Advice on Upside Down Sitch + Current Lease Offer - South Fl (Miami-Dade/Broward Co)

I keep reading that, and yet my rates dropped when I moved here from CA

I tried getting alternate quotes last week…they ranged from $8-11k/yr. As such, I was absolutely thrilled to retain my $6k/yr policy, LOL.

No speeding tickets, no parking tickets, etc etc…only claim in decades is the aforementioned one which has since fallen off the rating record.

Im sure CA is no insurance picnic either. The reality appears to be that states with higher levels of uninsured motorists have higher rates…I wonder why? :-). Ive had a couple of insurance companies tell me this straight out.

Weird. I pay about $1500/yr for my palisade and my wife’s passport. Could be where in FL I am I suppose.

I will trade policies with you. Mine comes with a free 2021 LT Camaro! LOL I can save enough to go get another one.

In my case, I do have a 16 year old on the policy, but even before that it was never even close to $1500/yr. It was in that range every 6 mos for what would be considered reasonable, but not excessive coverage. (250/500/250, $1k deductibles, etc etc).

EDIT - I do have 3 cars on the policy though.

Yes, I’m paying $1500/yr now compared to my former $5400/yr payments and driving like Miss
Daisy to keep it that way. I’m pretty nervous to file a claim if i don’t absolutely have to.

Real question how does someone (anyone) get to 5400 a year for insurance. Is that a lot of accidents? Or accidents that involve police, others injured badly? We must just have cheap insurance in the northeast. I think I pay 1500 for three cars full coverage.

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It is easy down here in Florida to get to that level with multiple cars and drivers and a perfectly clean record. I spilled the beans on my bill up a few posts up at $6000 a year for three cars, nothing on anyone’s record, but a teenage driver.

Thinking back, I remember my first brand new car, a 1996 VWGTI. As a young male (mid 20s back then) I recall that insurance was $225 a month and that was only 100/300/100 type coverage.

What is your monthly payment on the loan currently ? How many miles on the car right now ?
Switching over to $400 base smaller car than what you are driving doesnt seem like a good idea.
Also, i dont think a 2018 Mazda should give you any crazy issues if you have been properly maintaining it for the past years.
With only 24 payments left, I would spend the $1000 to fix it and ride it out and then just sell it at end when ready to lease a new car. I wouldn’t even worry about refinancing at all because getting into a new loan for another 48 months would hardly make a lot of difference on what you would save. (Still check online calculators to compare).

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Yes I had 5 claims filed in 1 year and 4 within 6 weeks. Don’t ask, i was def more irresponsible then, but also some were not my fault and somone who saw an opportunity. I was paying $5400 on a Honda Civic in MD state. Lol imagine.

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Damn haha…well makes sense then I just never heard of anything that high, but seems to be a norm in other states.

I don’t get the rampant fusion advice. They may have $10k in rebates but that’s exactly how much value they lose once you drive them off the lot. You can get a low mileage 2 year old fusion for 50% of the original MSRP. If OP loves the fusion then great, but you should always get a vehicle you like not the one that has the most rebates.

What exactly is the reason to get out of the CX5? Lower payments? If that’s all and you like the car, just keep it. Don’t throw good money after bad. Buying or leasing another vehicle will have upfront costs that are avoidable by staying in your current vehicle. You’re also going to be paying rent/finance charge and tax on the negative from the CX5.

You’re also probably screwing yourself out of $2k+ by not spending the $1k to just get it fixed. Dealers are going to charge their own body shop fees when they appraise the trade.

Just because you refinance a car for 5 years doesn’t mean you have to keep it for 5 years. You can get out at any time, just like a lease. There are plenty of CU’s out there that offer super low used vehicle financing. 4.5% seems very high.

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Yes Fusion has a pretty low residual… seems to only make sense if i can cancel NE w/incentives and get the <1% APR

My carmax quote today is $11,000 ($1500 less than Mazda)

Tight financially - can’t afford to pay $1000 outright and resistant to claiming anything on my insurance (see above)

High monthly payments
8.5% interest
Over 60k warranty
Needing new tires/battery soon
Worried the longer I wait further depriciation will prevent me from getting a good trade even after fixing.

