Advice about car loan

[Rafiki31]

I am upside down on a car loan. The car is worth about 3k less than I owe on it. I am trying to decide if I should refinance the loan (car is a 2012) or trade it in for something less expensive. The car is starting to have lots of little problems and I am sick of being at the dealership and hearing "sorry we didn't get to it today" while they keep it for days without fixing it. It is under warranty and the next closest dealership is 40 minutes away.


If I trade it in and I am upside down on the loan, any tips on not getting raked on the price of the new car?

Any other suggestions? I am thinking I should probably get rid of it, but I have never gotten rid of a car this new. I usually keep my cars for 10+ years.

 

[tvguy]

I'd check lemon laws. What kind of car is it?
These days almost every brand of car should be trouble free for the life of the loan.

 

[dhardawa]

Sounds to me like the problem may be with the dealership. If they're sitting on it for days, what are the odds they're doing the work well? I'd report the dealership.

 

[clh2]

I would also check the lemon laws for your state.

 

[kathie859]

I would contact the district sales office for the particular brand of vehicle to register my dismay at the shoddy customer service. I would refi only if a lower payment is needed or the interest rate lower. Otherwise, I'd be throwing extra payments on this bad boy, get it paid off and drive it until it dies.

 

[smokeyblue]

My dad had a similar experience with a dealers reluctance to do warranty repair. He had a bad engine and a windshield that moved when he drove. He went directly to GM and they didn't help him. At that point he paid a lemon law lawyer he found on the internet $25 to draft a letter to GM. He got a rebuilt engine with an extended, transferable warranty and the windshield was finally fixed. This was 8-10 years ago so I couldnt tell you where he found this lawyer, but I'm sure you could find something similar for a reasonable rate.

 

[tvguy]

My dad had a similar experience with a dealers reluctance to do warranty repair..

I never understand why a dealer would be reluctant to do warranty work, unless they can't figure out what is wrong. A friend is a Toyota dealer service manager, and the service department is the big money maker for them, and while Toyota pays a lower rate than customers, 25% of their service department profits come from warranty work fixing Toyotas mistakes...and given how few issues Toyotas have, that's pretty eye opening.

 

[sookie]

If it is only a year old - I would be concerned too!!

 

[kymom99]

You don't say what kind of car it is, but I have a Nissan. Every time I take my 2012 in for service, I get an automated call thanking me. I have also gotten live calls asking me to rate my experience. I also had this happen when I had a mazda. I can't imagine a major brand not being more concerned with the quality of their service.

I would write a letter to the corporate office of the company. I would also take the car in for repairs and insist on a loaner car. Mazda gave me a loaner when I took my car in for more involved service calls, and that was when the car was out of the warranty period. Make enough noise and insist that they take care of this. Don't roll over and play dead. I agree that a letter on the letterhead of an attorney may be a big help too!

 

[littleelf]

I would definitely make the trip to a different dealer to have it looked at. Most cars that age shouldn't have any problems. With my last car I had electrical problems that the closest Ford dealer kept not fixing. One trip to a different dealer with a better reputation and never had another problem.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'd check lemon laws. What kind of car is it?
These days almost every brand of car should be trouble free for the life of the loan.

I agree.

Sounds to me like the problem may be with the dealership. If they're sitting on it for days, what are the odds they're doing the work well? I'd report the dealership.

I agree with that too!



Assuming the dealership does the post-work surveys, be SURE you answer honestly. Not-so-secret reality of the surveys is that any answer but the highest score, with absolutely no commentary, gets rated as bad. If they'll take a "they were wonderful" instead of "5 out of 5" as being bad, surely they'll take "0 out of 5" as bad as well.


And remember, with loans, at some point you are going to be "underwater". It's just the reality of a loan, whether it's a car, house, boat, whatever. That's a normal and natural place to be with a loan, so don't let that bother you too much. Right now, this is a new car and it's having problems it shouldn't be having. Focus on THAT, not on the "underwater" thing.

 

[mrodgers]

I disagree with those who think these days any brand of car should be trouble free for the life of a loan. I wouldn't expect that at all from Ford, GM, or Dodge. I was certainly proven right with Ford.

I never took the Ford in for warranty work. So much was junk on it I certainly didn't want it replaced with the same junk so I could go through it again in another year so fixed it all myself with better quality aftermarket parts.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Make them give you a loaner car while the "work" is being done. Should speed up the process.

