# Need advice about purchasing car **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [May 21, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290 "2008-05-21T16:29:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![localdigit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8edcca/32.png) [@localdigit](https://community.cartalk.com/u/localdigit)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290/1 "2008-05-21T16:29:19Z")
I have a 99 Toyota Camry LE 131K, and still owe $6800. If I had 10K available for a car and wanted to get off from under the loan, should I pay off this car or trade it in or any other piece of advise? ---
**Author:** ![mr\_josh](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mr_josh/32/3008_2.png) [@mr\_josh](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mr_josh)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290/2 "2008-05-21T16:37:04Z")
Pay it off, save up your money, buy another car. That is a LOT of money to owe on a 9 year old Camry. ---
**Author:** ![localdigit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8edcca/32.png) [@localdigit](https://community.cartalk.com/u/localdigit)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290/3 "2008-05-21T16:40:38Z")
Thank you for your answer. Part of the problem with the high balance is that my prior car got totalled after 1 month at no fault of my own and I had to fight the insurance company to pay off the loan. So when I bought this Camry two years ago, I put GAP and trasmission coverage. I think I won’t do this again on any car. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290/4 "2008-05-21T17:23:19Z")
I’d pay it off and keep it. Is there anything wrong with it? Save the $3200 and put your current car payment into a savings account for your next car. In 3 years you will have over $10,000 available for the new car - without a loan. ---
**Author:** ![Jeremy\_R\_Hoyt](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jeremy_r_hoyt/32/37_2.png) [@Jeremy\_R\_Hoyt](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Jeremy_R_Hoyt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290/5 "2008-05-21T18:41:26Z")
Your Camry should have at least another 69,000 trouble-free miles left on it. I would not get a new car until this one has at least 200,000 miles and is paid off. Buying a new car and driving it for 200,000 miles instead of trading it in at 100,000 miles saves you approximately $30,000 in interest payments and new car premium. Once the car is paid off, I suggest you keep making car payments but put them into a savings account so you will have a downpayment when the Camry finally dies. ---
**Author:** ![Docnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Docnick](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Docnick)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290/6 "2008-05-21T18:51:42Z")
Agree; if the Camry is reliable, pay it off and drive it till it’s virtually used up; that’s about 250,000 miles for a Camry. Any newer car you buy will be more complex, but not more reliable. As mentioned, buy another car when you actually need one and by then you will have enough cash saved up so you don’t need to borrow anything. ---
**Author:** ![Beadsandbeads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@Beadsandbeads](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Beadsandbeads)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290/7 "2008-05-21T20:46:04Z")
Keep it for all the reasons given above. In addition, your insurance will be higher with a newer car. ---
**Author:** ![SteveF](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/stevef/32/2_2.png) [@SteveF](https://community.cartalk.com/u/SteveF)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290/8 "2008-05-21T21:00:11Z")
There is one and only one way to “get off from under the loan” and that is to pay $6800 to the lender. Even if you make a trade and a dealer claims he will pay off any remaining loans, he simply adds the $6800 to the new car price and you are still making payments on this amount for many years. So if you have the cash, use it to pay the balance of the loan. Do this tomorrow. As for wanting another car, no, no, NO! Not until you have cleared your debt on the Camry. Pay the existing loan and then review your situation. ---
**Author:** ![localdigit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8edcca/32.png) [@localdigit](https://community.cartalk.com/u/localdigit)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 6:32am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290/9 "2008-05-22T06:32:56Z")
Thank you to all who replied. You helped me immensely. ---
**Author:** ![jenn1975](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@jenn1975](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jenn1975)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290/10 "2008-05-28T15:02:32Z")
Keep the camry!! I made the mistake of trading my 97 camry in after i paid off a $10,000 loan i had on it:-( I traded it in for a fairly new 1 owner vehicle with 40,000miles on it. My camry had over 250,000 mile on it and still ran great.If you do the regular maintenance to it,it will last atleast 300,000 like a friend of mine has on his 97 camry.If you get another car, you may end up with junk. ---
**Author:** ![oldschool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e19adc/32.png) [@oldschool](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldschool)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290/11 "2008-05-28T19:37:26Z")
Is the only parameter to guide your decision a financial one? Do you like the car? Does it fit you current and forseeable future needs? Maybe your family gets bigger. Is the avialibility of more modern safety and comfort features any value to you. Do you like the idea of driving a vehicle with low miles attractive to you? How comfortable are you with a road trip with this car? Maybe a car with the features I have mentioned is out of you budjet but not all decisions are finiancial ---
**Author:** ![Craig58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3da27b/32.png) [@Craig58](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Craig58)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-advice-about-purchasing-car/14290/12 "2008-05-29T00:44:14Z")
Personally, I would pay of the loan (and any other debt) and put what’s left into an account to replace the car when it eventually dies, also put an equivalent of your current car payment in the fund. That way you can pay cash for the next car.