I’m pretty resistant going on the used car route as it’s been a money pit before.

My plan B is to go the insurance route, but it’s seeming a lease may be the better route. Even after fixing, i’m doubting the possibility my trade will bring more than $13,000 going into 2021

Still open to alternative suggestions

The depreciation is not the problem, the negative is, and getting something back within advance with the negative. The thread on the Fusion explains why it, as one example, is good for washing the negative.

And as I said later, if not a Fusion, something with incentives.

The goal is to wash the negative, without any out of pocket, and carry it with the lowest possible rent charge. What other December leases can currently do that?

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Most body shops offer financing/payment plans. If you’re that tight financially the absolutely LAST thing I would do is buy or lease a new vehicle unless I came across some ridiculous unicorn deal and tthose don’t really exist at the moment.

The monthly is a function of your rate and balance. If you refi it for 48mos at 3%, you’re under $400/mo. and you are going to have equity eventually as your amortization curve will outpace the depreciation curve. Don’t trick yourself by thinking that a $500/mo lease payment is going to save you money versus your current auto loan payment just because it costs less per month.

Tires and battery? Less than half of the up front cost of a lease (acq fee, FoC fee, govt fees, tax on CCR etc). IMO you’re setting yourself up for a lifetime of indebtedness and only thinking short term by throwing away thousands of dollars to “save” a few hundred. Find a trusted mechanic or a dude who knows vehicles. Maintenance and repairs on a CX5 should be almost nothing. This isn’t a 2005 Mercedes CL600.

Again if you dislike the CX5 and love something else and the math works, by all means go for it. But purely as an exercise to save money this makes absolutely no sense. You also have 60k miles on a 2018…so I assume you drive 20-30k a year like I do…which means leasing is really really expensive for you.

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TBH you’re in no financial position to go into more debt… and jump on to the hamster wheel of perpetual leasing i.e. perpetual monthly payments.

You need to find a reliable sub $5,000 Toyota from the 90s that live forever with minimal maintenance (assuming they have not been abused before). There are a lot fewer sensors, electronics, etc that cannot be mechanically repaired and must always be replaced… I suspect that is the backstory behind your bad experience with used cars. And/or you bought cars that were neglected.

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Not at all unhappy with my Mazda, but want out of payments/APR

My understanding is that if I can find a lease deal where the incentives wash the NE, i can fully amortize at significantly less than now. This would be the only type of lease scenario I can see working.

All my priors have been Hondas. Lowest cost on parts, etc…but a car life of constant repairs in my experience.

I guess I’ll have to think on this one. There’s some valid points here.

There’s no scenario in which your negative equity magically disappears. You’re rolling it into a new vehicle and paying rent charge plus tax on it. If you can find a car you like better for cheaper go for it, but it sounds like between the negative and the miles you will need it probably won’t be possible. Check the marketplace threads for ideas.

I would focus on finding a local credit union that is aggressive with vehicle financing in the interim. In Michigan my CU does 1.99 up to 6mos and 2.74 for up to 72mos:

Curious about the details of your issues in the past with used Hondas. Not really relevant but could be creating an unwarranted negative schema :man_shrugging: . For example there’s a big difference between dealer maintaining a 2007 TL with 200k that’s had a hard life versus a 2017 Accord LX with 20k.

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Yes, this summarizes my intentions perfectly and having been made aware of the Ford incentives seems it may be possible. Especially with 15 2020s left in stock at one dealer.

To clarify, i may have been misunderstood that lower mo payments is more important to me.

It’d be great, but prime objective is to wash NE. I don’t see how going insurance route, out-of-pocket or refinancing is saving $ over the lease deal I’m going for unless it’s not possible and these are my next best options.

Thanks to the Hackrs, I see now that rolling in $4800 to a new car lease is an unwise Plan A even if my monthly is “saving me $”

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