Topic: car worth less than I owe...

[cwbb]

Okay guys need some advice. I drive a 2000 Grand Prix GTP that I want out of, problem is I still owe about 13,500 and I've seen some in the auto trader with approx same km's as me (144k) for as less as $9,000. Any suggestions??? I'm about half way through a 5 year finance @ 7.9%, monthly is $447. I'm just paying to much for this car but I don't think there is any way I can win in this situation. I'm looking to buy something good on gas thats worth about 10K, maybe a 2000 Vokswagon Golf for example. With a current bank rate of 6.5% the monthly would be about $230/month. So I'd lose approx $4500 if I were to sell my car for 9K, so the money I'd be saving monthly by buying the Volkswagon (approx $230) it would take close to 2 years to make up the difference...

Anyone been in a situation like this? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

P.S If anyone wan'ts to buy 2000 Grand Prix GTP for $13,500 I know where to find one....

[sterling]

Unfortunately, it's a situation that only cash can cure. You're not alone though. The majority of people making payments on a car owe more than it is worth.

[ovr50]

You are in a tough spot indeed. You will be hosed any way you go from here. Is this a lease or a purchase contract? Did you buy it new or used?

You really only have 2 choices - 1. continue to drive and pay; 2. sell it for market, pay off the debt (you take a loss) and start over with something else. It's such a large negative equity I doubt you can find a dealer to finance a new one to cover the negative (besides you just keep losing).

It's probably cheaper just to keep driving it. Those types of cars depreciate very rapidly as you have found out. Good luck, you'll need it.

[Snowman]

Bad news man…..it’s a cruel world out there. This is what happens when GM heavily discounts automobiles. The depreciation on existing cars is brutal and makes current GM owners think twice next time. The death spiral continues and hopefully they will some to their senses and stop.

[articsteve]

Hate to pile on but the auction price of that car is between 5K and 6K.  The recent gasoline shock has really hurt that model.  Moreover the quality and transmissions aren't great in that model either.  All makes for terrible resale value.

[safristi]

Grand Prix GTP (Gouged The Public)....ouch that wee Prix hurt....!!!!!..yer upside down wiffout a parachute..even Saffy can't save ya.....

[JD]

Okay guys need some advice. I drive a 2000 Grand Prix GTP that I want out of, problem is I still owe about 13,500 and I've seen some in the auto trader with approx same km's as me (144k) for as less as $9,000. Any suggestions??? I'm about half way through a 5 year finance @ 7.9%, monthly is $447. I'm just paying to much for this car but I don't think there is any way I can win in this situation. I'm looking to buy something good on gas thats worth about 10K, maybe a 2000 Vokswagon Golf for example. With a current bank rate of 6.5% the monthly would be about $230/month. So I'd lose approx $4500 if I were to sell my car for 9K, so the money I'd be saving monthly by buying the Volkswagon (approx $230) it would take close to 2 years to make up the difference...

Anyone been in a situation like this? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

P.S If anyone wan'ts to buy 2000 Grand Prix GTP for $13,500 I know where to find one....

Yikes!  It sounds like you financed a 2000 GP GTP in 2003 for 5 years at a relatively high interest rate.... That's a reciept for negative equity, unfortunately!  Though not as bad as if you'd bought new for 0 down!

[hondasalesguy]

2 days ago a guy was in our dealership (K/W area) with a 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GT, with 140,00 kms. So this was a lower model than the GTP, but a year newer and the same mileage. Our wholesalers were offering us between $4500 - $5500 for the car. (The guy walked, he was deluded into thinking his car was worth $9K)

So I am guessing the wholesale of your GTP is no more than $6000. If someone offers you substantially morre than that on trade, he is burying the overallowance somewhere, maybe he has his car marked up $5000.

You are severely upside down, the solution may be to go park it at the corner of Jane and Finch with the keys in the ignition and hope it goes away, never to be found...

THIS IS A JOKE PEOPLE BEOFRE YOU ALL JUMP DOWN MY ARSE

Do people ever get the fact that if they finance a North American product and try to get out of the contract early, that there wil be severe financial repercussions, EACH AND EVERY TIME???

[tenpenny]

Do people ever get the fact that if they finance a North American product and try to get out of the contract early, that there wil be severe financial repercussions, EACH AND EVERY TIME???

No, people don't get it.  And they never will.  Because people don't ever want to believe that a contract is a contract.

[articsteve]

You are severely upside down, the solution may be to go park it at the corner of Jane and Finch with the keys in the ignition and hope it goes away, never to be found...

THIS IS A JOKE PEOPLE BEOFRE YOU ALL JUMP DOWN MY ARSE

I was going to mention another place that is guaranteed to work but I refrained for the same reasons.

