| Question about going off to college and what to do with car. |
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elfie477
New Poster
Cash: $ 0.45
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Joined: 17 Oct 2006
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| Question about going off to college and what to do with car. |
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Hi, this is my first time posting here but I have been reading the posts for awhile and all of the replies are very helpful. Well heres my problem... I bought a new 2006 civic in february because at the time I wanted to live at home and commute to college. Now, I want to dorm and plan on moving this september but there is absolutely no way I can afford my brand new car. I dont know how to go about this because I will probably only work about every other weekend for extra cash instead of full time Im working now. I will probably have to buy a cheap car at some point but i dont want to lose out on a lot of money...
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Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:12 pm |
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elfie477
New Poster
Cash: $ 0.45
Posts: 2
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
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I just dont want to have to work so much to pay for the car or the high insurance that goes along with it. Im thinking of selling it so i dont have to pay payment and driving my moms car when im home so i can just be added to her insurance for much less
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Wed Oct 18, 2006 1:34 am |
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rockhound
Preferred Member
Cash: $ 26.45
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Joined: 03 Feb 2006
Location: West Virginia
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| Depreciation |
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I think that Coaster is right: you are likely to be shocked at what your 2006 is "worth" now compared to what you paid in February.
One question: did you buy the car outright, for cash? I'm assuming that you put 10% down, and have been making monthly payments, either to a bank or finance company. If you had paid cash, and already own the car free and clear, I would suggest that you might as well keep it because the capital is gone, anyway. You could either drive it sparingly, or not at all if you elected to just park it and let the insurance and registration lapse until you can afford it again after school. (Don't let the insurance lapse if you are making payments, because your finance company won't like that!)
If you are making payments, you could try to sell the car, but will probably find that what you get will not cover what you still owe on the loan. In other words, you sell the car, and use the money to pay toward your loan, but there will be a shortfall that you will have to make up with your own savings. Check out the Kelly Blue Book website (kbb.com) for an idea of the value of a private party, used car and compare that to the payoff amount on your loan. This would minimize your loss but probably not negate it--you'll be out only a few to several thousand dollars of your own money, rather than paying the full $2X,XXX term of the loan. However, selling the car would at least get you out from paying the insurance and registration fees, not to mention gasoline, which could then be applied to the shortfall on the loan.
The other option is: continue to live at home until you save up enough to improve your financial situation. Better yet, sell the car and continue living at home, and use public transportation, car pool, bike, walking, or motor scooter to get to school. You have already taken a good step in realizing that something has to be given up, so you know that money is a scarce resource that must be selectively allocated. Have you calculated/estimated if it will be cheaper to live at home with the car, or cheaper to live in the dorm with no car? In other words, does the car payment, gas, insurance, registration come out to more or less than the dorm fee and meal tickets?
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Sat Oct 21, 2006 6:19 pm |
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