Kristi
“Dear Steve,
I bought a truck 3 years ago on 5 year loan. Since, my husband and I have moved out of state where I began working for a car dealership. We then purchased a truck for him with my employee discount. The owners of the dealership were then forced to sell the business, and I was hired by the new owners, but have now had my hours and income reduced to the point that my husband and I are struggling severely to pay our bills.
I am now late in paying the loan payment on my truck every single month and most months on his too, and when we do pay them, we end up having to pay other things late. We just can’t afford both of these vehicles anymore. I know I owe more on my truck than it’s worth, so can’t sell it, and am stressed to the point that I’m ready to just tell them to come get it but the idea of having a repossession makes me sick too.
I know I would still owe them money if I did that, but at least there would be a light at the end of the tunnel. Is there any other way? I’ve looked into part time work to try to get through this and there’s just nothing right now. I would trade it in for something cheaper, but that would entail prompting my employer to check my credit, which is horrible at this point I’m sure and may affect my employment with them, and going to another dealer would definately be frowned apon.
Is there any way to avoid repossession on this? Is re-financing for a lower payment and bringing it back up when my job gets back to normal a possibility?
Kristi”
Dear Kristi,
I certainly can appreciate how you might feel, working at a car dealership and potentially losing two vehicles to repossession. The personal stress must be pretty high.
If I could get you to take a step back from your personal situation for a moment and look at what is happening to car dealerships all around the country, maybe I can help you put this in perspective.
The auto sales industry has been knocked off its foundation recently. Nearly 2,000 dealerships are going to be closing up or at least losing their Chrysler and GM products. A car dealership is on the hook for a tremendous amount of money. Between the employee costs there are the hard costs for building, land, rent, electricity, etc, the loss of a product line can be a death sentence. Without a product to sell, these dealerships are headed for a total loss of assets and bankruptcy. Emotionally traumatic as well. I expect we will hear of more than one dealer owner suicide before it is all over.
I would think that the most important hurdle for you to cross is not dealing with the vehicles, but getting yourself back into a mindset and positive outlook where you can begin to sell with gusto again. It is always much harder to sell out of desperation than inspiration and your customer can feel your stress.
In other times in our economy the refinancing approach might have been possible, but not now. I honestly think that you are probably headed towards a repossession and once the truck(s) sell at auction you will be slapped with a big bill. The most logical way to deal with that is going to be to go bankrupt to discharge that debt that you will certainly not be able to pay.
It sucks. It really does. Pain is pain and it is what it is. But let’s put this situation into perspective. If I gave you a choice between having your legs sawed off or losing the trucks to repo, the repo doesn’t look so bad, does it?
You’ll be able to get some new wheels. You might have to buy some beaters for cash in the short run to get you guys around. After my bankruptcy I drove an old postal jeep for a while. Funny, I miss that old thing that I donated to the fire department to burn up. Maybe the dealership you are working for has a couple of trade-ins they would not mind selling to you through a payroll deduction?
The least of my worries is about your credit and job at the dealership. I’ve helped so many people over the years that have been finance managers at dealers and they’ve struggled with their own debt problems. You are not alone.
Besides, retail sales people seem to have a propensity towards financial problems.
Consider yourself unlucky but part of a growing club of people that have suddenly found themselves in a really crappy situation with no great way out.
The sooner you can just see the situation for what it is and surrender to it, the sooner you can begin to let go of this situation and your stress and instead turn around and start looking forward to a brighter future.
Please let me know what you decide to do.
You are not alone. I'm here to help. There is no need to suffer in silence. We can get through this. Tomorrow can be better than today. Don't give up.
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I bought a car and 2 weeks later it was relied I only owed 200 dollars on it and only had it for 2 weeks. They told me there reselling my car 2 days after it was relied and I would not get any money back is that allowed or even legal
Sorry meant repoed