Question

No judgement- just advice please. My car payment is $600 I LOVE my SUV but not the payment (obviously). It will be paid off in 3 years. If I trade it in I’m upside down $10, 000! I can’t refinance (already tried). A. Should I keep it and suck it up and pay it off? B. Trade it in for a small car and maybe have to pay the $10, 000 to a bank for the upside down? C. Another option I haven’t thought of. I have a baby so I need a good reliable car. But I need to start making better financial choices and that starts with this hefty payment.  

Answer 1

I had a friend who sold her’s private sale and paid it off that way. I don’t know the details I just know she did it.  

Answer 2

A. We just went through this ourseleves actually! You love it. It's 3 more years. Just do it.  

Comments

Even though payment may change or save on milegae, you're just hiding money then and we basically decided we'd rather pay and drive what we like safe etc. Rather than 'try to Dave's but really just pay 10-20k more for a vehicle that isn't worth it (IMO)!  

Answer 3

Sounds like A is the only option, honestly. With B, you’d pay even more than you do now.  

Answer 4

We tried getting rid of ours too. When we bought it, our credit was awesome and we got a 3. 4 IR. Now we are trying to refinance and our payment would be over $100 more because of our credit. We have to just suck it up and pay.  

Comments

@pantry17976 you can do it. In the long run it will be better I promise. It’s safe for your baby and honestly. It’s okay. Just breathe!  

Answer 5

I’m in the same boat as the rest of you 800$ because I had to roll over my old car payment

Answer 6

I’d stick with it. I made the mistake of not having gap insurance and a deer totaled my Pathfinder that was less than a year old. I was upside down in it $10k after insurance paid. I had to have a vehicle and now I have an $800 a month car payment. However, I got the vehicle I’ve always wanted and have no intentions of getting rid of it ever and I bought the gap insurance this time and it will pay 150% if something happens.  

Answer 7

I’d stick with it and pay it off! Trust me once you drive a SUV a car is like downsizing to a one bedroom apartment with furniture of a 3 bedroom! I did it, AND I HATE IT!  

Comments

@quass great analogy and  true. You get spoiled so it is hard to go back to a beater.  

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@eriha especially with kids!  

Answer 8

I have a Mercedes benz my payments are almost the same as yours I have two more years I owe $15, 000 but I put negative onto it. Here’s how I see it if you trade it in you’ll still roll negative onto another rig so you will pretty much still pay for this vehicle no matter what you do. I say keep it! I’m keeping my benz it’s got 188, 000 miles that I’ve personally put on it I’ve kept up all Maintance and it still looks and drives like a new car ☺️

Answer 9

I would just suck it up and make a better decision next time. It sounds like you have atleast 1 baby, safety is huge for me and I will always be okay with a car payment because of that. I however always buy used with low miles. I have a 2012 Expedition EL that I pay about 350 a month for, I have had it a couple of years.  

Answer 10

I’m in a similar boat. $500 payment. I say keep it. In a few years I’ll have my SUV paid off and it’s on the newer end so I expect it’ll last a long time. Drive the wheels off of it and save to buy the next vehicle with cash!  

Answer 11

I'm in the same boat with a truck. I'm just sticking it out.  

Answer 12

Keep it. Put all your $ toward paying it off early, including your tax refund. Try to get a side hustle to make extra $ to pay it off quicker.  

Answer 13

Totally get it! We bought our SUV brand new and am sticking with a $500 payment. We are upside down a few grand, but we decided since it fits our family and we know the history and it has been dependable it's worth the piece of mind to snowball it and pay it off

Answer 14

I’d keep it at that point. Being upside down 10k, if you tried to get out of it you’d be in the same situation or a huge clunker that’s likely to leave you stranded with your babies.  

Answer 15

Keep it!  

Answer 16

We traded my husbands car for a truck this past December (we own our own business so we wanted to take advantage of the tax deduction on 6k+ lb vehicle) and he was upside down on his car because he had only owned it for about a year and the dealership rolled the overage on his other car into the financing. We also got 0% financing on the new vehicle, so even though our payments went up slightly ALL of our payment goes to principle.  

