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Bankruptcy and Vehicle Financing
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Comments
Anyway though, if you could put just $60 a month more towards that payment, which would get you back up to the $430 a month you were paying, you'll have the car paid off in 4 years instead of 5, and save about $1800 in interest.
Of course, it's all moot if you can't put the extra $60 a month on your payment. Still, a little sacrifice now will mean a big payoff later.
Whatever you do, good luck. As for the tires for life thing, I agree with the others here that it sounds too good to be true. I recently bought some new brake pads for my car that are supposed to be "guaranteed for life", but when I got the warranty in the mail, there are so many exclusions in it that basically it sounds like just getting in the car and starting it is going to void the warranty!
Lanier is also trying to compete with Gwinnett Place Honda (aka Rick Hendrick) who just opened a massive new palace said to be the largest Honda dealer in America. I've been to all these lots and can say GP Honda is incredibly massive.
When I was at Lanier shopping for Pilot's they told me about "tires for life". Didn't have any paperwork to read so who know what exactly that means. But it seems to work with those who don't want to shop around or drive the 12 miles to Gwinnett Place.
Seem like alot of people have been tough on Mazda so I wanted to share my situation also. I had just bough a new Passat in 11/00 and I lost my job in 5/01 and I was unable to find any steady work after that. I live in NYC and then of course Sept 11th happened and the job market just got worse. So with no income and a new car payments eating up all my savings I started living off of my credit cards. I found temp jobs for a few months at a time but once they ended I would start falling behind on my payments again.
So finally in Nov 2001 I faced facts and gave my car up as a voluntary repossession. But by that time I was about 20k in credit card debt and still not working steadily. Then in April 02 I found a steady job and tried to speak to AMEX and work something out but they filed a lawsuit against me and refused to work with me. The collection agency they hired said it was too late and they were going to go through with a discovery process look for my assets and try to garnish my wages. So my options were hire a lawyer to protect against wage garnishment or hire a lawyer and declare bankruptcy.
So I choose bankruptcy and I filed for Chapter 7 in June and I'm waiting for my discharge papers. I just recently checked my credit reports and scores and my credit score was around 480 when I filed and now it's 600 since I now have no debts.
So with my credit score about 600, I should receive my discharge papers in a few weeks and I was working as a temp at a job which becomes permanent Nov 1st. My annual salary at the job will be 75k. I've been living in the same apt for 3 years.
Will I be able to get a car loan and what kind of rates would I receive. I'm looking to buy a car equivalent to the Passat I had, meaning something in the 25k range. I'm probably going to put about 5k down so I'll be borrowing about 21-22k. Thanks.
"Hey folks,
Seem like alot of people have been tough on Mazda so I wanted to share my situation also. "
Did you not see the advice that everyone gave him? Just because you're making good money now, doesn't mean that next month you won't be on the street again.
You should have no problems getting bought with 18-20% interest, especially with that kind of money down, but...
what is wrong with buying something a couple of years old with cash, or even put 50% down on something and use the payments to reestablish some car credit?
I've seen this situation a lot, and I understand the urge to get something new so you can feel like you're on the mend, but its much wiser to SAVE as much money as you can and to learn to live debt-free (less) for a while.
Good luck, either way!
Ed
Now, this would be a fantastic deal if your car has expensive high-performance Z-rated tires! A set of tires fo my friend's 1998 Corvette is $1400 and he's lucky to get more than 25K miles from a set. Z -rated tires for my 2002 Cadillac Seville STS are $182 each.
Some GAP policies are cheaper but some also have pay out limits.
I'd like to see the specific requirements of the plan just for fun.
For someone like Mazda who is going to drive a lot of miles, it may be that it will pay off....depending on what the details of the plan actually are.
What happened to stinky? I dodn't always agree with him but he was good for the mix in here.
