We purchased the wrong car

[Horse of Course]

We were advised by our lawyer to purchase a car before we filed bankruptcy. We purchased a 2009 Toyota Scion XB back in September 2008. We filed on March 23rd 2009 and we are currently waiting for discharge.

I knew this was the wrong car for our family, but my husband would not listen. This car is way too small for the 4 of us. We need a big SUV since we have a horse and we are always hauling so much. Our current hauling SUV is a 2000 Ford Explorer with 145,000 miles. We are doing so much more hauling these days (horse trailer, hay, tack...) that this small SUV just isn't meeting our needs anymore (it just doesn't have the power).

We are probably about $7000 - $8000 under with the Scion.

My question is: Do we just have to suck it up and live with what we have? Any suggestions?

Please no flames.

Thank You.

[keepmine]

If you reaffirmed the loan, you are on the hook for any deficiency balance should you default and it gets repoed.

[justbroke]

You can cancel the reaffirmation (withdraw) 60 days after it was filed with the Court or before discharge, whichever comes first. (I'm not 100% sure on if the 60 days can pass the discharge date. You want to withdraw that reaffirmation before discharge though so there are no questions.)

See... no asbestos suit required!

[relief13035]

Hopefully you didn't sign a reaffirmation at all, then you can just let it go back. If you did reaffirm - quickly withdraw it.

[dogbone33]

This has nothing to do with your question.... We didn't get a truck before we filed. We should have but didn't know we would be in the situation we are in. The only car we have is falling apart and we need at least 4k down on a truck or suv, unless we get another crappy one, which we already have one of those. So unless you have another reliable car I wouldn't be quick to get rid of your nice one. We are stuck right now. If you need a truck or suv to pull your trailer (obviously) it is hard to get loans for them right now. Believe me we are trying cuz I need one for my business to pull a trailer... That is just my opinion, We are considering getting a car just so we have something reliable for the family, but then it don't help me pull my trailer. I could keep my jeep too, but its crap!

[Stilltheone]

If you reaffirmed, WITHDRAW IT!!

I was in your exact same situation...Purchased an Escalade and, after the bankruptcy, didn't want it anymore. We signed a reaffirmation, so, unless the value goes up, we are stuck with it for the next 3.5 years. UGH

[zpbk13]

No flames here. Everyone is so right, while you are waiting for discharge, if you reaffirmed, take the reaffirmation back ASAP! Then let the car go. We are planning on doing that with hubby's truck and just buying him a decent work car in a few months.

We jumped the gun though when we thought we were going to be a 13 (hence my screen name) so we went out and bought the first thing we could get our hands on before our credit tanked. It's a 2009 Saturn Aura. No fancy features and got a great interest rate of 1.9%. However, it's for a 72 month loan. I did not even pay attention to the loan period when I heard 1.9% knowing what our credit was going to be looking like.

Anyway, so if we don't reaffirm the vehicle, I know I can do a ride through but there is no guarantee GMAC will not take it anyway (despite reassurances from my attorney) and even if we keep it, the car will end up costing us $29,000. It's an ok car but I don't want to pay that much for a Saturn! Even if we accelerate the payment schedule, our total interest is only like $2500 so an early payoff won't help much with such a low interest rate.

We are thinking of trying to redeem it through 722 redemption and paying a higher interest rate but for a shorter period of time. I just wish we hadn't rushed into purchasing this vehicle. I know we will not reaffirm the debt and we do need a reliable vehicle but making the right choice from this point forward is nerve wracking.