Comments

AND. his car was a 2014, truck was brand new 2019, so we have a 5 year newer car with a warranty.  

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And, I’m not saying get a car loan with a higher payment, unless you can swing that, we were incentivized by a big tax deduction. You could look for other vehicles that offer 0% financing in which your payment will decrease

Answer 17

I'd just keep paying

Answer 18

I’m in the same boat. Paying mine off then keeping it. I decided that I’ll wait for my kids to grow up some more before buying a new car again.  

Answer 19

Pay it off as quickly as possible and keep it

Answer 20

Refi thru credit union?  

Answer 21

I was in a similar boat, I kept mine and just focused on putting all extra funds towards that debt to get it paid off sooner. Then I started on my smallest credit card debt.  

Comments

@pantry17976 car first

Answer 22

I dated a guy once that had a $775 truck payment. You can do this! Sell extra things around the house that you never use, clothes that are too small, or just anything in general. Don’t sell things that make you happy though! This money adds up QUICK. I’d use that towards your payments for now.  

Answer 23

We have a $639 and $696 truck payments. We are upside down on both of them so we are keeping them and pushing hard at our snowball. We have 4. 5 years left on the loans but they will both be paid off in less than 2 years with the snowball.  

Answer 24

Keep it. Pay it off and drive it until the wheels fall off.  

Answer 25

Don't do it. I did it was a big mistake.  

Answer 26

Keeeeeep! No matter what ur credit score is increasing if ur paying on time. Just keep it

Answer 27

I would for sure keep it if you aren’t at risk of getting behind on payments. How nice that you love the car! You’d still have a big payment for a lesser vehicle if you traded it in, so I would say do what you can to pay it off early and take great care of it so you can drive it forever and get your money’s worth.  

Answer 28

If you can actually afford the payments and the truck is not giving you problems, it works fine, etc., then I would keep. Use the snowball debt plan to pay off debt quicker and minimize the amount of bills your paying, and it should be more managable. I wouldn't refi unless you really need to.  

Answer 29

Keep it if you love it. Once it's paid you will be glad. I have a Ram truck with $930 monthly payments for 5 years. I pay $500 every two weeks on it and already ahead on payments within a year of paying it. Plan to pay it off in 3 years total.  

Answer 30

A. Pay anything extra on it

Answer 31

Keep it. Once it’s paid off it’s paid off! Focus on that debt and when it’s done that’ll free up so much of your income!  

Answer 32

Keep it

Answer 33

Have you considered private sale earning more than trade-in?  

Comments

@pantry17976 it’s a possibility especially if you know someone who is good at it. Ask on your page who has successfully sold a car privately and get their advice on posting it for sale

Answer 34

Keep it, knock out any other debt you have and then apply the extra to your car payment. I’m in the same situation (being upside down) and am using the snowball method. Don’t take that negative equity into another loan

Answer 35

Keep it, pay off your other debts you have and then apply the extra to your car payment. I’m in the same situation (being upside down) and am using the snowball method. Don’t take that negative equity into another loan

Answer 36

I would make that my priority debt. All extra money goes to paying it off. Maybe you can get it paid off in 1/2 the time or 2 years. Taking that loss on it would make me sick. I am a car person tho. I love vehicles. ❤️

Answer 37

I would keep it. I was upside down in an auto loan and owed waaay more than my car was worth with a $575 car payment (though I also love my car) before filing bankruptcy 2. 5 years ago. Does your auto loan allow you to pay more than once a month? If you can make more frequent payments instead of one a month, you pay more towards the principal than the interest! A car salesman taught me this.  

Comments

@pantry17976 check with your loan company first. Some charge you a fee if you try to pay more than once which is so stupid! Most let you though!  

Answer 38

Keep it

Answer 39

You can’t put a price on your peace of mind! Especially when you have babies!  

Answer 40

Keep and pay it off!  

Answer 41

Keep it! Work on paying it down then try to refinance again.  

Answer 42

The one thing i would NOT do is a trade in- you will give yourself another issue to take a hit on.