I bought a used 2017 Chevy Bolt EV earlier this year, and now need to get rid of it. Long story short… I moved from a walkable city to a car-requiring city to be with a partner, and she has since betrayed every aspect of our relationship, and now I’m in a terrible individual financial position where I have a car I don’t want or need. It’s truly been the worst year of my life, and I need to get rid of this car before I can move on, both financially and emotionally. You know how sometimes guys will say whatever the woman wants to hear in order to be with her, and then not follow through on any of it once the woman is committed? Imagine the opposite of that… so before you judge me for being in this hole, please understand that I was completely blindsided.
KBB says it’s worth $14,000, while I have $24,000 left on the loan. My savings were used to move here, and so I’m trying to get the absolute most money for it. I’m thinking that I should sell the car and then refinance the loan, and pay off the loan monthly with the car-sale money, and then hopefully when that runs out, I’ll be in a more stable financial position to afford the payment regardless (I’m 26 right now). I’m currently located in TN. Do you have any tips for how I can get the absolute maximum dollar amount for my EV/if there’s a better time to sell than not?
Thank you so much in advance.
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Are you moving back to a walkable city? You might need to sell bolt + other car to actually be able to pay off the bolt’s loan.
Get a personal loan, pay off the car with that, and trade it in to a Chevy dealer or CarMax. Get a job back in the walkable city you were used to. It may take five years but you will be able to pay off that 10 grand loan. Every month you wait to get rid of the car is another month it depreciates. I’m sorry the relationship didn’t work out, but that happens. Just learn and move on
with the extra interest on an unsecured loan, its probably not worth it.
- Next best was 2022.
When you sell the car you have to make good on the loan. You can’t sell the car and keep paying off the loan. You’re $10k underwater in the vehicle according to kbb. I’d add the vin to various websites like carvanna and see what they offer you.
Your only option in getting rid of the car is paying the difference, or defaulting on the loan. What’s your monthly payment? I’d find a way to make that work and save elsewhere. If you can’t, a repo can happen, but keep in mind that ruins your credit for like a decade. Without credit you can find it difficult to do something as simple as renting an apartment.
Can I ask how you have a car worth $14k that you bought used for presumably more than the $24k you have left to pay it off? The car can’t have depreciated $10k in under a year.
Depends, kbb sell to dealer is a lower number than KBB private sale.
Thank you so much for your response & advice. My monthly payment is $495, but once I find a stable job (that’s also a long story… the job I took to move down here ended up being an incredibly toxic work environment that I couldn’t stay in) I’m planning on refinancing it regardless. So this all happened very fast due to family emergency… I thought I was moving here and starting the rest of my life, and so when we were looking at a car, which was an absolutely necessity and I needed ASAP, we were looking at ones that we’d imagine having for a while as opposed to something that could just get by. Her parents had a really good experience with Carvana and so we used that, I didn’t grow up in the US and so this was all kinda unfamiliar to me. This was the only Bolt available for $23.5k, plus all the fees it ended up being around $26k on the loan. Had used all my savings to move, thought I had a stable job I’d be at for years, and thought I had the stability of a partner… we paid basically nothing down and took a high % interest loan, something around 11%. I recognize how stupid it looks now…. it didn’t feel that way at the time, it just felt rushed. You can imagine my absolute dismay the first time I looked up the KBB value… I was shocked. Carvana said they’d give me $10k for it! The mindset when we got the car (and no… I’m the only one on the title) was that we just needed something reliable that we’d invest in, the price didn’t matter bc I thought I had a stable job making $75k… again, it was just so rushed… I hope this answers your questions, thank you again for your kindness.
You can’t sell something you don’t own.
Lots of lessons learned the hard way here. I think you need to keep the car and work on your income. A $500 payment isn’t terrible. As soon as you start a new job you may qualify to refinance if your credit is ok. If not you’ve got a reliable car for a somewhat reasonable payment and you’re too underwater to sell. You may call your creditor and ask if they can defer some payments since you’re between jobs. This happened plenty during covid. I don’t know what they’ll say but I don’t think it can hurt to ask. I think you have more of an income problem than an expense one. You may need to work 2 jobs for a bit to recover. Do you own anything outright you can sell?
Thank you for your advice—I really appreciate it. I have some things I can sell and so I’m not on the verge of homelessness fortunately. I think you’re right that the best option is to just keep it, find a stable job, and refinance it as soon as I do. And then just ride it out as the consequence of this dark period of life caused by trusting someone too much. It’s really difficult right now to not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I appreciate your positivity, it’s motivating; I’m going to figure out a way to work multiple jobs and figure out the income problem. I’m just hoping I have something left of my 20s by the time I’m up and stable again.
Figure out where you want to be and start working two jobs. 60+ hours a week. It’s gonna be a grind but it will be worth it to get out of the hole.
Drive Uber or Lyft on the side? Money isn’t great but seems to be work without a lot of stress and at least you won’t incur the fuel costs that most rideshare drivers do….and you’re using that car to dig out of your financial hole.
Just curious what made you move to this ex lover ?
Ask around as to which Chevy dealer near you has a good reputation and go talk to them. See if there is anything they can do
bang her best friend, or sister if she has one.