Am I a whole lot of nuts for wanting to sell this thing? v.dealerwantstogivemenexttonothingforit

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Deevan @ Feb 25 2007, 10:29 AM) [snapback]396268[/snapback]</div>

In case you have not heard, it is a buyers market for the Prius nowadays. One can find a brand new Prius for less than you think your used one is worth.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Feb 25 2007, 01:40 PM) [snapback]396273[/snapback]</div>

I agree. The dealer makes money by paying as little as possible for your car then trying to get as much as possible out of you for the new car.

If your credit has improved can you refinance the loan?

 

Take it to CarMax. See what they say!

 

Yes, it is a buyer's market.

And body work is pretty expensive to fix. What they're offering doesn't seem that far out of line.

I'd look into refinancing.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Deevan @ Feb 25 2007, 12:39 PM) [snapback]396318[/snapback]</div>

Your original post said $15-17,000. Taking into consideration that the car needs almost $2,000 in body work, $17,000 is a bit generous in my opinion.

 

Dealers will always give you a lot less than you think the car is worth. They need to get the car checked out, do any necessary maintenence / cleaning / conditioning and then on top of that they want to make a nice profit after selling it for market value. So they are only going to pay you a lot less than market value. I have heard carmax offers a little more than the average dealer will, but you also have to look at MSRP (not how much you bought it for), and also accept the fact that a large amount of depreciation happens when you drive the car off the lot. That is why I personally will almost never buy a new car.

Go to www.kbb.com and see what your car is worth assuming you get it fixed. You might want to look into repairing the car and selling it yourself if you want to maximize how much you can get for it. To the dealer the warranty doesn't mean much, it's very hard for them to advertise. However if you sell it yourself you can use the warranty as a selling point (but not as much as you are thinking).

Also I would advise you research prices in your area (cars.com and autotrader.com are good online sources) to see what your car is actually worth, keeping in mind dealers often sell the car for less than the advertised price.

 

You're going to take a huge bath, I'd take the $17k and run personally.

Whats your interest rate and term now? Do you own a home with any equity in it? The issue with refinancing the car is that the rates on refinance notes are higher than the rates on new car or even used car loans. I mean, with a refi you'll be lucky to get 9% even with good credit. If you do it, I'd refi it out to the longest term possible to get the payment down.

Now, if you do own a home with some equity the best thing to do would be to refi the house and take cash out to pay off the car note. The rate will be a lot lower and the interest on the payments will be tax deductible.

 

i did a refi on our prius after about 8 months of ownership and got 5.24% over 5 years (after an 8.something percent loan if i recall that number correctly) but i've had good credit all my life.

if you're upside down on the loan and you sell the car, no matter what you're going to lose money.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Deevan @ Feb 25 2007, 04:39 PM) [snapback]396318[/snapback]</div>

I own 2005 Package #7, 21K miles. I am not expecting to get more than 18K for it. Look at 'fair' KBB at trade-in.

 

If you like it so much, I would second (or maybe fourth or fifth by now) the suggestions to refinance. $700 payments are pretty wild but I think that the total cost after getting a more manageable loan would probably be less expensive than taking the trade in hit and buying a new car. After all, you already (almost) own it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Feb 25 2007, 04:29 PM) [snapback]396345[/snapback]</div>

Really?!? Thats an excellent rate for a refi on a car. You mind sharing where you got that?

 

i went through AAA's finance service, and they sent me to GTE federal credit union somewhere in FL.

my application did include a 790ish credit score, they did bring that up multiple times so i don't know if it was related to the great rate.

it's better than the rate i was paying on my student loans (!) before i "refinanced" them with a completely subsidized loan :lol:

 

It doesn't help for this time, but it should be said...

$700/mo payments did not make an ounce of sense when your commute was 90 miles each way either.

You'd have been far better off with a $6000 used corolla and spend twice as much on gas while you fix your credit, pay off the used corolla and start saving for your next car.

Add on the word 'especially' if there was any way you could have seen how short term the 90 mile commute was going to last for.

 

You've gotten great advice here, particularly regarding refinancing versus buying another car.

The only thing I would like to add, relevant to the new-car purchase decision, is that ALL cars depreciate like that, which is what makes your two-new-cars-in-two years option a horrendously expensive way to drive.

It's not that the Prius is suddenly worthless as a used vehicle, it's that the Prius resale value has finally come more nearly into line with other cars.

So, KBB.com says the following:

2006 Prius, mid-level options, fair condition, $22K resale to dealer, national average = $15,000.

So your dealer's offer appears reasonable.

Compare to the depreciation of a top-of-the-line Toyota Camry:

2006 Toyota Camry, new, XLE 6 cylinder,purchase price between $26K (MSRP) and $24K (invoice)
2006 Toyota Camry, same car, used, 22K, fair condition, resale to dealer = $14,000

So, the Prius went from (say) $25K to $15k, the Camry went from (say) $24K to $14K. The Prius now depreciates like a Camry.

You didn't provide enough details to allow us to see whether $700/month was reasonable or unreasonable. If this was a 36 month car loan, then that high monthly payment was largely just forced savings: you were being forced to pay off your car and own it. Not such a bad thing, imho. By contrast, if this was a longer loan with a really horrendous interest rate, then that's different. If it was a mid-length loan with a modestly elevated rate, then that's yet again different.

In other words, part of your $700/month payment is not just expense, it is savings. It's not a $700/month dead loss. The package is $700/month now plus $0/month two years from now, versus trading that for $350/month for the next five years, or whatever. The only free lunch comes from lowering the interest rate, not from lowering the monthly payment.

Anyway, the last thing you want to do, in my opinion, if the financial side of driving is an issue for you, is to take yet another $10K hit by buying yet another new car. If total cost of driving is the issue, keep the car and refinance it, or sell it and buy an older used car. If the monthly payment is the issue, keep the car and refinance it. To buy a new car, just to lower the monthly payment, is to put yourself needlessly further in debt.

 

Just to add my $0.02 in personal experience, which probably doesn't account for much... but I recently traded in my 2006 Prius (Package #7 -- everything but leather) with 16,500 miles on it.

The dealer gave me $21,500 for my Prius. Mine was Seaside Pearl.

The absolute most I was getting for it anywhere was $22,500 but that dealer was not giving me any room to bargain in the price of his vehicle, so it was evening out. The $21,500 I got for trade-in was probably worth more to me just because the dealer came down a lot on the price of the vehicle I ended up buying from him as well.

My Prius itself was cosmetically near-perfect and had no mechanical defects. In addition I had the toyota OEM hood deflector and a rear hood protector, along with mudflaps installed on the vehicle.

 

As the others said, you will probably come out better repairing the damage. Why didn't your insurance company handle the repair? Even if your deductible is $500, it seems to make sense to have them repair the damage so you can maximize your resale value.

Also, that dealer will turn around and sell it for at least $20k+. I suggest you sell it yourself. Put a for sale sign on it and place some ads in your local newspaper. Don't let the dealer take your profit.

The Kia Rondo does look appealing but...

 

If you trade in your car you should cancel the warranty. They are not transferable through a dealer, only if you sell it privately. So there may be some extra cash for you there. In regards to the list of cars you are thinking of buying; I know most people in here hate them but you should get the Focus with the PZEV rating, and you can consider the Mazda3 as well, it has the same emissions rating. Good luck on your next car purchase hopefully it will be an environmetally friendly one.