Need advice regarding financial decisions

[StanleyKnife]

I need help. I am notorious for making terrible financial decisions eg. buying cars that people warned me against.

I have not one, but two motor vehicles that are ruining me financially. They are constantly breaking down and I have spent more than R18000 in the last year for repairs. I cannot sell them because the amount owed is much more than what I could get by selling.

You know it is quite depressing that sometimes I think I need to veer off the road and into a bridge in order to write it off. I have put a helmet in the back seat so yes I have in all seriousness considered it many times but chickened out due to fear of getting paralyzed. I considered parking it in CBD with the keys in ignition but the insurer would probably investigate and/or track it down and sue me.

I am open for suggestions on how to rid myself of these cars. Here are some details:

Vehicle 1:
4x4 american SUV 2012
130,000km
Balance owed R160,000
Best offer from Webuycars R60,000, no interest received on autotrader after 6 months.

Vehicle 2:
French sports coupe 2012
100,000km
Balance owed R110,000
Best offer Webuycars R30,000, no interest received on autotrader.

Any advice?

Thanks,

 

[Mogo]

What % of your income is spent on your vehicles? inclusive of fuel, insurance and installment?

I would suggest biting the bullet and selling the SUV on WBC.
I assume that the SUV is the most expensive to maintain. Not to mention you'll be saving on Fuel and Insurance as well. Use that amount you're saving on knocking off that capital amount owed.

 

[A3@CPc]

Would be helpful to have some more info on the situation you are in.
-How far into each ISA and current installment?
-Any balloon payments?
-Condition of cars - Why is the offers so low on the cars from WBC
-Give examples of these breakdowns - was it properly fixed or do you expect the problem to return (fix was a temp solution)

 

[Erohann]

What % of your income is spent on your vehicles? inclusive of fuel, insurance and installment?

I would suggest biting the bullet and selling the SUV on WBC.
I assume that the SUV is the most expensive to maintain. Not to mention you'll be saving on Fuel and Insurance as well. Use that amount you're saving on knocking off that capital amount owed.

Unless I misunderstood how it works, he can't sell it, if he can't settle the outstanding amount at the same time, because without that, the vehicle can't be transferred to the new owner.

 

[CryptoBallz]

Dont use WBC.

They offered me R160k for my Ford Ranger. Then same day I listed it Weelee.co.za and sold it that afternoon for R200K ! WBC is a ripoff for both buyers and sellers I cant imagine why they have grown so big.

Buy, Sell or Trade-In Your Car Today and Be Weelee Sure

Buy, sell or trade-in your car and get the best deal with us. 50,000 happy customers can't be wrong. Sell my car - Quick & Easy Now.

weelee.co.za

 

[SuperLlama]

Budget and downsize.
-Consider moving to a smaller cottage/back with parents to save on rentals.
-Earn extra income on weekends as uber driver or something.
-Make a realist budget and stick to it. (Put money into a fixed deposit or a separate call account that makes it difficult for you to touch)
-Cut down to bare necessities.
-Avoid CUD.

-Can't offer more advice without considering cashflow/assets/job.

 

[bythecantloads]

Leaving your keys in the ignition will be seen as willful neglect from your side and insurance will not pay out.

Best financial advice, don't try and defraud your insurance. Now that you have stated your intention here any investigation will leave your claim unpaid. Having a random helmet in your car will show intention to claim and your claim will be dismissed.

Don't be a criminal for your mistakes.

 

[Salee]

Not sure if you are using both cars daily. If not, park the one off and get stationary cover for it. Also, get cheaper insurance, from my experience, Naked is the cheapest I have seen.

 

[Qui_Illustrati]

Not sure if you are using both cars daily. If not, park the one off and get stationary cover for it. Also, get cheaper insurance, from my experience, Naked is the cheapest I have seen.

Any advice on insurers that offer stationary cover?

 

[bythecantloads]

Any advice on insurers that offer stationary cover?