And yes, regardless of brand, the car should be reasonably reliable through the life of the loan and then some.

 

[wiigirl]

I would also check the lemon laws for your state.

 

[tvguy]

I disagree with those who think these days any brand of car should be trouble free for the life of a loan. I wouldn't expect that at all from Ford, GM, or Dodge. I was certainly proven right with Ford.

I never took the Ford in for warranty work. So much was junk on it I certainly didn't want it replaced with the same junk so I could go through it again in another year so fixed it all myself with better quality aftermarket parts.

Hey, every car maker has lemons. I have a Ford and a Mercury sitting in the garage that both went 10 years and 100k miles before they needed anything more than oil and filter changes, tires and brakes.

And I guess I should realize that there actually was a lender than launched 97 month loans this year for cars.

 

[tar heel]

Unless you have some money to put into the deal, I'm not sure how trading it in is going to help you with the upside down thing unless this is a really expensive car and you're going to get something that's really cheap. If it's all financed, you're upside down again when you drive off the lot. If you decide to do that, you know to go to another dealer.

The poster who said all loans are underwater when they start is wrong b/c loans with decent down payments aren't. That's what you want to get back to, but I'm not sure that's possible unless your current car is really expensive.

Do they give you a loaner when the car isn't ready? If not, you need to complain and complain loudly. I'm not sure "little" problems qualify for lemon laws, unfortunately.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm not sure "little" problems qualify for lemon laws, unfortunately.

They can be. That's why it is important to look into specific state laws. My Jetta was almost a true lemon in WA because of an O2 sensor. If it had had to be replaced just one more time inside of two years it would have qualified. Alas it waited one more month

Ok if you pay enough cash up front that you are ahead of being underwater I'll give you that not all loans hit that level. Feels like semantics but that's ok. I like semantics.


Eta: my point about the loan though was to not let that become a focal point. There's something wrong with the car and/or the dealership and I would address those things rather than trying to replace the car. But that's just my opinion.

 

[Omalley]

The 'American cars are all bad' bit is quite old. My last two cars (Pontaic, Ford) lasted a combined 280,000 miles and 17 years. Any new vehicle can have issues. Find a different dealer to complete the warranty work.

 

[sweetdana]

I am upside down on a car loan. The car is worth about 3k less than I owe on it. I am trying to decide if I should refinance the loan (car is a 2012) or trade it in for something less expensive. The car is starting to have lots of little problems and I am sick of being at the dealership and hearing "sorry we didn't get to it today" while they keep it for days without fixing it. It is under warranty and the next closest dealership is 40 minutes away.


If I trade it in and I am upside down on the loan, any tips on not getting raked on the price of the new car?

Any other suggestions? I am thinking I should probably get rid of it, but I have never gotten rid of a car this new. I usually keep my cars for 10+ years.

I traded in a car one time for this, the car was always covered, but was in every month or every 3 weeks, they never did find the problem it was a ford probe. It caused me nothing but headaches, and I had to pay the 14$ a day for INS on the "free rental" cause there were 2 drivers on the car, and they only covered 1. The lemon law never applied cause they never fixed the same problem 3 times, but I did have a new transmission, along with every other part I could ever name, but honestly what ever it was.. they never really fixed the broken part, they just coudn't identify the right broken part, and I ran out of patience and money trying to let them find it.

After 14 months of it, I turned it in and bought the cheapest new car (a chevy tracker), and used it well beyond the 5 yr loan I had.


I would do this. Trade in for the cheapest car, you can live with and put down anything you can even if it is only 1-2K it will make a difference.

 

[tvguy]

I traded in a car one time for this, the car was always covered, but was in every month or every 3 weeks, they never did find the problem it was a ford probe. It caused me nothing but headaches, and I had to pay the 14$ a day for INS on the "free rental" cause there were 2 drivers on the car, and they only covered 1. The lemon law never applied cause they never fixed the same problem 3 times, but I did have a new transmission, along with every other part I could ever name, but honestly what ever it was.. they never really fixed the broken part, they just coudn't identify the right broken part, and I ran out of patience and money trying to let them find it.

After 14 months of it, I turned it in and bought the cheapest new car (a chevy tracker), and used it well beyond the 5 yr loan I had.


I would do this. Trade in for the cheapest car, you can live with and put down anything you can even if it is only 1-2K it will make a difference.

I never understood why Ford had Mazda build the Probe for them, I don't think the Ford dealers ever got the training they needed on the Mazda made Fords