Advice needed on best way to proceed

[FroggieMom]

Hi all! I'm hoping to get a fresh perspective on what options we may have (if any) besides the obvious ones we have thought of.  Here's the situation:

I have a 2008 Chrysler T & C Touring with 130K miles on it (I drive a BUNCH for work) with a current loan balance of about $16,300 with a little under 3 yrs left.  About 10K miles ago I got it appraised at a dealership and they were being generous to give me 10K for it, which leaves me about 6K upside down. I don't have that kind of cash or any relatives/friends who would be willing to loan it to me either.  This van has been nothing but a nightmare repair POS from almost day 1.  It currently needs a wheel bearing replaced ($150 from what I paid to have the last one replaced), it has a power steering leak that the dealership says will be about $600 (which I know would be cheaper elsewhere but still..) and the check engine light is on that the code says is a catalytic issue and would require further diagnostics to know for sure but mechanic says with that kind of error code it won't be a cheap fix.

So....  I am done repairing this thing that continues to suck $$ from me.  I don't have the greatest scores b/c I am coming out of a short sale on my house but my spouse has decent scores around 700.  I have income of 75K, he is in school so it would require both of us to be on the note.  He is co-signer on the van so if we let it get repo'ed his scores would tank but would also have a new loan replacing it.  I know, I know this is not what I would prefer to do but I'm at a loss as to what else to do.  My inspection will be due at the end of the month (March) and with the check engine light it will not pass the emissions test so I have to make a decision soon.

Thanks for any help!

[UpNComing]

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@FroggieMom wrote:

Hi all! I'm hoping to get a fresh perspective on what options we may have (if any) besides the obvious ones we have thought of.  Here's the situation:

I have a 2008 Chrysler T & C Touring with 130K miles on it (I drive a BUNCH for work) with a current loan balance of about $16,300 with a little under 3 yrs left.  About 10K miles ago I got it appraised at a dealership and they were being generous to give me 10K for it, which leaves me about 6K upside down. I don't have that kind of cash or any relatives/friends who would be willing to loan it to me either.  This van has been nothing but a nightmare repair POS from almost day 1.  It currently needs a wheel bearing replaced ($150 from what I paid to have the last one replaced), it has a power steering leak that the dealership says will be about $600 (which I know would be cheaper elsewhere but still..) and the check engine light is on that the code says is a catalytic issue and would require further diagnostics to know for sure but mechanic says with that kind of error code it won't be a cheap fix.

So....  I am done repairing this thing that continues to suck $$ from me.  I don't have the greatest scores b/c I am coming out of a short sale on my house but my spouse has decent scores around 700.  I have income of 75K, he is in school so it would require both of us to be on the note.  He is co-signer on the van so if we let it get repo'ed his scores would tank but would also have a new loan replacing it.  I know, I know this is not what I would prefer to do but I'm at a loss as to what else to do.  My inspection will be due at the end of the month (March) and with the check engine light it will not pass the emissions test so I have to make a decision soon.

Thanks for any help!

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I'm sorry to hear about your situation FroggieMom.  I strongly suggest you exhaust all other possibilities before let your van go to repo.  Have you gone back to your dealer to see what they can do to help? 

[Anonymous]

It sounds like it'd be a lot cheaper to just fix it than to try to get out of it and then owe 6,000.

I know it seems to you like you should just get out of it, but I agree with Up, there should be other options.

Are you the sole income in your relationship?

[FroggieMom]

I have not gone to the dealership where it was purchased since I bought it around the time Chrysler was getting bail outs and restructuring, my dealership was one that lost its Chrysler/Dodge name so "technically" its no longer in business.  I have, however, had an attorney try and get a lemon lawsuit going but they responded with "since your vehicle has not needed 4 or more repairs on the same part, it is not a lemon and we cannot assist you".  Besides that, I live in TX and my car was not purchased new so the lemon law excludes me anyhow as I later discovered.  What were you thinking the dealership might help with??

[Anonymous]

You may already be aware of this and it was mentioned in an earlier post, but if you let the finance company repo the vehicle they are going to auction it and you and your husband both will still be on the hook for the remaining balance. Plus if you have already financed another vehicle at that time you will have to deal with payments on it as well as the finance company / collection agency screaming for full payment immediately on the other loan balance. If you ignore them they are likely to go to court and get a judgment for the remainder which will be another negative on your FICO reports.

DON'T DO IT!!! Make whatever arrangements you need to repair / sell off this vehicle and satisfy the loan. Your credit history is already damaged by a short sale on a home. This will just make it worse and affect your husbands history leaving you no options for seeking credit when and if it becomes necessary because something else in life happened.