Naked offers a very easy way of "pausing" cover when know your car is not going to move. It is still covered for theft and fire and I think hail.

You simply go on their app and click pause, it then recalculates a stationary cover.

During the hard lockdown level 5 when I was working from home, my premium went from R666 to R76 a month.

 

[Salee]

Any advice on insurers that offer stationary cover?

Naked and I think Santam.

 

[MopKop]

Man sitting in the same boat. At least my Alfa is payed off in a year now. But have been there went it wasn't almost payed off (Got to this point at least by just hanging in there, now im just rather keeping it.
Good luck dude. I know the costs involved in owning 2 Cars, esp ones that break a lot lol

At least for me I drive far so being able to split the Km helps now that the Alfa is up and running again. Also cost me 25k to get the damn car running again

 

[crazydude]

Budget and downsize.
-Consider moving to a smaller cottage/back with parents to save on rentals.
-Earn extra income on weekends as uber driver or something.
-Make a realist budget and stick to it. (Put money into a fixed deposit or a separate call account that makes it difficult for you to touch)
-Cut down to bare necessities.
-Avoid CUD.

-Can't offer more advice without considering cashflow/assets/job.

I disagree with the bold part. I highly doubt that the interest rate on the OP's car loans are lower than the interest he can earn with a call account or fixed deposit. Extra money would be better spent paying off the cars.

 

[SuperLlama]

I disagree with the bold part. I highly doubt that the interest rate on the OP's car loans are lower than the interest he can earn with a call account or fixed deposit. Extra money would be better spent paying off the cars.

True. But I feel like OP has spending issues? or just issues with cars? Cashflow seems tight but he should still have some money saved up in the case of emergency.

 

[crazydude]

True. But I feel like OP has spending issues? or just issues with cars? Cashflow seems tight but he should still have some money saved up in the case of emergency.

I like the rest of your suggestions, people often don't realise how much less they could spend until someone else shows them how excessive their budget is.

I just often see people making this mistake of saving at low interest rates instead of paying off debt with high interest rates.

 

[TheJudge]

Ouch, short of having other credit facilities available to restructure you indebtedness its gonna be tough. That said (and apologies for what will come across as an insult) but if you bought those two cars what does the rest of your financial situation look like? If you are living beyond your means or have accrued debt in other parts of your life then your first steps will have to be either restructuring your debt or cutting back where you can to begin the process.

I have gone through the process before with friends, write down all expenses and separate essential from nice to have. Somewhere inbetween will be a certain level of claw back, dump that into capital payments against the shit purchases weighing you down and accept that to a certain extent you're going to lose money. The objective is to lose less money than you would dragging it out longer (and increasing interest).

As long as you are employed (ie have a monthly income to work against) you can normally free up more money than you'd expect just from basic cutbacks.

 

[Bippuu]

What cars are they specifically

 

[Tsakie]

What cars are they specifically

This reply was proudly sponsored by Outsurance

 

[Bippuu]

This reply was proudly sponsored by Outsurance

Hey I might be in the market for French sports coupes from the 2012 era.

 

[TheJudge]

Hey I might be in the market for French sports coupes from the 2012 era.

In the last 9 years the suspension on many examples have collapsed for a sporty stanced look and the back doors don't open anymore either.

 

[johnny_h]

Dont use WBC.

They offered me R160k for my Ford Ranger. Then same day I listed it Weelee.co.za and sold it that afternoon for R200K ! WBC is a ripoff for both buyers and sellers I cant imagine why they have grown so big.

Buy, Sell or Trade-In Your Car Today and Be Weelee Sure

Buy, sell or trade-in your car and get the best deal with us. 50,000 happy customers can't be wrong. Sell my car - Quick & Easy Now.

weelee.co.za

I've heard a similar story this past weekend. WeBuyCars offered R120,000 on a car that was instead sold on Weelee for just over R200,000.

