Bad Car Loan - Anyone else trapped?

You fix your car note problems?
Been meaning to update this for a while. Night before Xmas Eve it had rained, and the temperature dropped from 40 to like 5 degrees in Ohio. My doors were frozen shut. Was locked out for 36 hours. Then when I did get on the road I swerved a couple times in the snow, very scary. Plus with all the salt on the road I had to wash the car probably like 15 times this winter.

Then in February I had a dental cleaning (1st one since COVID started). They found cavities on both sides of my mouth, so I had to use up 2 days of PTO and pay what the insurance wouldn't cover ($130). To add insult to injury, as I was driving home from one of these sessions, I get pulled over for doing 67 in a 55. I honestly thought I was keeping pace with traffic, but I guess a combo of my whole face being numb and also the sun was beaming straight upon the speedometer I wasn't really paying attention. Ever since 2019 I've had a perpetual two points on my license, soon as they fall off I get a new ticket :ohwell:

Now the good? Our boss gave us a 2hundred bonus on our holiday checks. And when we came back after New Years he announced he was doubling our vacation hours. And then my seasonal gigs I do on the side started early. I made an extra $200 in February. And have made $500 not even halfway thru March.

I ended up taking the ticket to court and beat it no fines, or points. It was a highway trooper who had pulled me over and I guess they travel all over the state and it wasn't logistical to bring him in for court. But again I had to use up the rest of my PTO to attend Court (initial arraignment and trial)

Been bringing in an extra $400 with the plasma donations, but it's one of those stepping forward yet stepping backwards slightly. It tires me out and I have trouble waking in the morning. Every other day I am 15 minutes late. I'm not in any danger of getting fired, but it's adding up to me losing $50 each paycheck, especially since my PTO is depleted.

I'm liking the new car more and more though, the buyers remorse finally subsided. Technically my cargo space has doubled since I can fold the back seat done and have access to the trunk. Backup camera is clutch and speeds up parking - on my screen I have these virtual white lines that I guide into the yellow lines. When I get within 5 feet of an object I get green flashes on my screen, 2 feet yellow flashes and within 1 foot I get a loud red beep and my music cuts out.

Where the RPM/temp gauges used to be on older cars is a small box you can toggle through various displays. I can set up my Maps, and it shows my upcoming turns. I figure that shaves 1-2 seconds of me glancing down at the touch screen or phone, and that could be the difference between getting stuck at a light or missing an exit. Efficiency saves money in the long run.

As far as upgrades/aftermarket mods that's the one thing I'm kind of salty that I can't afford to get them done professionally. Like For a multi-dashcam setup that automatically uploads to the cloud the system would cost $1500 out the door and also a monthly subscription fee probably. However I did improvise a rig for under $300 that is workable. For the front and rear I got 12v dashcams from WalMart. It kind of sucks, cause even with an SD card all I can record is a half day before I have to erase stuff. The rear cam doesn't actually record video though, it's like one of those Go Pros that snap a picture every 10 secs so it might take 3-4 days for the memory to fill up. For the left and right sides, I dusted off my original Galaxy and Blackberry's and record in 240p/144p vids. I figure the likelihood of getting T-Boned is probably 500% less than a rear end or front end collision....

All in all I'm doing better than anticipated, just hope for next Winter I can afford snow tires and at least if not a legit Garage, a Carport I can park under.
 
OP, I did the same thing. I paid off my whip over those 72 months and it's actually the thing that got my credit score looking so lovely today. I was young and dumb but thankfully my story turned out better than most.
 
I still got like 9 months left on my Kia plus the car that replaced it. Thought about just paying it off entirely but the payment is like 1.5% interest and not hurting me.
 
All these stories are why I lease. Yeah, you're kinda throwing money away and have nothing to show for your payments, but I never have to worry about being upside down. Been there, done that, and it ain't fun. Especially when you get that new car itch (which is every year for me :lol:). Hell, you might even get lucky and make $$ off your lease when its time to get into something new.
 
Made out of my last lease that I was payments behind w/ a couple grand in my hand.

Currently not driving anything besides the work van.

My next will probably used enuf to be w/o payments < 12k.

Last time I had a maxima I couldn’t avoid the speeding tix but I’m better now.
 
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I still got like 9 months left on my Kia plus the car that replaced it. Thought about just paying it off entirely but the payment is like 1.5% interest and not hurting me.
Ride that bad OUT. The 1% days are over! The lowest I know of is just over 5%.
 
If you put down a huge down payment and have good credit then financing is a non issue and is certainly better than leasing but unfortunately a lot of people get tunnell vision and tell themselves they have to have this or that and that's how you end up 24 years old taking a loan with a 30% interest rate for 6 years. I paid $437 a month during that time. I think we owe it to our children to teach them the game so they don't make dumb financial decisions like that. Like I said though, I got lucky as that loan is the reason my credit is so good now and I own the car that's in pretty great shape. I still cringe thinking back on that tho lol
 
Got like 13k left on my '19 Mustang GT. I

I literally bought it at the perfect time got it brand new for 0% interest after my first year teaching. Only regret is that I didn't take that $ and buy a house instead.

I want a new one but I'm not going to want to pay that new car price. Think imma go car payment less for a little while and stack the bread.
 
All these stories are why I lease. Yeah, you're kinda throwing money away and have nothing to show for your payments, but I never have to worry about being upside down. Been there, done that, and it ain't fun. Especially when you get that new car itch (which is every year for me :lol:). Hell, you might even get lucky and make $$ off your lease when its time to get into something new.
its all good but if u drive alot then idk if thats a solution
 
My interest rate was 1.99.

Paid it off years ago and felt like a KING.

It immeadiately broke down repeatedly.
Still got it tho. :pimp:

Pops recommends that i trade it in to get more $ for it. 157k miles. No ac.
 
its all good but if u drive alot then idk if thats a solution

Yeah it’s not for everyone or every situation. I had 15k miles/year on my first 2 leases and had more than enough. I don’t do long road trips and my wife also has 15k/year, so that helps a lot.

My 2 most recent are at 12k and I figure I’ll buy more miles if needed. But truthfully I’ll probably end up in something different before miles become an issue. :lol: I’m on my 4th car in 5 years.:smh:
 
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datznasty datznasty 👀
 
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