in a moment of unthinking consumerism - i bought an fj cruiser. i don’t hate it - but it is not a logical choice for me. now i am 34k in a loan for the vehicle and want to get rid of it as soon as possible and trade in for a honda civic. how to best do this?
You’re going to take a HUGE loss on this.
My only suggestion is to live with it for a few years…then trade it in.
How long ago did you buy the FJ, and how many miles does it have now?
Getting rid of it ASAP is going to cost you. You take a fiscal beating on trading it in. The $10k or so you’re going to be upside down in will buy alot of gas. My suggestion is to keep the FJ Cruiser until you have at least some positive equity built up.
got it last week - has 15k on it
should i just pay it down as fast as possible and launch? i can in theory afford it. it just makes me sick that i should have been logical and got swayed by being stupid in the moment and now will have to pay out for that stupidity when i could have saved. argh. no debt otherwise. just sucks. i hate it when i make a bad move. and cars are serious. i do feel super safe in it. the honda i had before was great - but i felt like a bug on the road sometimes especially in bad weather.
Did you pay $34K for a USED FJ Cruiser or did you roll a previous loan into this one?
Either way, the smartest thing to do is pay down the loan as quickly as possible. Make extra payments and get out from under the loan.
Then worry about trading the vehicle. If you trade now you’ll probably go deeper in the hole.
no the fj itself was 24 and change. i put on additional warranties etc and then financing. again, i do feel safe in it, and i wanted something fun and funky. . .but then the reality of what i had done hit. . .and now i am in panic mode. i had the civic for 8 years and it was like an appendage of me, but i beat on cars and it was ruined by the time i was done with it. i just hate making a bad choice. oh well. will try and enjoy the fj while i have it and pay it down ASAP. thanks for additional insight. . . soooo stupid of me. argh
If this is a Toyota FJ cruiser that you purchased, you may not have made a terrible mistake. This vehicle is reliable if it is anything like our Toyota 4Runner. I like the seating position in the 4Runner and I assume that the FJ cruiser isn’t a lot different. On the other hand, I have never been comfortable driving a Honda Civic. My institution has Honda Civic Hybrids in its fleet and after driving on road trips to conventions, I try to request a Ford Taurus from the fleet. The Civic doesn’t have enough legroom for me and I don’t find the seats very comfortable.
The cars I have purchased recently (including the 2011 Sienna) have been mistakes–I really want a Mazda Miata. I just can’t get tympani, string basses and people into the Miata so I live with my mistakes.
Perhaps you are being WAY too hard on yourself. With 15K miles it is probably about 2 years old and by getting a used car someone else took the big hit for the first 2 years where the depreciation is the highest.
Now you like the car, but hate the payments, or so it sounds. The FJ is a good solid vehicle. It has a good repair record and shouldn’t be excessively expensive to own. It certainly won’t get the gas mileage of a Civic, but it is definately safer if you should get in an accident.
You can’t get everything in one car. You trade off fuel economy for size and ability to haul stuff around. You are experiencing an extreme case of buyer’s remorse. This is a good car. Keep it looking and runnning properly and if you want to sell it in a year or so, that is your decision. Perhaps you can think of the extra money you spend on gas is adding to your feeling of safety as you drive.
Your old civic was going to need repairs. I like Civics too, have an '03, but I’m not sure the new Civics are that good. Perhaps you made the best choice afterall.
You bought a “cool” expensive car with out thinking of your needs. Set a price on it whose loss you think you can live with, and wait for someone else who thinks the same way as you did.
If you’re not willing to accept the loss, consider you may not a have a vehicle that you like, but it’s reliable and will safely take you far enough off road so no one can hear you scream about your decision. Personally. I’d keep it too for a while. Make sure you learn to use your mirrors well…it has lots of blind spots.
You paid an extra $10k for “additional warranties etc”? Sounds you wasted a lot of money. Next time do some research and spend your money wisely. Almost as bad as buying GM or AIG stock two years ago. Learn from your mistake and move on.
Twotone
What year is it? Assuming it’s a 2008, it’s worth $24,000.
Twotone
What Model-Year Is It ? Is It 2WD Or 4WD ?
A thirty-four thousand dollar car loan ?
What is the loan interest rate ?
“should i just pay it down as fast as possible and launch? i can in theory afford it.”
Yes, without even knowing the rate yet, you should just pay it off now and save on loan interest. Since you can afford to pay cash, that’s what you should have done.
Isn’t there some number of days in which one can cancel contracts for warranties, etcetera ? Is this a Toyota Corp. Factory Warranty you purchased or an after-market plan ?
If you are being over-charged for financing then shop and find a better rate and re-finance it if you are not going to cash-out on it.
Sometimes people spend more money on a used car than a brand new car by buying a warranty and paying for financing. Some new cars come with a long warranty and Zero or close to zero-percent financing.
CSA
i do feel safe in it,
Can’t add anything that hasn’t already been said, but your “safety” statement struck me as somewhat ironic.
I used to work for a government agency in an organization that needed to be ready to deploy a team of 8 people and several hundred pounds of equipment anywhere in the U.S. on short notice. Our deployment vehicle was a Ford Excursion.
To a man we all HATED that monstrosity. Driving it felt like being perched on an 8 foot diameter beach ball. At freeway speeds there was an impending sense of imminent rollover at the slightest provocation- let some bonehead drift into your lane and you were just about guaranteed to go tumbling down the road. So it didn’t matter if it was a “big safe” vehicle, it was just plain unnerving to drive.
Ironically, I drive a Miata with performance-oriented tires and wheels and suspension. Yeah, I look up at the door handles of pretty much every other vehicle on the road, but I actually feel safer in the little roadster knowing that it can swerve and brake better than practically any other vehicle out there. I’d rather be in a little box that can avoid trouble than in a big box that’s supposed to provide me protection when trouble occurs.
You can beat yourself up over this or let it go. Why don’t you forgive yourself? You’ll like yourself a whole lot better if you do. So, while you own the FJ, think of nice things about it and don’t dwell on what you don’t like. And try this: whoever said that people are always logical? Your illogical choice is part of what makes you human. Give yourself a break, laugh about it and learn something you can use some other time. And keep the FJ for at least a year or two. Then decide if you want to get rid of it and whether you will lose money on it. Don’t include that $10,000 for whats-a-somethin-or-other, just the cost of the truck.
It’s just a matter of money…
If you make $30,000 a year, it’s the stupidest thing you ever did…
If you make $60,000, you will get over it…
If you make $100,000, it doesn’t make any difference, go buy something else…
First YOU DID NOT BUY THE WRONG CAR!.We have bought three of the FJ’s and after about 250,000 miles combined miles since 2007 purchase these cars have proven to been the best cars we have ever owned.
Simply put…They have not broken down ever! We live in an area where one needs a 4 x 4 to get home in the summer.
What has been your problem with them.
These are very practical and wonderful cars for us.
Please contact us to allow first refusal if you decide to sell?
Somehow, five months after the fact, I don’t think that the OP is still monitoring this thread.
Yeah, but chesnics1 really loves his FJ Cruiser.