Car equity exceeds exemption.Will they take?

[Needmomoney]

My car equity exceeds my state exemption by about $3,000 (I understand that under the new law we must estimate by retail value (ughhhh!!!), not resale value).

Will they (the trustees) take my car?

[anonymuse]

Use Nada or Kelly Blue book to look up the price. That is what the trustees look at.

[FilingOnMyOwn]

Don't use nada, it reads too high. Use KBB, then be overly realistic when doing the estimator online, kbb.com. Don't include options that don't work even if your car has them. Use good condition instead of excellent, etc. If you think its only fair condition, then use fair.

[SinkingFast]

One attny told us to use Private Party Price. Our attny takes all 3 values given and averages them. That came out a tad lower than Private Party. Also, if your car needs any work at all, deduct that from the value. We have one old car with rust in the floor pan. The repair bill ate up the value of the car.

At $3K, more than likely, the Trustee won't take the car. Not worth their time. Trustees have costs to sell. They don't get top dollar to start and sell quick. And, the Trustee has to be fairly certain the car will bring the price before they take it. They've gotta pay you your exemption amount, AND they've gotta pay off the note if there is one.

The Trustee may offer to "cut a deal with you" instead. Let you "Buy Back" the car for $1K, $1500, or so. Or the Trustee could ask for the whole $3K. Just depends on the Trustee.