Here's my story, take it for whatever value you want... The TrailBlazer is a good vehicle. I honestly think that it has many bugs that still need to be worked out, though. For a 30k++ vehicle, it does not dish out nearly what you would expect(at least for me). I honestly enjoyed my Trailblazer, but there were things about it that bugged the heck out of me. Rattles coming from everywhichway, people having HVAC going haywire on them(not me), poor MPG(13-14 for me), Lack of power(275? nah, didn't feel like it to me anyways), rattling door jambs(stops wore out w/in 6mos) mushy suspension(no one makes anything aftermarket to stiffen it up yet), horrendous wind noise, and horrible resale value. The MSRP on my TB was 29,4 when I bought it. I got 21k on trade 15mo later. True, it's my fault for trading so early, but couldn't deal w/ the problems and payments together, just ended up being too much, especially since GM would not even humor my request to try and get better mileage. (said down to 10MPG is common on these vehicles so 13-14 mixed driving MPG was actually very good). There were good things I miss like 4x4, and having a SUV, but all other things come in my '03 Accord for about 24k, and its a double 5star Crash car. dual air, 8 cup holders, cool gauges, awesome handling, Side air bags, Electronic Brake distribution, ABS, etc.
As for the cost, I would say that you will get someone that will take the loan, but probably not at a great intrest rate. Say 7% for 5yrs. Thats roughly $600/mo(full 30k) Say you do your trade also... Say you get roughly 12k on a trade, and owe 3k thats 9k in positive assets on your SUV. 21k for 60mos @7% is still about 425/mo.
I say you probably will get the loan provided you trade the Explorer in, but I personally would go with something else. Say a Pilot, Durango, Pathfinder, 4runner... I wish I had gone that route...
I don't mean to put down GM, but my experience with their TB was, different. I'm back in my imports now... If you truly love the vehicle, then by all means, but take it on the freeway, especially on a semiwindy day, and listen to what the road tells you w/ all windows up and the radio turned on... you will still hear the wind/road... kinda irritating.
Leaving the SUV argument aside for a moment (I personally don't believe anyone who doesn't have a real need for such a vehicle whould wast their money and the limited gasoline supply, but there's no accounting for some fokls definition of need vs want), GM has a real quality problem. The kinds of problems you describe are a huge issue for a new vehicle. Now if their only competition was Ford there wouldn't be a big problem - they do the same thing. But they have to compete with Honda. Toyota. Nissan. Subaru (heck - could've gotten a Legacy and had your 4WD...). Even Chrysler is cleaning up its act slooooowly.
Mookie - To ME you don't sound in bad shape at all. One of our dealers or sales people that actually know the real limits will chime in soon with a better answer but I'm betting you'll be fine.
If you can manage ANY of tblazers suggestions (Pilot, Durango, Pathfinder, 4runner. - I might leave the Durango out but that's just me) I'd do that. Look for long term value. These will provide that.
I personally would go w/ the Pilot. Not too small, not big, holds resale, etc. and runs about 25k.
We paid $23,000 for it and 7 months and 7,000 miles later only got $16,500 in trade. My 99 Accord that I had at the time had never been to the dealer for anything other than scheduled maintenance, we paid $18,900 for it in January of 99 and got $14,250 2 years and 40,000 miles later.
An impractical, expensive troublesome gas guzzler instead of something else?
I'll never understand...
And then you have to remember that they'll never have equity in this car, get tired of paying the $500 note a couple of years later, and then want to come in and trade their 99 Expedition which now has 80,000 miles for a nice used car with a $250 payment.
It's a vicious cycle and I applaud those who can stick to their guns and get out of it. And I do think that jumping into another expensive car right after a BK regardless of your income is a mistake. Buy something you can afford even if you had to work at McDonalds. Save the extra money and in a couple of years you will have a nice down payment for a nicer car and a lower interest rate because you will have re-established your credit.
That said equity in the car was important to me so I have an Accord and an Odyssey. The Accord has lost relatively little value in 53,000 miles (I did just replace the tires) and the Ody virtually none in over a year. This works for me.
Why would a car that has five seating positions need eight cupholders?
HiC
HiC
check out IIHS.org and NHTSA.gov. They both have crash tests for the Trailblazer, and it doesn't look promising for a frontal impact. Granted its a brick wall, and there is more weight to stop, but overall still dissapointing.
Why don't you want a car? Do you really use your SUV for any of it's intentions? If you do, then great, if you dont, perhaps you should consider whether it's worth the 10k premium initially plus gas, insurance, etc over the years for a SUV. The other considerations are a Subaru Legacy... its got AWD, the Highlander is nice, and gets supurb mileage... etc..
