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kelliann: have you ever thought about getting a cheaper car? You seem to be stressing over this purchase. Plus it appears you are at the upper limit of your credit if $600 is going to somehow disqualify you. And to be honest a six year, high interest loan on a used car in this economy is probably not the smartest move.
Why not look for a 2006 Camry instead or a cheaper car? I know it the older design but it should be a few thousand cheaper and near bullet proof in reliability since it was the last year of that design. You can find plenty of Camrys with 40k-50k miles for around $13k.
Why not look at a new Sonata? Hyundai has been very aggressive this year in sales and you may be able to get a new Sonata for the same or lower than a one year Camry. The Sonata is rated the same as the Camry.
On some luxury cars, depreciation is BRUTAL.
and so it goes...ah well...luck O the Irish :shades:
This is even more so if you roll over negative equity from the trade-in, then even a 25% down paymt probably does not help much at all...
Unless one had $5,000-10,000 sitting around to pay the gap, then gap insurance may be a wise move for most folks...even if you DO have the 5-10K, paying an extra $10/month for the insurance to pay that gap may still be a smart move, rather than depleting your cash stash...
Run the numbers and see if the gamble is worth it for you, and always use the worst case scenario for your math, like totalling the car in Year 1 or 2, as that is when gap ins does you the most good...
Also, remember, I don't care how good a driver YOU are, it's the other guy who may be uninsured when he T-bones you and totals the car...
If the victim had their own UM, and the $1 million umbrella, they could have recovered against their own UM (under-insured, along with uninsured)ins and not been destitute after the wreck...
From a layman's standpoint, the odds of ultra serious injury are quite low, but from a PI attorney's view, this scenario happens more often than one might think, so I see the need to protect myself and family...and, with the cost of an add'l $175 per year, it is not prohibitive...but if one of us was seriously injured, I have a way to recover if the illegal immigrant was uninsured, or the 25 year old deadbeat bought his minimum policy off some TV ad...
YMMV...
I understand the logic shifty and marsha7 but I don't see Gap insurance as a "must have". Why finance a car that depreciates quickly for so long? You may as well buy an extended warranty and the service contract.
wd: "if you're the victim in the accident and have to recover against your own policy via the umbrella due to the no-neck being UM, how long it would take your insurance company to drop your butt once they've paid out on it...and good luck finding another insurer once they discover that eh... "...I believe that is no longer important...if you are sufficiently injured that you must recover pain and suffering from a $1 million umbrella, the last thing you need to worry about is if they will drop you, as your condition may be such that you are unable to work again, and you have to invest and live off the settlement...whether they raise your premium 25% or you need new insurance is hardly the 1st priority if you are injured that seriously, IMO...also, don't forget...you can only recover assuming that the OTHER guy is at fault, so you may not be dropped at all...now, if YOU cause the wreck, then you have no recovery at all except for medpay to pay your bills, if you have medpay on your policy...
This is only my belief, considering what I have seen from folks who are were seriously injured and did not have sufficient UM, and, with 20/20 hindsight, if they had had it, they could have been adequately compensated...
Further, it is my belief, without any proof at all, that there is a percentage of folks out there who probably cause a disproportionate amount of accidents simply because they are bad drivers, so they are the ones who statisically may drive and have little or no insurance, when they are the ones who should carry it the most...adequte UM protects you from those folks, altho it actually protects you against EVERYBODY with insuff insurance...last year I had a case where the father makes very good money, but he scrimped on his insurance...$50K in liability but only $25K in UM...I could not understand why...
I don't think people in Boston are going to like you talking behind their backs :P
Who knows? I might be overreacting.
You blame the current administration for our "lack of freedom", I blame our past couple decades of living beyond our means, greed and corruption. What is happening today is a direct result of living beyond our means. $700B for the banks, another $790B to keep the economy going. And unemployment is at 9.4%. Personally, I am working on paying off all my debt (except home and car) so I can handle whatever the government can dish out.
I was PO'd at Bush for the first bailout as much as I am about Obama...most conservatives (altho I consider myself mildly moderate...:):):)...meaning just to the left of Attila the Hun) were upset at Bush for No Child, Medicare Part D, and Bailout...and a few other things as well...
Also, 15-20 years ago we added a $1M umbrella policy. It covers our house, lake behind the house, pool, vehicles, etc. liability. IIRC it is between $300-$350 each year. Just looked it up $336 a year. I hate paying insurance, but the alternatives if the worst happens are unplesant to worry about. Of course, before I accumulated some assets it there was not as much risk as there is now.
Bill
first month and dmv down
all taxes rolled into $279 a month payment for 36 months
0% financing
Dealer says Gap Insurance is $20 a month. My state doesn't offer outside insurance companies for Gap Insurance.
