Could use some advice; financial woes

[89MOPAR]

 Maybe your mom or aunt could lend you the money you need.  Ask them for a loan with Charger as collateral .  You don't pay the loan payment on time, even once, they get the Charger.

  If they don't want to do that, than either ---
a] they have no spare money   
b] they are just talking to hear themsleves sound sentimental 
c]  they don't really want the car for themselves
d] a combination of a+b+c , so don't give their guilt trip any weight on your conscience.

[0X01B8]

Unless you really need it, like for work or whatever, I'd get rid of the Explorer.  Cut your losses on that as soon as you can.  It may not be feasible - I don't know exactly how you get out of a car loan underwater.  Get something cheap and disgusting that gets outstanding mileage, and take the savings and apply them to the debt.  Gas prices are likely to get ridiculous again very soon (hurricanes, the oil spill, politics, etc) and nobody is gonna want to buy the Ford.  Remember how SUVs were a plague on used car lots 2 years ago?

[6T8]

Thanks everyone for all of the replies. It's helped me slow me down on listing the beast. I haven't entirely come to a conclusion yet, but I'm going to have to do so fairly soon. My landlord called last night and said my rent will be increasing $100 a month which will push me over my budget, and she gave me a buying price on the house I'm currently living in, neither of which I'm too interested in.

Selling the Explorer would be a God-send, but I can't sell it without a title in hand and I can't come up with the difference of payoff-vs-selling price even if I found a buyer. I've still got 3 years of payments left on it, and I'm concerned that driving it too much longer will actually get someone hurt. Four times now it's been going down the road and sheered off the wheel studs on one side on the rear. Three of those times they've all broken and the wheel has gone one direction and the vehicle the other, and the last time, luckily one stud held strong and we were on a city street not going very fast. It's going to wind up getting someone injured. I've taken it to numerous places, tore it apart myself, replaced everything you can imagine and yet the problems persist. Not to mention the infamous transmission that I'm just waiting to go out.

It just seems that by cutting ties with my beloved '68 would get me away from the virus of an SUV and help me get into buying a home, both of which I'd like to do in my near future. Now it seems like I have to decide even quicker, as I won't have a place to live in a couple months.

Ah, the joys of being young. 

[Lennard]

You're 22.

Put the car away for later.

Get a second job.

Work your ass off until your debt is gone.

Cut grass, rake leaves, flip burgers, push carts at Wal-mart, whatever.

It will suck for awhile, but when the debt is gone, you'll turn around and the car

will still be there and your family will still talk to you.

They'll be proud of you for busting ass to fix a problem.

When I was your age I was working full time at night, roofing in the hot sun during

the day and partying my ass off and chasing women on the weekends.

You can do it, you just have to want it bad enough.

NOW, GET BUSY !

Selling the Charger is the easy way out and in my opinion not the right thing to do.
Quit smoking, quit partying for a while, sell other useless stuff you have laying around but do not sell the Charger. You are going to regret it for the rest of your life and are going to be one of those stories that i hear all the time when people find out that i own a '69 Charger...:"I used to own one but in a dumb period of my life bla bla bla."

[BombSquad]

Keep the car!

You're the same age as me, just work harder to keep it! I work 100 hr weeks and 400 hr months to purchase my car and I don't regret it for a second. Others would kill for the opportunity to have a one owner car given to them!

[mauve66]

sounds like with your bills and income a bankruptcy would be better, its free to talk with an attorney,
depending on which chapter you do you will get a 3-15K exemption for a vehicle so you could keep the charger, i doubt they would take the home theater back anyway and you would be rid of the exploder
chap 7 gets rid of everything but your exemption and no payments
chap 13 gets rid of everything but your exemption but you will have payments for 5 years AND have to give the court you income tax return for the next 5 years also, although thats easy to fix with the right W4 deductions
bankruptcy isn't what it used to be and your still  young enough that they will be sending you credit offers in 6 months anyway

[jb666]

I agree with the others... Buckle up and work your ass off for a couple of years.. it'll be worth it in the end, and you'll be glad you did. 

[chargergirl]

The only thing you have that is paid for is your Charger...at least that is what it seems to be. There are deals out there. We bought a beater for Mark to drive back and forth to Fort Walton Beach. Lots of traffic, stop and go, and the dually would be beat on going through that and the other little truck he had needs work. It's been a tough year for us, and a lot of people on this forum. We all speak from where we know. Sit down, don't think of a quick fix. Think of where you want to be in 3 years. Charger has memories, upside down in Explorer, so what other bills are in your hat? Quiet your mind and think about how you can fix this without selling anything. $50 extra paid each month on that Explorer will take more than a year off the loan in less than a year. Thereby making you not so upside down. Pay on the principle, if you can actually pay more than $50 then do it you won't believe how fast the debt will diminish. Our Christmas present, to each other, was to make sure all our credit cards were paid off in full. Cars and general life got put on hold for a bit...but when life threw us a curve we were able to make it through. You can do this...go look on the forum and see how many regret selling their memory cars. Don't think quick fix...think smart.