Domestic and to some extent Korean vehicles are great to buy at zero % only if one intends on driving it into the ground.  Same with slightly used; you buy it you own it.

[articsteve]

Do people ever get the fact that if they finance a North American product and try to get out of the contract early, that there wil be severe financial repercussions, EACH AND EVERY TIME???

No, people don't get it.  And they never will.  Because people don't ever want to believe that a contract is a contract.

I believe in this case the poster has no issue about getting out of his loan.  It will be open, but his downfall is that he bought, obviously for way too much, a car that has no demand.

The SIR that we are supposedly trading in on a 2006 Civic DXG coupe is suffereing from the same problem to a certain extent.  The demand is near nil apparently and the wholesale is way below the Canadian Black Book.  I was told yesterday by a Honda sales manager that the Honda Odessy van is bringing in really low numbers wholesale apparently due to a glut of 2001 - 2002s.

[hondasalesguy]

Since Honda Canada has reluctantly started playing the incentive finance rate game in order to keep up with everybody else, it was inevitable that the resale of our vehicles would start to be affected. Odyesseys are still holding pretty good money in my neck of the woods, but that SiR was not well received and is not very desirable as the young Fast and Furious crowd never warmed up to it.

[sirAQUAMAN64]

I'd suggest continuing to drive that Grand Prix.

Pay less at the outset with those incentives and expect the resale to be gar-bage. Especially for domestic mid-size sedans. Less so with trucks, at least no time soon.

Try the SiR in North Toronto if you can. Not stereotyping, but the Asian community there seems to have a higher proportion of them.

[G0dspd]

People want low monthly payments at almost any cost.  So I'm not suprised that more and more people are owing more money than the car is worth.  They don't see the big picture.  It's like the 7 year plan Chrysler had a while ago ... sure you can get a fancy Grand Cherokee for a low low price but you'll be paying for it for 7 years 

These days, I'm starting to think that my generation (20-30 y/o) is financially retarded.  I know tons of people living on loans and credit cards.  Basically, the bank owns almost evertyhing they've got and the paychecks disappears very quickly trying to keep up with all those monthly payments.  It's fun to spend money you don't have ... until reality hits you in the ... 

[JSCC]

You have no idea how many people have negative equity, or are so called "upside-down" with their cars. 

[articsteve]

Try the SiR in North Toronto if you can. Not stereotyping, but the Asian community there seems to have a higher proportion of them.

The SIR got traded into a northeast Toronto Honda dealer 2 weeks ago today for pretty fair buck.  Nobody else would take it   Barrie Honda came pretty close. They are going to sell it out of their used car section. I'll let ya all know where it is when I get the DXG coupe on Monday. 

[hondasalesguy]

why did you go with the DX-G coupe Artic? Didn't think the LX was worth $2K for Alloys, cruise, painted mirrors etc. Thought you were a full load kinda guy..

[articsteve]

why did you go with the DX-G coupe Artic? Didn't think the LX was worth $2K for Alloys, cruise, painted mirrors etc. Thought you were a full load kinda guy..

"Thought you were a full load kinda guy."  My wife was telling me that the other night.

Seriously,    , the car is for me in name only.  As for the Alloys; we don't want them.  What is going to happen is that the stock tires, which are a real improvement (forgot what they are - Dunlops?), are coming off and going on the shelf. Immediately we will install 195/65/15 Gislaveds on the stock rims, install some chrome nuts that we already have left over from the stock SIR rims that we sold and drive the sucker without the lame looking hub caps.  Come spring 17 or 18s custom rims will go on to fill up the wheel areas.  I'm not allowing this 06 to be lowered.

The lack of cruise upset my son but so what; life is tuff.

The colour is that grey colour (which I have not seen up close) so the black mirror should not look to0 bad.  If it was blue then it might be a problem.  Please don't tell me they're fixed in place.

So long and short of it is the 2K would have put the price over $20K.  Its a great car (I hope) for 20K everything in excluding tax.  Actually I think it is a little less. The Honda alloys are so common with that big H plastered in the centre it's nauseating.

Actually, the pickup is pushed forward to tomorrow so I've got lots of driving to do.

[paulk]

why did you go with the DX-G coupe Artic? Didn't think the LX was worth $2K for Alloys, cruise, painted mirrors etc. Thought you were a full load kinda guy..

Hondasalesguy, have you found that a lot of consumers are stepping up to the LX?  It is a fairly large jump in price for just the cruise and heated mirrors (in terms of actually functional features).  Flashy big wheels aren't that big of a deal for most adults, I suspect.

[articsteve]

Problem with the LX model is that it no longer represents a real bargain.