There's a reason why WeBuyCars can afford to buy The Dome, they make huge profit margins by giving you really shite offers.

 

[pɐlΛ‾pɐq‾ƃᴉq]

What cars are they specifically

I am going to guess that it is a Cherokee and a RCZ or Megane

 

[Some_Guy21]

Dont use WBC.

They offered me R160k for my Ford Ranger. Then same day I listed it Weelee.co.za and sold it that afternoon for R200K ! WBC is a ripoff for both buyers and sellers I cant imagine why they have grown so big.

Buy, Sell or Trade-In Your Car Today and Be Weelee Sure

Buy, sell or trade-in your car and get the best deal with us. 50,000 happy customers can't be wrong. Sell my car - Quick & Easy Now.

weelee.co.za

+1
WBC offered my dad R70k less than GetWorth did on a car that is still had a full motor plan and under 80 000km. WBC are often times doing daylight robbery.

 

[Some_Guy21]

There's a reason why WeBuyCars can afford to buy The Dome, they make huge profit margins by giving you really shite offers.

I read somewhere once that they have certain margins they stick by for certain price categories. They prey on people who need quick cash and want their car sold now.

 

[PandaAttack1]

Selling is obviously not an option here, considering both your cars' real world worth much less than what you owe for them.

Unfortunately, your only real option here is to budget and pay for them...

A small reality check, R18000.00 a year for two high maintenance vehicles is not bad. I've spend way in excess of that on 'reliable' lemon cars before. It's not all bad. You just bought toys you couldn't afford.

Your total owed is R270,000. Hunker down and pay it off as quickly as possible. Then buy a cheap german car and live within your means.

 

[Qui_Illustrati]

I've heard a similar story this past weekend. WeBuyCars offered R120,000 on a car that was instead sold on Weelee for just over R200,000.

There's a reason why WeBuyCars can afford to buy The Dome, they make huge profit margins by giving you really shite offers.

WeBuyCars and Getworth are absolutely rubbish. Got lowballed on my vehicle just the other day. So much so that I'm in 2 minds of just keeping the damn thing. Hate dealing with people and putting it up on private sites just seems more effort than its worth right now.

Thanks for the Weelee suggestion @CryptoBallz - already uploaded all my details on there and apparently the car is already being bidded on right now. Will see how that pans out.

 

[AndyPants]

@StanleyKnife - I know your question is about your future options and I know this is a dagger you don't want twisted any further but for educational purposes - would you mind giving us more details -
vehicle purchase details
km when purchased, age, price and finance period?
From this we can make a better call as to what these vehicles have cost you and how much use you got from them and if the sale offers seem reasonable or at least how unreasonable they are.

I owned a money pit vehicle once that cost me over R80 000 in repairs over 3 years and I sold the car for R55k - so I have a lot of sympathy here.

 

[PandaAttack1]

Not sure if you are using both cars daily. If not, park the one off and get stationary cover for it. Also, get cheaper insurance, from my experience, Naked is the cheapest I have seen.

If I recall correctly, stationary cover in most cases are not full comprehensive. His loan probably stipulates that the financed vehicle should have full comprehensive cover at all times.

 

[AndyPants]

A question about this situation, perhaps some carbies know - is there a way to "give the vehicles back to the bank" - Walk away with nothing but perhaps less/no debt?

 

[bythecantloads]

I've heard a similar story this past weekend. WeBuyCars offered R120,000 on a car that was instead sold on Weelee for just over R200,000.

There's a reason why WeBuyCars can afford to buy The Dome, they make huge profit margins by giving you really shite offers.

I think we buy cars are good for two reasons:
1) it is hassle free.
2) if you are really in the kak.

Friend recently sold his Polo to WeBuyCars and they actually offered him more than BMW did as a trade in. He got more from WBCs than he got on WheeleIt (such a kak name).

I think they know their market. They might struggle to sell some cars and therefore enter with a very low bid. Other cars they know they will have a quick sell and then can offer a tad bit more