[71green go]

Its a car.....Bottom Line...and cars are money pits unless you have the means to finance and fill that pit....You are 22 and cars come and go....I am 48 and sold my dream car at a young age....To date since then I have owned to many cars that were dream cars to mention....and still buy and sell...now just for fun

Sell the car...get out of debt, get a better job...wait a while and then buy something......car prices are always going up and down....save up and buy one on the down turn

It is your life.....you cant ask people on a forum how to run it.....If you can hold onto the car and suffer a while...thats up to you to figure out....

I know getting out of debt and not having money problems will sure make ya sleep better at night and make life seem a little less stressful

[PocketThunder]

It just seems that by cutting ties with my beloved '68 would get me away from the virus of an SUV and help me get into buying a home, both of which I'd like to do in my near future. Now it seems like I have to decide even quicker, as I won't have a place to live in a couple months.

Ah, the joys of being young. 

Dude, buying a home only ends up costing you more money each month than you think.  When you rent, you pay the rent and can forget about improvements and maintenance.  When you own a home, there is always the feeling of wanting to do some type of project to the house that only ends up costing you more money and all your free time.

[Ghoste]

On the other hand, at some point the home should be paid for and rent lasts forever.  As for improvements, true enough but at least you can get them done when and to the quality you want instead of fighting with a landlord who may just be only willing to do minimal repairs and shoddy ones at that.  Plus you don't have to worry about some landlord telling you what you can or can't do around the property. 
And rent always goes up as time moves on.

[NHCharger]

And rent always goes up as time moves on.

I have several rental units and during this reccession I've had to drop the rents in order to keep them occupied. Many of the young couples that lost their jobs have moved back in with their parents.

Try looking for another apartment, maybe a triplex or quad where you could work a deal with the owner for a reduction in rent in exchange for doing handy work and upkeep around the building. Could you move back home for a bit until your financial situation is better?

I don't think you has that much debt to consider bankruptcy, that's a last alternative.

How many hours a week are you currently working??

[Dmichels]

I would try to keep the car. If you sell it for some quick cash will that really make difference in the big picture? Get a part time job or start a small business like a handy man or lawn car. There is a guy in my neighborhood who races. He works a full 40 week and then uses his race trailer to haul around lawn mowers he is out every evening making hobby money. Learn from your mistakes, we all have made the same ones. About 15 years ago I had about 10,000 in credit card debt I was going to sell my 68 to pay the bill. My girlfriend (now wife) begged me to keep the car. I did we made some changes in our budget ate cheep did not go on vacation did not buy anything new ect. We were able to come up with $500 bucks a month to pay down the cards. It sucked but we did it. Now I am glad I kept the car. You really need to make the decision yourself. Work real hard store the car until your debts are paid or sell the car and have the regret for years to come.

[aone415]

You're 22.

Put the car away for later.

Get a second job.

Work your ass off until your debt is gone.

Cut grass, rake leaves, flip burgers, push carts at Wal-mart, whatever.

It will suck for awhile, but when the debt is gone, you'll turn around and the car

will still be there and your family will still talk to you.

They'll be proud of you for busting ass to fix a problem.

When I was your age I was working full time at night, roofing in the hot sun during

the day and partying my ass off and chasing women on the weekends.

You can do it, you just have to want it bad enough.

NOW, GET BUSY !

BINGO...

[AKcharger]

I'll say keep the car for another reason. If you sell it and pay everything off it will not have as much "impact" and you're more likely to do it again. If you HAVE to work an extra job becuase the debt is hanging over your head it's a much better motivator and your less likely to forget that lesson soon.

Good luck

[Supercharged Riot]

get myself out of deep water and on with my life

You provided your own reality check.  Sell the Charger, count it as a life lesson, and don't ever live beyond your means again.

Let me add. 

If you can't afford it in the first place, you shouldn't buy it.
If you have to part with your Charger to get rid of debt. 
It is in fact a lesson to learn from
You are still young though, but you are old enough to know the answer even though it might be difficult to swolloe.
so let it be a good lesson.

[0X01B8]

There's peer-to-peer lending:

http://www.prosper.com/

Don't have any experience with it, just an FYI.

[oldrock]

first, I agree with daytona and when I was in college and dead broke, I worked 2 jobs. One 40 hr per week as the night manager of automotive at walmart. Second was mowing yards in summer and cutting firewood in winter. THe nice thing about the second job is it allowed me to have enough extra money to not get totally bogged down in school loans. I'd recommend you fire up your mower and get busy finding some yards to mow. You won't find a better pay per hour job than that and it is easy to do it on weekends or on your days off your regular job.

