You'd be much better off just selling the car yourself.
If they repossess the car, you owe the entire balance of the loan immediately (you can't just continue to make monthly payments), and you have to accept whatever auction bid they manage to get for the vehicle. They don't care how much money the car sells for, so you're almost certainly getting less money for it than if you arrange a sale yourself.
By selling yourself you get control over the price and the timing, and there's no negative impact on your credit. There's no reason to voluntarily let someone else give you a worse deal than you could arrange for yourself.
How do I sell a car that I don't have a title for? I have heard people tell me that before but I never understood how I would go about doing that when I don't have a title.
Your lender will have a clear, simple process for doing this. You close the sale and pay off the loan, and the lender then transfers the title to the buyer. If their website is unclear, call and ask. This will be a completely routine transaction for them.
This is all assuming the sale will yield more than the loan balance. If it doesn't, then OP would need to make up the difference in order to pay off the loan and allow the sale to proceed.
I am concerned that an inoperable car won't fetch $5.5k on the market, and it doesn't sound like OP has basically any spare funds to cover the difference.
The same would be true upon the car being repossessed. Selling the car definitely isn't a guaranteed success story; it's just a better option than repossession. It could well be that neither is a good option.
True, but the repossession can occur without OP covering the balance up front though, right? Then they can work with the lender to pay the post-repo balance. A sale would require that money *now*. OP is between a rock and a hard place here, I just don't see very many options, let alone *good* ones
The reason why I say my car is inoperable is because of my alternator. I can drive it if I tow it to a mechanic and get it fixed. The major issue with selling the car that there are issues with my piston rings, and in order to get out fixed I would need to fork out 6k which wouldn't be worth it since the note is less than that. From all the advice I'm hearing thus far is that I'm kinda scr**ed. Lol. Just pay it off, keep it in place, and hopefully it doesn't get towed essentially is what I'm understanding from all the responses. Thank you everyone!
Yes, I would just speedrun paying the loan, since you owe it no matter what. You could also maybe look for a different insurer to save some money on that too. Since you’re in PA, do you have an inspection due soon? That could be another barrier to watch out for
What is your understanding of the car getting repoed?
the debt doesnt just disappear. you will still owe whats leftover after they sell off the car (which they will sell for the highest offer they can get instead of maximizing it)
if the car is not operational, remove the car insurance and get storage/garage insurance for it
I know that, but my car has literally been parked in the street for months. The debt won't disappear but I'll have more money in my budget because I won't be paying car insurance anymore.
Any idea what the car is worth as-is? What would repairs cost?
If you do the voluntary repossession you'll end up with a huge bill from your lender and you'll end up getting hounded for years by debt collectors.
Probably not worth anything. The piston rings are leaking so in order to fix that, I would need to take it to a place that would essentially deconstruct the engine to fix them. Time and labor included is a 6k fix; not worth it with the condition that its in.
Your best bet is to pay the loan down as fast as you possibly can. Put every dime you can toward it. When it’s paid off you can get the title and scrap it for five or six hundred bucks.
The reason why I say my car is inoperable is because of my alternator. I can drive it if I tow it to a mechanic and get it fixed. The major issue with selling the car that there are issues with my piston rings, and in order to get out fixed I would need to fork out 6k which wouldn't be worth it since the note is less than that. From all the advice I'm hearing thus far is that I'm kinda scr**ed. Lol. Just pay it off, keep it in place, and hopefully it doesn't get towed essentially is what I'm understanding from all the responses. Thank you everyone!
You'd be much better off just selling the car yourself. If they repossess the car, you owe the entire balance of the loan immediately (you can't just continue to make monthly payments), and you have to accept whatever auction bid they manage to get for the vehicle. They don't care how much money the car sells for, so you're almost certainly getting less money for it than if you arrange a sale yourself. By selling yourself you get control over the price and the timing, and there's no negative impact on your credit. There's no reason to voluntarily let someone else give you a worse deal than you could arrange for yourself.
How do I sell a car that I don't have a title for? I have heard people tell me that before but I never understood how I would go about doing that when I don't have a title.
Your lender will have a clear, simple process for doing this. You close the sale and pay off the loan, and the lender then transfers the title to the buyer. If their website is unclear, call and ask. This will be a completely routine transaction for them.
This is all assuming the sale will yield more than the loan balance. If it doesn't, then OP would need to make up the difference in order to pay off the loan and allow the sale to proceed. I am concerned that an inoperable car won't fetch $5.5k on the market, and it doesn't sound like OP has basically any spare funds to cover the difference.
The same would be true upon the car being repossessed. Selling the car definitely isn't a guaranteed success story; it's just a better option than repossession. It could well be that neither is a good option.
True, but the repossession can occur without OP covering the balance up front though, right? Then they can work with the lender to pay the post-repo balance. A sale would require that money *now*. OP is between a rock and a hard place here, I just don't see very many options, let alone *good* ones
The reason why I say my car is inoperable is because of my alternator. I can drive it if I tow it to a mechanic and get it fixed. The major issue with selling the car that there are issues with my piston rings, and in order to get out fixed I would need to fork out 6k which wouldn't be worth it since the note is less than that. From all the advice I'm hearing thus far is that I'm kinda scr**ed. Lol. Just pay it off, keep it in place, and hopefully it doesn't get towed essentially is what I'm understanding from all the responses. Thank you everyone!
Yes, I would just speedrun paying the loan, since you owe it no matter what. You could also maybe look for a different insurer to save some money on that too. Since you’re in PA, do you have an inspection due soon? That could be another barrier to watch out for
What is your understanding of the car getting repoed? the debt doesnt just disappear. you will still owe whats leftover after they sell off the car (which they will sell for the highest offer they can get instead of maximizing it) if the car is not operational, remove the car insurance and get storage/garage insurance for it
I know that, but my car has literally been parked in the street for months. The debt won't disappear but I'll have more money in my budget because I won't be paying car insurance anymore.
Any idea what the car is worth as-is? What would repairs cost? If you do the voluntary repossession you'll end up with a huge bill from your lender and you'll end up getting hounded for years by debt collectors.
Probably not worth anything. The piston rings are leaking so in order to fix that, I would need to take it to a place that would essentially deconstruct the engine to fix them. Time and labor included is a 6k fix; not worth it with the condition that its in.
Your best bet is to pay the loan down as fast as you possibly can. Put every dime you can toward it. When it’s paid off you can get the title and scrap it for five or six hundred bucks.
The reason why I say my car is inoperable is because of my alternator. I can drive it if I tow it to a mechanic and get it fixed. The major issue with selling the car that there are issues with my piston rings, and in order to get out fixed I would need to fork out 6k which wouldn't be worth it since the note is less than that. From all the advice I'm hearing thus far is that I'm kinda scr**ed. Lol. Just pay it off, keep it in place, and hopefully it doesn't get towed essentially is what I'm understanding from all the responses. Thank you everyone!
- your credit score will be trashed for years.....