Climbs down from the soapbox.

[EBy2]

Look for vehicles with 0% interest promos or big rebates, but if i where you I would buy a cheap second car  for work, so you don't continue to rack up miles on a new vehicle or your current one. If you  don't buy one, you're going to be back in the same situation with negative equity on a new car. Also the check engine light code can be reset sometimes by disconnecting the battery for 30 minutes

[StartingOver10]

I have to agree with the general consensus here: repairing the vehicle is much better than having it repo'ed.

First of all, do you have a trusted mechanic that is not associated with the dealership? The dealer is the most expensive way to repair anything. Get a good mechanic right away. Ask friends, family and neighbors for referrals.

Secondly, you are so upside down because of the last loan on the deal. The only thing worse than being so upside down is to do a repo on this one and buy another upside down vehicle!   Now is the time you need to be careful because the next steps you take will either make it more difficult to buy another vehicle or easier. If you let it go back, then it will be much, much more difficult for the next purchase and the next loan. OTOH, if you take care of the outstanding balance and then sell the van so you at least break even, you will get a better loan on the next one.

As to not putting more miles on the vehicle - I disagree. Today's vehicles can easily get to 200k miles and still drive decently with good mechanical care. Don't be lured into a new car purchase just because you have a few repairs. BTW, when ever I feel that way I go get my SUV an excellent detail job and it feels like a new car! It has the new car smell, everything is clean and shiny AND I don't have to put up with any car salesman! What could be better???

[Anonymous]

Hi Froggiemom! :-)

I have a fully loaded 2008 Chrysler T&C too! Mine only has 48k miles on it, so I haven't run into some of the problems that you have, but I do have some thoughts that might help.

First, I've had almost no trouble with my T&C with one exception... As with ALL Chrysler models (this is my fifth Chrysler), it seems, the brakes & the rotors went fairly quickly. A very common complaint amongst Chrysler owners, unfortunately. At the first hint of trouble (within the first 7 to 9 months) with the front brakes and rotors, when I got a brake job, I purchased ceramic brake pads front and rear. I've not had a problem since. I also had the rotors "turned down" instead of replaced-- that wasn't an option at the dealership. But, doing this saved me about $300 dollars. Again, I haven't had a problem since.

T&Cs have a very quirky  little issue-- The check engine light comes on if your gas cap isn't positioned correctly. It can even be screwed all the way on, but the sensor is... well, sensitive. Make sure yours is positioned correctly. This is a well known T&C issue-- it's caused panic in many a T&C owner. You might not have a big problem at all. I'll keep my fingers crossed that that's your problem.

A friend, and fellow T&C owner told me that her check engine light would come on when she needed an oil change! She had a terrible habit of not doing routine maintenance... I'm not saying that this is your problem, but have your fluids checked. I suggested that since she kept going longer, and longer between oil changes (to the point of having almost no oil in her car) that she go fully synthetic, which would allow her to go 10 to 15k miles without an oil change.

One thing that I learned, many Chryslers ago, is to shop around for repairs. I've only once, in recent years, taken my car to the dealership for maintenance, and that was only because an attendant at my preferred place lost my wheel lock key, and I had to take it to the dealership where they have a Master key. Grrr... My point is that repairing, in your case, is undoubtedly going to be less expensive, and less damaging to your finances and credit. You definitely don't want a repo... and with one income, you certainly don't want to face a garnishment. Shop around for reasonable repair costs, and fix it.

After you've gotten whatever repairs are necessary, you might want to start thinking of paying extra towards your principal to get the balance down more quickly. You'd usually do better in a private sale vs. a dealership trade-in, but with 130k miles and the remaining balance, I think you're going to have to hold on to it. I agree with what others have already stated in that you should NOT let it get repo'd, fix it, and then throw extra $$$ at paying down that balance.

Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

I'd much rather go to a local mechanic and have a free estimate done on what work it needs.

You might not even have to do all of the work at once. But from what I read in the OP, the tab would be less than $1,000.

Selling the car and being hung out to dry with $6K upside down is bad, but having the car repo'ed is far worse than $1,000.

Seriously, it's not the most pleasant advice to hear, because sometimes we burn the idea in our heads that a bad car should be replaced with a new car, but that only makes sense if you can pull it off financially. As of right now, it seems like you can't.

Ask around, your friends, family, yelp, whatever and go to a local mechanic and see what you need to get done, what is more urgent than the other repair and go from there.

[webhopper]

Trust me, don't do the repo thing   been there done that... its not pretty, and keep his credit stellar....  Have you tried trading it in on something and roll the leftover into the note?