Now having said all that, if you are driving around in a car that is unsafe, just sell the charger and don't look back. Lots of us older guys will say that we should have never sold our old muscle cars but you know what? You can always get another one later. Sure it would be nice to keep the car you have but not worth risking yours and the wife's safety. Sell the charger and get out of debt. Then make it a very strict rule to never buy on credit again other than your house at some point. Get yourself a used corolla or civic cheap and save money every month on gas. In no time, cash will start building up in your bank account again. Then once you have a few thousand saved up for a rainy day, you can start a "buy another old charger" fund!

ps. regarding owning vs renting... If you are at all handy with home repair stuff, I'd strongly suggest you look for a forclosed home that needs lots of fixing up. That way you can usually get it for about the same monthly payment as rent but you can build home equity by fixing it up and by making monthly payments.

[doctor4766]

I take it you're no longer engaged.
If you're single again move back in with your oldies for a while. I know that's sucky but might just get you outta the sh!t saving some rent money until you can pay off that Ford.

Owning your own home "right now" isn't a priority at 22 either.
Wait til you're with someone else who you want to be with for life and take on a mortgage then. Two incomes will make it much easier to tackle.

As for selling the Charger, I'd just about guarantee that unless you make major changes to your lifestyle soon, you'll end up years away from having the dough to get another one. (incase you hadn't noticed, they aren't making 60'/70s muscle cars any more so assess the condition of yours and see if it's even worth the trouble)
Of course if yours is a basket case and you have the opportunity to get good dollars for it then go for it. It costs a ton of money to restore them.

[6T8]

Well I've come to a conclusion. Talked with my grandparents for hours and hours and they did nothing but try to convince me to rid myself of the Charger. And they accomplished just that. The car is now for sale. Coming from the two people I was concerned about hurting the most, they said they couldn't be happier than having me sell it. They know a little deeper into my debt issues and they said it would tickle them to death for me to get out of the hole and enjoy life.

I appreciate everyone's input and hopefully haven't made anyone mad, but I really feel that I'm doing the right thing. Finding another job is an option, but I live in a small rural community and all of our jobs here are gone. I currently work for my uncle and have one of the better paying jobs around here. Everything else was factory work and it's all been moved to Mexico. I work 50+ hours a week already, which sure there are way more hours than that in a week, but I'm also a member of the volunteer fire department and it keeps me busy along with family things and other day-to-day crap.

So love me or hate me, we will all see how this goes.

[Daytona R/T SE]

So... how much do you want for the car, and where's the pics?




Uhhh, never mind....

I found it...

[6T8]

Yeah it's in the classifieds section of the site and it's on Craigslist as well.

$20,000 OBO

Don't know if I'm outta line with that or not. It is all original and a one owner, so.......

[Duran75]

Are you going to post pictures of the car?  How much are you asking?

[6T8]

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,71097.0.html

[jeryst]

Well, here's my 

First, try and move back with your parents for a while until you get back on your feet. My wife and I lived with my parents for
the first year we were married, until we had enough saved up to buy furniture, appliances, etc. My sone and his girlfriend lived
with us until they had enough saved up to get out on their own. Nothing wrong with that.
If thats not possible, just look for a less expensive apartment, even if you have to be creative with less space. Once you find one,
tell your landlord to keep your rent the same or you will move. You are covered either way, then.
Also, different parts of the country have lower cost of living than others, so if you are in a high cost of living area, get the heck out of
there and move to someplace that is more affordable. In some areas, you can buy a nice house for $50k-$60k, while in other areas of the country,
you cant buy an unlivable fixer upper for under $500k. It's all relative.

I dont know what you do for a living, but maybe its time to ask for a raise, or look for a job with better pay.

Try opening a little business of your own. One of my friends started a little landscaping business on evening and weekends.
Made enough extra money in a year to buy himself a $24k muscle car.
Another friend opened a painting business, painting house interiors, trim, etc. Low overhead. Makes a lot of extra money.
Think about something you like to do, and try to make some money at it.

Forget about buying a house for now. Even when you want to buy one, they're not that great an investment unless you can buy one
in an area where you will see great appreciation in value. Others have said that if you buy, the payments stop, while renting goes on forever,
but not always true. Sure the mortgage payments stop, but the insurance, property taxes, maintenance, remodeling, etc, all continue, and can easily be
more than rent. Besides, if you own a home, someone (Taxing authorities, govt agencies, nursing homes, etc) is always trying to take it away
from you as soon as you get into any little bit of financial trouble. Not many people ever stop to consider what the cost of "The American Dream"
really adds up to.

As for the Charger, well, it looks to me like a nice solid driver, so I dont see how you consider it a project. I can show you a project!-lol
It doesnt have to be restored to "Pristine" condition, you know. Believe me, you'll have more fun with it the way it is, then if you spend big bucks making a
trailer queen out of it. If you have sentimental ties to it, remember that if you sell it, the chances of you ever getting it back again, are slim to none.
If others in the family have sentimental ties to it, offer to sell it to them for enough to help you get out of debt, as long as
they promise to sell it back to you for the same price when you get on better ground. I would certainly do that for one of my kids if they needed it. But if you
dont have any real sentimental ties to it, its just another car. Sell it, move on, and get another one when you are able to.

Personally, I'd try to keep it.