What Should We Do With a Truck That We Can't Afford?

Good Feedback from everyone:)

Sell the truck. Contact your lender. Explain your situation. Ask for a loan equal to the difference you owe on the loan and the fair market value for the truck. Whatever that amount may be is a lot cheaper than the alternative. If you need a vehicle, purchase a car/ truck with cash. A paid for vehicle drives a whole lot better than one that you owe on.

We are right there with you. Here is what we are doing. First, save up some extra cash cutting corners where you can. When you have a reasonable amount of money buy a cheap used car (something you won't have to make long term payments on). Once you have done that sell your truck as fast as you can, even if it means eating the difference in the blue book value and what you owe. It's not a fun place to be, but some times we have to get out of these situations as fast as possible in order to help ourselves. Good luck

Check our DaveRamsey.com to get the detailed advice--but essentially you
Sell the car, pay off the loan amount with the money you receive
Make the payments ont he remaining amount

You can list it for sale for free on craigslist.com & try selling it there; or put it for sale on autotrader.com (there's a fee) & You can Google other truck selling web sites. Or call Your local radio station - we have WLNG 92.1 FM here on Long Island NY - it's called swap n shop (631) 725-2300 & You can call or email things for sale to the station & they will play it over the air. Good luck! We are in the same boat! We are trying to unload 2 trucks! We also emailed photos to local businesses that use trucks - we got the phone#'s from the yellow pages & called companies and asked for their email address's & they were all willing to take a look at our trucks. Also put pictures up in the local construction supply company bulletin boards. I hope it all works out for You- this too shall pass.

If the vehicle is in both your names, change it now. Have your name taken off the title, loan, etc. That way if things do not work out, only one of your credit reports get hurt.

Go to your finance company and try to refinance. Privately list your vehicle for sale as well. Sign up on all free sites that sell autos. Then try Ebay, local sites, etc....make sure you put a reserve price on it.

I once traded a truck for two cars. Sold both the cars and paid off the loan and made a small profit. The person that traded the cars, knew he had to wait two months to get the title after I paid off the loan. Last time I borrowed money for a vehicle. Now we only pay cash.

I used to work at the credit bureau. If you return the car it will not look good on your credit report. I would just try to sell it for what you owe on it or as much as you can get and then don't buy anything else until you don't owe anything more on the truck. Good Luck!

Can you talk to the people where you have your truck financed and see if this is possible - advertise the truck in the paper for someone buy the truck by taking over the payments. Of course, your name comes off the loan and theirs goes on. It may make it an easier sell if you have the co-operation of your finance company. I have heard of this before but have never done it. Good luck. We just took our truck off the road because it is too expensive the run and needs too many repairs. We can only sell it for parts but good luck to you on your problem.

Always, one has to take into consideration the full context of the rest of your life. Get a notebook or sheet of butcher paper out and a calculator...Write down all the factors affecting or affected by this situation, one sheet of paper for each possiblle decision...Tear out the pages so they are next to each other...it sounds silly, but it really helps to see it that way. Write down on each page all the things that are the same no matter what...include things like how secure you feel about your job.How close are you to work. What is the transit system like?Do you have to transport small children? Do both of you work. Whats your physical health, are you able to walk? How about other bills, house stuff, medical concerns of whole family? How shaky is your situation on scale of 1-5 or ? What changes with each possible decision? Can you sell
something to buy a safe used car, we're not talking aesthetics, just common sense. Remember, the sooner you get
"appearance concerns" to the bottom of the list, the better.
If you have a job where that matters, how is that job holding up? WORK the details of your life, back and forth.
What are your skills re minimizing costs. Do you have a parent or grandparent who could give you a crash course.
How long to go on truck payments. Of course there is the full insurance thing... Listen, if you are in a really bad situation, I'm going to give you one piece of info and what you do with it is up to you....I once cosigned with my son
for a car, and when he moved out he took it.He ended up turning it in.I eventually paid it off because it wasn't too long and I was just building my life after kids left home and didn't want it on my credit. I did not get a notice to start paying for several months after he parked it on their lot and turned in the keys, so you may buy yourself a month or 3 by doing it that way, . What they do is sell it, and THEN contact you re the balance. So there isn't any balance to agree to until it's sold. As far as credit is concerned, try not to make payments; the situation with credit is dying and will never be the same. You could consider asking for smaller payments, but I don't think that will work, and there's still the gas cost problem.

My husband and I normally do not finance vehicles. Since a truck consumes too much fuel and you don't get a lot of mileage on a tank of gas. Why don't you think about trading in the truck for a fuel efficient car.