Hi guy's unfortunately I've found myself in a common circumstance, debating on trading the S in on a 350Z. My situation stems from finance though rather than looking for more performance.

I bought my S in March of 07 with 108k miles. I had to roll some negative equity in with my loan because of going over mileage on a previous lease. I've now paid the car down to about $12000 and I'm nearing 166K miles.
I recently found a 2004 350z with 52k miles on it for $13,XXX through a local dealer and it appears to be a fairly clean car.

Do you think it's wise to try and get out of the S while I have a somewhat reasonable way out. My current payment is about $380 a month. If I can get the Z to be somewhat near that monthly payment after including the negative equity I'm sure the S will have, I'd consider taking it.

What would you all do in this situation?

 

I would try to find a way out of the S2000 before a large repair bill hits you.

But I wouldn't roll more negative equity into another car that you can barely afford.

Bite the bullet, trade the S2000 in for something durable and cheaper (like <$8000) and cut your payments down to ~$200 or so.

Save up your money and buy your next fun car when you don't have to pay mongo interest on every dollar.

 

You put 58k miles on it in 28 months? That's half the problem there.

1) You have negative equity to deal with
2) Your car is getting to be a very high mileage vehicle
3) Any car you get will quickly be a very high mileage vehicle, and therefore it will depreciate much more rapidly than typical

On your idea of selling the S to getting a lower mileage Z or other $15k+ car, I would wonder if you'd just put a ton of miles on it and end up right where you are now in a few years.

Interest rates are low, 5-6% for a car, so interest is probably not the biggest issue. If you buy a car and put that many miles on it, you've probably depreciated more out of its value than you've lost on interest.

I'd be looking for a way to solve the mileage issue. My first though on a solution would be to get a cheap beater to put the big miles on and keep the S for weekends, grins, and in case the beater is down for repairs. If you look hard, I'd bet you could find an old saturn or buick with under 80k miles from an old lady for 2-3 grand and get quite a few years out of it with very little trouble. Sell it for a grand in a couple years when it has 150k miles and your S is paid off (or at least worth more than you owe). Then you've lost a LOT less money on vehicles and you'd no longer be upside down.

 

^^^ yea, that!

 

x3

 

Why would you buy a car of higher value when you still owe more than yours is worth? A 2001 with that mileage usually sells for $8k and will be worth less than $7k as a trade-in. So, you're in the hole $5k and still need to invest in a replacement for it. With the 350Z after TTL, you'll now be in the hole $20k. Once it racks up the miles or you grow tired of it, the depreciation will likely have been equal to your payments which means your negative equity will snowball further.

Nothing personal since it's extremely common, but try to to avoid falling into this situation. Dealers are good at making the numbers lie. Too many people concern themselves only with the monthly payment without realizing how much debt they're getting into.

I'm an extremist about it, so I typically buy cars cash. If I want a $30k car, I save up enough to where my trade-in + cash = $30k. I'll finance if the interest is really low, but I still make sure I have the money available if I want to pay it off today. The only hard part is initially saving up the money. But, after you buy one cash, rather than put money towards car payments, you put it towards the next car you want. Since you're not wasting money on interest, you need less money to buy the same vehicles.

For now, like said, buy a cheap car until you get in the black. Or, keep driving the S2000 until it's paid off and hope there are no repairs.

 

Ok every one gave you the same thing i agree with them. Don't turn over any more negative equaty. Like others said in youre case bite the bullet get a cheap used car and focus on paying it off get a used honda. How about a fit get one used i see them for like $9k with less than 50k miles. Well really just get something used that will last for cheap as possible pay it off keep driving it save up till you have enough to buy the car you really want. That way you will have the trade and a lump sm of money so payments won't be so bad. Next time atry and get a car with less miles for a good price not sure how much u payed but if u still owe $12k it sounds like a bad deal. I would not have payed more than $10k for that S2000 with that many miles. Hope this helps once again don't get the Z get a good cheap used car

 

^^^ yeah i have absolutly no idea how u owe 12K on a car with that kind of miles, buying a 350Z would be nothing short of a terrible decision. i would try and get the cheapest econobox you can find with the lowest miles to try and get you out of your debts.

 

You got yourself into this mess by rolling negative equity into a used car worth more than the one you sold. Now you think you'll fix the problem by doing the exact same thing AGAIN? Yikes!

You are already upside down on your S2000 loan, and don't forget that the Z will come with taxes, etc, that will easily add another $1000 to the price. You'll be even more underwater when you buy the Z, and it seems that you don't try to pay off your loans quick or keep a lot of cash on hand or you wouldn't have let this happen.

The big problem you get yourself into with this is that even if you try to downgrade, you'll STILL have negative equity! If you trade in your S2000 for a $4000 used Civic, you'll probably get $8000 for the S2000 against a $12,000 loan. That means your new loan will be $8000 for a car worth half that much. Ouch! This is why its so bad to get yourself into that situation, because it is so hard to get out again. But if you don't have any cash, you don't have any other options. At least your payment will drop by 33%, and you can use the extra money to pay down the loan QUICKLY. Accept that you will be driving the beater around for a few years at least, and make it a point to pay off the loan COMPLETELY before you even THINK about buying another car. When the time comes to buy again, make sure you have a sizeable down payment and you can more than afford the payments so that you can pay the loan down fast.

Keep in mind that as long as you continue to drive around with negative equity and no cash reserves, you are one accident away from bankruptcy. Next time you take a blind corner in the S2000, remember that. Kinda sucks the fun out, huh?

I just want to point out, not to gloat or brag, but just for comparisons sake, that the payment on my S2000 is the same as yours and it only has 22,000 miles. That's why it's so important to not get into negative equity.

 

Im in the same boat as you but i have an 05 S2k with 13,370miles and thinking about trading for a 2008 Nismo 350z in white with only 3,780 miles. They are asking $29K which i'm sure i can knock down a couple of $Ks. should i do it???