Comments on: Ditching My Ride – Can I Survive Without A Car?

By: greenskidusautoparts

greenskidusautoparts — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:09:32 +0000

These days it's even easier to get by without a car in US big cities because you can get a membership to something like Flexcar and have access to a car when you need to get somewhere off public transit lines.

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By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:20:32 +0000

Heck, you can save a fierocious amount of money in the long run getting rid of the car and thus the car payment itself. Don’t just surrender the car at the dealership for it will be counted against you as a repo.

Anyway, I drive a 1988 Buick Park Avenue. The paint looks terrible, but the interior is still in extremely good condition, it runs very well, and is actually pretty good on gas. If I wanted to, I could ditch the car as it’s only a brisk 45-minute walk to work or a 15-minute bus ride.

By: girlndebt

girlndebt — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:25:25 +0000

Yes-what he said. Carmax or calling Toyota. That was really good advice. I am gonna try that out too. Problem is I have 2 to get rid of…ouch!

Good luck DK!

By: Dougal Campbell

Dougal Campbell — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 03:00:30 +0000

Try this:

Take the car to Carmax and have it appraised for sale. Don’t worry about the repair work, just get them to appraise it as-is. I recently sold my old car to them, and I felt like I got pretty much fair market value, despite several cosmetic problems with it (fading paint, rust spot, headliner coming loose, upholstery issues, etc.). I don’t know the worth of your car, but for the sake of example, let’s say that Carmax offers you $10K.

Call the people that hold your car loan (Toyota, your bank, whoever it is), explain that you are in a difficult financial situation, and ask if they will accept the $10K as payment-in-full of your debt, rather than risking that you might go into default (or maybe offer them $8K, and use the remaining 2K for haggling-room). If you are able to get them to accept, *get it in writing*.

Consult Dave Ramsey’s stuff for more info on this. That’s where I heard about doing that sort of thing.

If that doesn’t work out, if it was me, I’d probably keep the car until it was no longer upside-down. If you’re going to have topay that $3K anyways, you might as well get some use out of it. Of course, this doesn’t account for your point about it being listed in your BK stuff. Don’t know what to tell you about that, other than to consult your atty.

Good luck!

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:17:41 +0000

Dude get rid of the car. Sell it or get it surrendered in the bankruptcy. I am sure you can find a used car at some point for $2000 or $3000 that will be serviceable. If you have that many miles on your car then it appears that you do some amount of driving and probably will need a vehicle. The car you have now is beyond your means. Even really poor people seem to have cars. They may not look the nicest sometimes, but there is something out there for you that you can pay off and have for a back up to make trips, See if there is someone you can share a car with at times if you decide to go entirely without one. Being young and single and close to work, should be no problem to have no car or a less expensive one.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:42:51 +0000

I have been car-less for over 2 years now and it is very freeing! It has kept m in-shape and saved me a TON of money, by not paying for insurance, annual fees, and GAS!

I commute to work, which is 6 miles each way and it is my favorite part of the day. It should also be noted that I live in Chattanooga, TN which is far different than being car-less in NYC

By: Smart Girl

Smart Girl — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 05:13:41 +0000

I once chose to live without a car – not because I couldn’t afford it, but because I was going to live in NYC and having a car there is just stupid. The subway takes you where you need to go…. And there are taxis, car services, etc. For weekends away, renting a car was easy.

The mistake was that after a period of time I became an “uninsured” motorist. Two years later, when I moved out of the city and needed a car, I found getting insurance VERY expensive. I had a clean driving record…. the problem was that I had been uninsured for a long period of time, so I essentially had to “start over” and was paying high rates for a couple of years.

If I ever decide to live in a City like NY w/out a car, I will still own a vehicle (i.e., something very cheap) and keep it “parked” somewhere with minimal insurance so that I’m never considered “uninsured” again.

By: Aaron Stroud

Aaron Stroud — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 03:55:03 +0000

Getting rid of this car is going to be tricky. It may be possible to include the vehicle in your bankruptcy, but you might incur more lawyer’s fees which would defeat the purpose.

“Voluntarily surrendering” the vehicle is not an option. You do not want to do this, because the lender will simply liquidate the vehicle and then hold you liable for the rest of the loan while will be far more than your current $3k shortfall.

I would certainly consider calling Toyota Financial Services to find out of there’s anyway they can help you and themselves get out of this bind. If they’re willing to lend money at 1-3% for promotions, perhaps they would let you finance the shortfall.

You’d knock that debt out in no time if you simply made your car payment on the lower balance. When you talk to them, make sure you make it clear that you do want to do the right thing, but that you can’t continue to make the payments. So they’re probably going to end up with a repo’d car and then you definitely won’t be able to make the payments!

Another option:
I’m not sure how quickly you are repaying your mother, but perhaps you can put that repayment on hold until you’ve sold your car. Once you’re freed from the debt, insurance, and other car related costs you’d be able to repay her much faster.

The last option I see would be the most painful, but might work. You could seek help at your church. Perhaps your pastor or an elder could connect you with someone who would give you the money or allow you to work it off doing odd jobs.

By: girlndebt

girlndebt — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:04:09 +0000

When I seen this question-I had to read what everyone would suggest. I knew it would be to dump the car-sell it-move on! I am in the same boat as you and that is all I am hearing. When you are in debt already-how do you sell it when your upside down? Well you already know dealers will not give you close to what you need to pay it off. Especially if the car needs ANY work. How do you come up with the difference? Anyone else will not buy a car for more than what it is worth (would you?) unless there is some sort of incentive… and what can you possibly offer when you are broke? I am stuck on this one too.

I have not gone the BK route yet as I am trying to figure all this out but I have considered it. I did read a lot on it and I could have swore I read somewhere that thru the BK process-your car is worked out to it’s “fair market value” with your lender and is included in your BK. I don’t know for sure. Maybe someone could shed some light on it or maybe talk to your attorney.

I guess there really is the option of voluntarily surrendering it to the lender but to me that would only cause more problems down the road.

I know I will be checking regularly on here to see advice other people have about this.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do with your car and please keep it updated on here. I would love to know how it all turns out!

Good luck!