Alternative to purchasing my own car during CH13 ??

[tammygirl1]

I am thinking of having my father purchase a small car which he is qualified for 0% financing and I would pay him on it. I would add it to my car insurance though (is this even possible...not sure). We are paying min. amount possible to plan due to secured/priority bills. When I emailed my lawyer he said we could request for debt to get one myself but then the interest would be outrageous. The only thing I see is if something happened if my dad buys the car and I couldn't pay the payments my father would be impacted. I don't see this happening as long as my husband's and my jobs are safe. We have been able to save a considerable amount since last Aug. so I think we can do this and still have teh emergency savings. I just think the 0% financing with a car under warrenty that will get 25mpg compared to my 2003 179k mile Tahoe that gets barely 15mpg is a good move. Anyone have thoughts on this?

[lrprn]

You shared what your lawyer told you about you purchasing the car yourselves. What did your lawyer say about having your dad finance the car but you paying for the insurance during your active 13?

[chp13]

I'm in the same boat. Id like to do the same myself. I have a 93 accord with 190k + miles and on its last leg! In for an answer. Would a trustee allow such a purchase since its not in your name?

[Pandora]

How are you going to get the trustee to allow the extra for a car payment if its not in your name vs. giving that money to creditors? Unless you can finagle the money for the payment out of what your allowances are... I dont see it being allowed.

If you currently have $ saved up and have a vehicle that runs - then keep adding to the $ pile and buy something down the road, putting a hefty down payment on it, thereby possibly reducing your interest rate. Dont bank on not losing a job... we never thought hubby would lose his job - ever - and one day after we came back from vacation.... no job, no warning, no reason...nothing.

If you cant afford to purchase something in your name, then you need to think really hard about saddling someone else with the possibility of having to pay for it.

[tammygirl1]

Pandora, you are correct. Our jobs are not invincable...I am just trying to brainstorm since I am paying out $97 a week in gas to go to work and back in this Tahoe. I called my insurance to run it by them and they said that since I would not have a secured interest in the car they would not insure me. I could have my father put me on his insurance but that get really messy since I am sure my husband and/or daughter would drive it at times. This option is not viable. I would not have involved the trustee..just paid for it with my DMI which at this time would be sufficient.

Lrprn, I had not shared this with my lawyer yet...I had just threw it out here before I went to him.

I will continue to brainstorm and save our xtra DMI in the meantime for something down the road.
Thanks for your feedback!

[chp13]

If you were to purchase a car, say about $9k cash wouldn't you need to tell the trustee no matter how it was purchased? If so, I'd have to assume the trustee wouldn't be happy since your disposable income toward the plan?

[lolly78]

If you were to purchase a car, say about $9k cash wouldn't you need to tell the trustee no matter how it was purchased? If so, I'd have to assume the trustee wouldn't be happy since your disposable income toward the plan?

chp13, I don't think so. You can buy what you want as long as you don't take on any further credit to do so. You must get permission from the trustee to get into debt.

[Pandora]

I could have my father put me on his insurance but that get really messy since I am sure my husband and/or daughter would drive it at times.

Actually you need to check on that as well because in most cases, in order to be insured, it must be named on the policy as to "where located/housed" and it has to be either the same county or same address. I know for us (in VA) we could not have our daughter on our insurance policy due to the fact that she lived in another county and the car wasnt housed here/registered here. Rates go up (or down) respective of where you live as they do run crime situations through the insurance formula's; also make sure you know if your state does credit profiling or not. Ours does and it caused our insurance (both homeowners and auto) to increase by $300 a year, respectively - when we first filed last year.

Luckily they didnt go up this year and actually went down by about $5 (whoop-de-do!) LOL Hey..its start in the right direction at least.... hope it keeps going down as the years pass for our Ch. 13.