I'll take it one step further and say that I can make an argument that I need my truck with the amount of towing, hauling, and trips to Home Depot that I make.

If you happen to live in a more urban area and don't have a large piece of property that you're caring for, then Uber might be a good option.

[HundredK]

Btw, was that value based on trade in or retail? If it is trade in you might can make that happen. If that was retail, then trade in is several thousand less than that even and you will have to have money down to make it up.

That value is based on the kbb trade in value.

We have decided to keep the car. Truth is, we really do like it, and after talking it through with you guys, we've decided that keeping it is what we'd prefer to do. We're going to see how it goes and how quickly we can pay off our other debt, and then when we start hammering on the car loan, we'll make a decision at that point whether to keep it or ditch it.

[disneysteve]

when we start hammering on the car loan, we'll make a decision at that point whether to keep it or ditch it.

Once you hit the break even point between value and loan balance, that would be the ideal time to sell it and replace it with something cheaper to knock a big chunk off of your debt load.