Given that everythng is rolled into the payment and the financing is 0% and that the resale Kelly Blue Book value of Rav4 4x4 is high... does is make sense get the GAP insurance or not? Obviously if I don't have to spend the extra money I'd rather not. Can't quite figure out how much I'd be at risk if any given the specifics listed above.
Thanks for the advice in advance.
Whether the wrecked car was leased or purchased, it has the same value. Without a big down payment, you will find yourself responsible for the difference between what insurance pays off and what you owe on the balance of the lease. And that difference is not going to be pretty.
I agree... $20/mo. is outrageous...
Offer him $7/mo., and threaten to go get a CR-V, if he can't do that... (Honda Finance includes GAP on all leases, at no extra charge)
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'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
If your amount that you owe is about equal to the car's value, than gap would be a waste of time.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
I feel like I've exhausted my options. Any other ideas other then holding out and refinancing with them? The window for them opens up again then. I just don't want to feel paranoid driving all the time.
Personally I have been driving for fifty years, my wife for forty fiver, and my children for up to fifteen. Never a single car totaled. We are not unusual.
Thank you for your much needed rationale.
If you don't have savings and don't live in a rural area, you should consider gap. In the meantime, the original poster should straighten out his or her credit situation ASAP so that when the opportunity to refinance comes, a lower interest rate can be offered with the gap insurance.
To some, it is a ripoff...I will gladly pay $400.00 over the life of the loan to save the $4-6,000 I may owe in the event of a total...I have been driving for 45 years, and have never totalled a car, but I see clients who do, and totalling happens more often than you think...
It is like any other insurance...you can buy or gamble without it...if you need it and don't have it, you will kick yourself for not buying it...if you never need it, you have beat the system...
Same reason why some folks buy life insurance and some don't...one can argue that every year you don't die you have wasted your money, I just think it is prudent to buy it...same with extra liability insurance (high limits) and Gap insurance...
Folks lived w/o gap for years, as it used to be available only on leases...now it is available on leases and purchases, and I think it is worth it...but, like ken117, you may not...
For some reason, some of the HUGE insurance companies (State Farm & Allstate, in particular) insure a customer with decent liability limits (100/300/100 usually) but only 25/50/25 (minimum) UM/UIM! I quote several customers a week who are currently with either of them and I rarely see higher limits for UM/UIM. The few times that I have had one of their current customers with higher limits it was because they were informed enough to ask for it! I always quote with higher than average liability limits and matching UM/UIM limits. It's cheap coverage and why wouldn't you want the same amount of protection for you and your passengers that you have to protect a stranger?
I'm also a firm believer in GAP coverage, and you can buy it from your auto insurance company cheaper than the dealer's finance department. It will also be very simple to drop a few years down the road when has no value because the loan balance is much lower than the value!
But a BIG FYI for anyone with negative equity being rolled into you new loan-- read the fine print and the entire, dreadfully boring policy to make sure you are fully covered!
Quite a few insurers stipulate that their GAP coverage will only cover what they calculate as the difference between ACV and your loan balance MINUS the negative equity from a previous loan!!! The only upside of insurers makign this exclusion is that the coverage is less than half the price of GAP policies that will cover the full loan balance after the at-fault's insurer pays. But I just want people to be certain they actually have the coverage they think they have!
Most people would rather have their fingernails pulled off with pliers rather than read their insurance policies. That's where a genuinely good agent comes in very handy! Once you find the an agent who actually cares about protecting you, your family and your assets, they'll always have your back!
Generally on a purchase of a new vehicle the vehicle is purchased well under MSRP and usually with some additional money down or a reduction due to the value of a trade. In such cases, the actual difference in value covered by GAP would likely be $2,000 or less. I recently bought a new vehicle and the GAP coverage offered by the dealer was priced at $600. Spending $600 for potentially having to come up with $2,000 or less is not prudent.
On the other hand, for purchases and leases with no down payment or, heaven forbid, little reduction from MSRP, GAP might be beneficial. But only, as you mention, if purchased away from the dealer. And with many leases, GAP is already included.
People buying vehicles need to be cautious about spending money in response to the fear of a future event. Dealer F&I people are well trained in using such fear as a selling technique. Purchases made under such conditions are usually regretted at a later date, after the person has had sufficient time to consider the purchase.
As you mention most of the F&I products, like GAP or the service contract, can be purchased eleswhere for considerably less money.
It always amazes me how people will fight hard to save an extra couple of hundred dollars on the price of a vehicle but will pay hundreds or thousands for various overpriced products in the box.
Are they legit??
They offer $185 gap insurance. Trying to decide if I should get dealership gap or go with gapdirect.com.
Any advice??
Thanks
Cheaper than what the dealer will offer, I bet.
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