Originally Posted by ram_man
Originally Posted by JHZR2
It's not that they can't be any good. It's more that in terms of safety and economy, many vehicles have taken leaps and bounds improvement over the last many years. It's a fair point.
I'd assume that mom's car that you're working to get by paying down the dart and trading it, is the big, reliable, safe car. My suspicion is that your car needs to be convenient, but it will do less of the family hauling and shuttling kids around. So you need convenience and space, but it's less of a priority.
Actually, maybe it's been asked before but why not this:
- I think you like the dart. It's just not paid off
- I assume the vw is paid off
- I assume you won't get a lot for the vw
Suck it up with the vw as long as you can,and dump the money you were going to spend replacing it, into the dart. Pay off the dart. Once paid off, start saving for a down payment, sell the vw ASAP to add to your down payment, use the chevy and dart in a pinch if necessary for a few weeks, then buy the wife a van.
Then you have the dart, she has the van, you both have relatively new cars that work for you.
Maybe a bit more money or a bit tighter, but you won't be making automotive transactions that lose money left and right...
I've considered this. It's not an awful plan. But the dart has had it's fair amount of issues. It's got 82,000 miles int it currently and I don't see it being a high mileage car. My lack of trust in it makes me just want to get rid of it. That's kind of an emotional answer but I detest the fact that it's been relatively lack luster. And in the back of my mind I keep waiting for the fiat slave cylinder to die (common) or the multi air brick to fail. Both seem common enough to be concerned with. I've owned it since 26,000 miles and though it has only not started twice both times at home .one was a bad battery the other was a bad key fob. It's had it's share of issues. Hose clamps that love to leak. The screen went out the bcm still needs replaced because it makes the recirculation door go bonkers when using a/c. The car for whatever reason warps rotors I've never warped a set of rotors in my life untill this thing. It seems to enjoy annoying oil leaks the rear caliper and front wheels bearings have been done e brake cable was replaced because it stretched and the shifter linkage bushings literally disintegrated at 60,000. It's also hard on rear tires it loves to cup them if not rotated every 3-5,000 miles.
And I have had to replace the clutch line oring twice for leaking clutch fluid. Mostly minor but definitely doesn't instill confidence.
The misses likes the dart more than me. I have a love hate relationship with it. I enjoy driving it I don't enjoy fixing it's nagging issues.
Well, it's a FIAT (like the 200) in drag, so that stuff doesn't surprise me unfortunately. They brought excellent aesthetics and better interiors to Chrysler/Jeep/RAM, but the mechanicals? not so much. FCA's efforts at getting into the small car market also seemed to be a bit half-arsed, hence them dropping that platform so.... How much time is left on the loan? Is it possible to make some larger payments on it to get rid of the payment? That's where you are going to get ahead, by eliminating the payment and getting cash in hand, you paying it down more doesn't really help your position on the vehicle because you are eating the money either way and the car isn't going up in value, follow?
Just in case that's not as clear as it could be, for the sake of theoreticals, let's say you owe $9,000 on the car and trade is $6,000 so you want to get to $6,000 before you trade it so you aren't under water on it and rolling negative equity into your new payment. So you are making $3,000 worth of payments, and during that period, the vehicle continues to depreciate; continues to lose value, so you are chasing the negative equity with a payment; you are paying the $3,000, whether it's rolled into a new loan or whether you pay it off via continued payments, and at the same time, doing so on something that continues to decline in value. So, say you are making a $200/month payment @ 4% interest, you are looking at 16 months; more than a year, before you make up that 3K, which becomes $3,328 and if the vehicle declines in value by $500 during that time, you are still under water.
Still using these numbers, on the other hand, if you can bump your payment to $700, you could eliminate that 3K in 4 months, but better still, you could pay the car off in 13 months and the interest paid would be less because you are reducing the term. You are still out the money (minus the interest savings); you've paid it onto the vehicle, but you can then save for a couple of months to have a down payment because you won't be paying on the loan so then if you still need to borrow to get into new wheels, what you borrow overall will be significantly lower.
Is that helpful at all?
