I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about my goals both short and long term.
One of them is to clear up some financial freedom.
Right now I have three vehicles on which I owe more than resale value.
The first is my truck. I bought it kind of spur-of-the-moment because I needed one and the dealership gave me credit when I didn't think I could get any. Unfortunately the interest is high, and I put a lot miles on it in the last 18 months. I got it at 24k miles and it now has 74k miles. It's a 99 and is starting to look like the work truck it is. Bottom line: I won't get what I owe on it or anywhere near. I think Book value yesterday was $12,500 and I owe $15,500 (roughly). Principal doesn't come down very fast when you finance 5 years at a high interest rate
Second is the LS1 convertible. I've had it a little over 2 years now and have about 3 years left to pay on it. I paid too much because I rolled some negative equity from my old 94Z into it (the one with a blown trans and vats). I paid right at book value plus tax...around $22,500 total. Right now I still owe about $17k with 3 years left to go... I know I can't get what I owe on it (again).
Next is my 94Z (the one I have been modding). I owe around $5500 on it. It has a couple small mods (see the sig) plus some weight reduction whish pretty much renders it a summer only or street/strip vehicle (no air or heat, emissions, etc). I have a couple grand in uninstalled mods for it too. I'm thinking I could sell it around $4500 or so, and sell the mods seperately.
Current situation is I have a good job, making enough money to keep paying the bills I have (all those mentioned and not mentioned) and still have a couple hundred a week left over.
I don't need the truck much anymore. I'd like to just move it out. Unfortunately I am not even sure I could get book value out of it. My thought process kind of brought this possibility about:
I could sell the 94Z, and just pay the cash difference on the loan out of pocket. I could sell all the mods seperately and use the cash to bring down the balance on the truck. It won't get it down all the way to book, but I can make up the difference and then refinance it at my credit union for half the interest rate and over $100 a month in payment savings. Ideally, I could then get the truck up for sale and eliminate it all together sometime before winter (it's 4wd).
Between the two I could eliminate around $22k in debt load and another $700 a month in payment and $200 in insurance. I could then roll a good percentage of that $900 a month I was already paying for those vehicles into the LS1 to bring it down quicker. Even an extra $500 a month over the top of the payment would pay off that loan in less than a year and a half, and I would have an extra $400 a month pocket money.
I'd still have the convertible for the fun car and would probably work on modding it a little bit. This would still require me to pick up another vehicle for a daily driver, but I have my eye on my dad's 1990 Jeep Wrangler which I can pick up around $2k (or less if I help him build his addition this summer).

What do you guys think? See any other means to the ends I am looking to achieve?

 

Strip?

Sell your underwear on the internet?

 

Strip? How much are you offering? And what underwear?

I should have made clear, I am not hurting for cash right now...just thinking ahead. I can make all the payments as scheduled now, but in order to eliminate things quicker I am working out a plan...

 

im not offering anything.. lol

youre on your own.. it was just an idea

 

I think your plan sounds good. I think that any time one can decrease his amount of debt he should. Sure, you'll lose your current "fun car" (the 94 Z), but in a couple years you'll be out of debt, and you can still play with the LS1 ragtop. I give the plan

 

Ya it kind of sucks being in debt like that. The quicker you can do something about it the quicker you'll stop thinking about it.
I was up to my ears in loans and revolving credit a while ago.
Camper,cars, atvs. I wasnt hurting for money for the payments, just the "dam dude, when am i gonna be rid of this crap?!?!"

IMO do the best you can to get out now. You can always buy it all again if it hurts your feelings that much. But next time you can do it a little smarter.

I wrestled out from under my debt a little bit ago and now i got my toy jeep, dirtbike, I drive an older F250 and I still got the Z in my sig to play with. Only this time everything is paid for except the z and it's only$150/month. Plus I jus bought a house with a sweet a$$ garage so I got someplace to keep my junk!

Good luck dude! Dont get too down about it, I sure was. Put your plan together and STICK TO IT! Before you know it a year will go by and you'll be like "dam, that wasnt so bad!"


JC

 

LOL! I dont know if you needed a pep talk but there it is!

 

You can run around in your underwear and i`ll shoot you with one of my paint ball guns for $20 an hour!

 

I am in a bind, I bought the 99 SS b4 the 98 V-6 was sold thinking it would sell in spring... July now and its still up for sale so now my parents are stuck paying for it and the insurance on it .


sooooo any one wanna buy a 98 silver 3.8 camaro?

-T-tops
-Auto
-chrome rims
-75,000 miles
-$8,000 O.B.O

 

You like to watch men run around in their underwear?

 

who doesnt???

 

Go to your credit union, get a consolidation loan. Roll everything into one. Use the vehicles that u plan on keeping as collateral. They are cool about things like that at credit unions. U should be able to save a good amount that way too.

 

Only if I get to shoot back...I'm guessing mine are a little faster than yours

 

Two of the vehicles (the camaros) are already financed with the credit union. I'd like to get the truck through them, but have too much negative equity. they will go $12,575 plus tax basiccally, and I owe damn near $17k on it. The interest would be cut in half and the payment would probably too...just gotta cut that negative equity down. I think I have a plan though...

I'm gonna pay off the credit cards this week. The car (94z)and mods are going up for sale today probably. When I get the cash from the mods, it will be put on the truck to bring down the principal a couple grand. The money I was paying for payments on the credit cards and car will then be rolled in as additional payments on the truck toward principal only. Probably take a year of payments in this fashion, but it should bring the truck back inline with book value. The convertible I am going to change from making one payment a month to making a payment every two weeks. This will give me an extra payment a year on the car and cut down the remaining balance jst a bit quicker. Once the truck can be refinanced at the lower interest rate, the money I save on the extra prepayment I was making as well as the credit card payments will be split between the two vehicles every month. I figure I should be out of debt on all of the stuff in under 2 years this way without increasing my current monthly outgo by one cent.

 

Sounds like that should work