kosmo101

Tough spot I am in..and looking for advice. have a 01 LS430 and having tough time makin payments. I was upside down on previous car..rolled a bunch into this one and payment is quite high. Then I try to trade it in.. they are giving me alot less than I owe. SO I cant just crap out thousands. Car is awesome but have to be realistic here. It only has 78k miles on it.. but what can I expect on mileage for this car... can it last 150-200k? Im debating whether to keep it and tough out the payments or trade in for some tiny junker and get out from the upside down... Anyone been in this boat? Im married, baby, house payments, etc so its not like I dont have other major bills. Just trying to keep afloat here...and make the best decision for us.

Thanks!
Kevin

anotherLS

iTrader: (9)

with proper maintenace it will last you 250K miles or more! with the market as it is right now, all dealerships will lowball you, if ur really in a bind try to sell it private party

mikemareen

ya according to other CL members, dealers are already shaving 5000 off the lowest dealer trade in KBB price.

buying new and getting upside down on finance is a no win situation.

I had a 91 legend coupe once, bought it for 9500 at 90,000 miles. owned it for 10 years, probably threw in 4000 in maintenance and repair through out the 10 years of ownership which totals me to 14,500. I put 150,000 miles to the car and sold it for 2500. I got 10 years of usage and a net loss of 12,000 for 10 years. That's 1200 a year. I'LL TAKE IT.

no more changing cars for me.

kosmo101

Well here in NY they use galves book and they are actually right at the Galves # which is 15k. I cant take that # from them.... funny less than 6 months ago they quoted 18k but of course gas went berzerk. The only fear i have is time.. as car is 7 years old already...and my payment is very high per month. The though i had was to eat some $$$, get 1500 from extended warranty and step into something smaller with a payment of like 250/month for something that was like 07 or 08...yea of course not a Lexus tho...

I wish somehow i could have an 04+ and pay this amount per month it wouldnt hurt so much.. i think its the 01 year thats making me nuts... Wonder if i went to a lexus dealer how much i would have to pay to step into a 04+ lol...

Mike: what year did you buy the 91 car? Just curious if i could equate it to this...

anotherLS

iTrader: (9)

when i sold my 2001 LS430 in May the dealer paid what i owed left which was 18,300...which was cool, then just started a new loan on a IS300 wagon...but now-a-days good luck in getting that much

blacksc400

iTrader: (4)

iIf you are upside down with your payment now, any cars you are trying to get from a dealership will make the situation worse. It's like a snow ball.
Just drive it and pay the car off.

kosmo101

well not really.. once done with this loan i will have spent close to 30k and it will be in 2012. if i were to say eat a few thousand $$ now, turn it in and step into a car thats about 12k model year 2008 then I think i would be better off down the road no? less payment and newer car.

junjdm

wow, sorry to hear about all this. Times are tough right now. I would def. say keep the car, this car will last! Its a Lexus/Toyota!

Maybe you can refinance the car at a lower rate? Or possibly ask for a longer term?

SH212

damn that sucks man... economy is killing every body right now

hopefully you can stick it out and like junjdm says refinance might help

i have the 01 and let me tell you the abuse i put it through it still runs like a BEAST!!

kosmo101

but is it paid off? makes it easier..

anyone understand my logic with the trading in?

Salil022

iTrader: (1)

I've went through alot of cars in the last couple years....Best advice is that you should keep the car, Lets say you trade the car in, you are rolling whole lot of negative equity again onto the new car...lets say you are $5k in the whole to begin with and when its time to sell that new car when you get bored of it...you will be in alot worse situation Its different if you are planning to keep that new car for more than 5 or 6 years

campisi

To my way of thinking you've only got two options:

Try and sell this car to a private party and get a POS that you can pay off very quickly. Drive THAT for as long as possible, doing your own maintenance is a must if you own a POS (but it is far cheaper than a new car). Don't feel bad because driving a nice car ain't all it's cracked up to be. 'Specially if you have a family to support and money's tight.

Tough it out and keep this car to the bitter end. You'll eventually pay it off and it will last 250K miles. Don't go putting expensive rims or any of that kind of stuff on it. And, learn to do your own maintenance if you already don't.

It almost never, ever makes economic sense to "trade-in" a car for another one that you have to take a loan on. You'll just get further in the hole.

Good luck.

DanozLS430

iTrader: (1)

If your LS430 is going to put you under and have you stop making payments, then you cannot afford to keep it. You don't want to ruin your credit. If so, sell it and buy a used good running car to get you by. Take care of your family first.

DanozLS430...

CarguyinGa

If you can't handle the payments, get rid of it I suppose. The problem is being upside down! You mentioned NEW car too. That is the primary factor in an upside down situation! The depreciation occurs the most at initial purchase....do NOT buy brand new!! You're fust going to escalate the problem and you'll be driving a relative pile of **** by comparison to the LS. Your payment then is going to be the new turd + the shortage of your past car and the current combined! Educate yourself on cars and obtaining financing and shop private sellers. That is going to help more than anything. Going to a dealer, new or used, is easiest of course, but they have to make a notable profit on each unit to keep the doors open. That's the trade-off for not doing your own legwork! Don't overdo it, getting the car sold yourself is the best alternative, you would need to arrange a line of credit somewhere to be able to pay off the difference owed when you sell it though since you double dipped on the trade. I got in the same situation when I was younger and that was a valuable lesson learned!
As to your longevity question....it's good mechanically for 500K+ with proper maintenance, electrical parts are not going to be so easily predictable on their life and can cost $$$$! That would create a major problem...my line of work now is freelance diagnosis of problem cars after area shops misdiagnose issues, I did 20 yrs in dealer service depts and it amazed me how many times people stretched their budget to the limit so much on the purchase that they could not afford to do a nominal repair of $300 to $500....they would go and trade a car in rather than spend less than two months payments! That new car feel is awesome....you don't mind the payments too much then....after a few months go by and it becomes a USED car, you still have that new car payment!!

wanderer99

LOL - I've never seen anyone describe a new car this way before. "New Turd". That's awesome!

CarguyinGa does make some good points though. I'd keep the car, and just look at other ways to save the $$$. Carpool. Take public transit. Drive less. If you go the junker route and take a hit on the LS, you'll just want to upgrade again in a year or two when things improve. Then you'll be kicking yourself for losing so much $$$ on the LS trade. And you'll hate the junker as well most likely.