Here's a question, do you plan to keep it, or lease it? If you plan to keep it, consider the costs of the PCM, ECU, 4L60E, or even the I6 if any part broke. All completely electronic. I believe the I6 is in the ballpark of 8k, the PCM is in the 1,5 etc. The 100k tuneup alone will cost you an arm and a leg.
Gotta say that the extra $200 is more fun for me than the SUV was.. =o) Check out the Trailblazer forum and read all 7k posts... 7k posts on a one year old vehicle...
When you buy something that is going to immediately leave you upside down on the loan you are setting up all sorts of trouble and that is so easy to do on such a quickly depreciating vehicle. If you decide it isn't what you thought - too bad. More importantly,if you have tblazer's experience of it turning out to be a piece of junk (in this case we're talking one specific unit that was that bad but to a degree it's a crapshoot) you are screwed.
Check what Honda and Toyota offer for the $$ quite closely. On my Ody the difference wasn't as big as I'd thought at all when you put it feature by feature against the competition and it has lost virtually no value in a year!
HiC - it's a mystery. Perhaps drinking ghosts? One per pasenger seems right. I will admit that the Ody has several little recesses (4 of them in the cute fold down table) that I'm sure they call cupholers but I wouldn't want to put anything in them - high tipping potential for the drink....
If you check one out, its cool, all these pockets/spaces for stuff, and not enough stuff to put in it... (yet)... =o)
I sat in the Pilot today, I'm 5'10, and wear a 30" inseam(should be closer to 28") and my head is still at least 4-6" off the roof and this is w/ the sunroof. All the way back, the legs are still about 6" off the pedals... It's very spacious... not sure how anyone could not fit in there, but there is always the possibility.
Here are some specs if anyone is interested....
Measurement TB LTZ Pilot
Head room 40.2/39.6 41.9/40.9
Leg room 44.6/37.1 41.4/37.4
Hip room 55.1/58.1 57.5/56.6
shoulder 58.5/58.5 61.6/61.4
MSRP 34k 30K
Wheelbase 113.0 106.3
length 191.8 188.0
width 74.6 77.3
height 74.5 71.7
Look pretty similar to me... and costs less... unless of course that 3" is the difference... which is possib.e
I would have to agree that Honda's AND Toyota's don't cater to larger people... They are used to us Japanese people.. =o) I think they have made progress, though as I have seen their interior spaces expand over the years. The big 3 and european mans. seem to give you lots of space.
I just couldn't justify the extra money anymore, and thats why I got rid of my TB. (BTW, the TB Envoy and Bravada(now Buick Rendevous) is all the same vehicle) Just didn't really need the towing, cargo room, etc. right now. But enjoyed driving it! (the reliability was a major concern.. new model(read new engine, PCM, ECU, etc.) many components on the Triplets are in their first years of production, and so far, have had more than a few problems.
If you do decide to go with the vehicle, I would just recommend trying to drive a used one if you can find it, and take it on the freeway, it should have gotten some of it's rattles by then(maybe not, mine did after 7500mi) If you still love 'em, then I wish you all the luck
As for the interior room debate, one thing to consider is that with legroom, for example, they take that measurement from something like the base of the accelerator pedal to the base of the seat cushion. That measurement says nothing about how close the steering wheel and dashboard are to your feet, how high off the floor the seat is, how much wheel well/dead pedal intrusion there is on your left foot, etc. As a result, sometimes a car with less measured legroom can actually be more comfortable, depending on a person's build. Also, I don't think that legroom figure takes into account power seats that can be contorted into really strange angles. For instance, the front legroom figure on my Grandmother's '85 LeSabre was something like 42.2". I could adjust that power seat so that my feet couldn't even reach the pedals, and I'm 6'3"! My Intrepid is rated the same, 42.2", but I wish its seat could go back another inch or two. And a lot of older cars, such as from the 50's, 60's, and 70's, had a bit less measured legroom, but then their dashboards and steering wheels were comfortably out of the way of my legs, although the steering wheels were often too close to my chest. And then there was so much room for my left leg that I could stretch it all the way out and just barely touch the firewall. So in short, don't just go on measurements alone...sit in the thing to make sure it suits you!
kcram
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