I’ve got two vehicles. Both upside down. One was bought during the height of vehicle pricing thanks to having to upgrade to a 3-row SUV due to new baby, AND rolled negative in to it from my previous truck. I could use some advice on the best way to deal with this situation. What angles, creative ideas, etc do y’all have that might help?
Vehicle #1 is a 2020 BMW 228 xD. 24K miles on it, car is practically brand new. Driven maybe 50 miles a week. This was a purchase. Owe 26,200 on it. Carmax is at 20K. Car payment is just under $600
Vehicle #2 is a 2018 Ford Expedition Limited. Great condition, especially for a 7 year old vehicle. 68K miles on it. This was a purchase. Owe 42K. Carmax is at 23,400. Payment is right at $800.
My certified warranty is up 4/1/25 on this Expedition, and it is in the shop about every 8 weeks. It is on a tow truck now headed back to the dealership. 3rd tow in 9 months. I fear that this vehicle will drive me in to the poor house once the warranty is up. I have no confidence in it whatsoever.
We’d really like to dump both vehicles. The BMW is too small, the truck is too troublesome. I drive about 15K a year and my wife drives about 5-7k a year at the very most. We need 3 rows in one vehicle (not both) and need to tow a minimum of 6K lbs. We’re not opposed to leasing for both vehicles which would be a shift for us, but we have to get up from under this negative equity situation and stay out of the cycle (ironic since we’re here again). We can put a little bit down, but really need to try and keep the total monthly budget of 1400 for two vehicles as the max.
I understand that the money has to come from somewhere, whether its making double payments or extra money down etc and that there is no magic wand for getting rid of negative equity. I’m hoping to leverage rebates, EV tax credits, demo vehicles, whatever tools are out there to get this done. Any creative ideas or suggestions?
This topic has been discussed multiple times on this forum. I would strongly recommend doing a search to read up on the types of vehicles that are ideal with “absorbing” negative equity.
Are you open to leasing an EV? Do you have access to charging? When shopping for a new car, I would also suggest checking with your insurance provider since certain new cars might be more expensive to insure.
Honestly this subject comes up on here every few weeks, one place to start is to go to the search function and use “negative equity” as the search phrase and see what people have done recently. Unfortunately, there isn’t a magic wand on negative equity, it’s essentially refinancing the debt down the road as I think you know based on your wording.
Carmax might be the lowest bidder for all you know. You’re going to have to work to find some better bids. Start here.
Ultimately you’re going to have to do some combination of two cheap EVs and some money down, and make peace with driving two $200/m cars that have $700/m payments each because of the NE.
Replacing the BMW is easy. Lots of EVs can do that and are great for burying negative within your budget. Whether a ZDX, Ioniq 5 or BzX.
Three row SUVs are going to be much tougher. Not sure how you bury $20k in negative equity plus make the payments for a vehicle that can fit your families needs. First question might be what three row SUVs have the lowest lease MF since you are going to be paying interest on all that negative.
You need something with a big discount and huge rebates. With your strict requirements you’re kind of putting yourself in a box. Maybe check out a wagoneer.
The ID4 may be a good option for one of the vehicles. 10Ks in rebates, plus 7500 incentive, and a low MF. That may be a winner to swap out the BMW, need to check the math.
Agree. The challenge is finding a replacement. The expy is where my sense of urgency is. Come 4/1 i’ll need to have bought another warranty for 4K, or i’ll be at risk of dealing with expensive upkeep and tows.
I’m in the same shoes as OP, going to check Honda Prologue 2024 this evening. 13k in negative equity.
Will consider your advice if Honda numbers won’t work
