Joined the Navy - To keep or sell the car

[TootsieRoll7]

Hi all, I got my car on November 2011. Since then, I've done a added a few mods to it. As of Tuesday, I am now officially part of the U.S. Navy. I will ship out for Boot Camp in May 2013. I will also be Navy school for almost 2 years then serve in fleet for another 4 years with 30% of time on shore (may or may not be on US soil). I am currently still owe about $18k on the car. I am considering continue paying for it and have my family take it out once a week for 20 miles groceries trip. It'll be nice to not have to deal with car payments once I leave service. What are your take on this? Thank you in advance

[SuperchargedMR2]

Tim, you joined the Navy? Congrats, and thanks for your service. If they can take care of it for you you could easily have it paid off & enjoy it down the road. It would be hard to get $18k for it. You could leave it with me & I would drive it for you once a month! I'll miss you when you are gone as one of our Corolla locals!

[rpw00mirage]

[dschwarz]

First off, congratulations and thank you.

If you think there's a good chance you won't need the car for 6 years, I'd say sell it for the best deal you can get, and buy a car when you return. If you keep the car you will be paying car payments plus insurance plus whatever minimal maintenance is required. The car will be in overall good condition when you return but may need a new battery, some hoses and belts may have started to dry rot, and the tires will be at end-of-life due to their age. Figure $600 for quality new tires, ALL fluids changed, new battery, plus miscellaneous belt and hose replacement. Also during this time your car will have fully depreciated and won't be worth much on the used car market. You'll only make your money back if you drive the car for another 10 years, until the wheels fall off.

If you sell the car and you don't want to make car payments, simply set aside a car payment a month in a bank account. Earn some interest,and by the time you return, you'll be able to buy that new car for cash.

Good luck!

[acr_vp]

I'd sell it promptly and bank every penny you can while you're in service, even if you have to take a loss on it. Once you're out you'll have enough for a down payment on a house and/or whatever car floats your boat (pun not intended) when you get out.

Think of it this way, purely financially... If you don't sell it you will be making payments and paying interest on it, and when you pay it off you'll probably have spent at least $20k out of pocket. I'm guessing you'll also keep it insured as well, so that's an additional cost. At the end of all that you'll have a car that's 6 to 7 years old, worth a fraction of what you paid for it, while barely being able to enjoy it while it was sitting depreciating.

When you get out in 4 or 5 years, the new Corolla will have been long out, if you wanted another 10th gen I'm sure you could find a low miles, well maintained one for under $7k easy. Sell it before you are in service, you'll thank me later.

[LeanBurn]

I would sell it without a second thought. It is unused & unrealized equity tied up for the duration that is depreciating, while instead you could bank the funds and get those funds increasing for you.


Plus in 4-6 years the car market could and probably will be much different, where much better choices in both power and economy will be available.

[cabur]

+1 to all above.
I'd sell it. Save up your payments. In 6 years a lot would've changed. Even your requirements.

[bazingax3]

I agree with all the above. If you're paying for a new car, enjoy it while its... new. So get what you can and save like crazy for the next 6 years.

[TootsieRoll7]

Thank you everyone for your response. It makes a lot of sense to sell the car. Just looked up the car on KBB and it's worth 12k-14k (Trade in - private party). I am going to try to sell it with all of the mods to get more money out of it. Here are what i have installed. How much more do you think I can get vs selling them separately?

- Eibach springs
- HID projector retrofitted
- Homelink w/ auto dim & compass rear view mirror
- TC special edition 18" wheels (super 7)
- Weapon R throttle controller
- TWM short shifter
- Stainless steel custom shift knob
- My own LED - Corolla door sills
- Complete 4-6 snowboards / ski roof rack
- Intermittent wiper
- TRD rear sway

I think that's all. If I decided to part the car I'll post these on here. Again, thank you everyone for your responses

[bazingax3]

Originally Posted by TootsieRoll7

Thank you everyone for your response. It makes a lot of sense to sell the car. Just looked up the car on KBB and it's worth 12k-14k (Trade in - private party). I am going to try to sell it with all of the mods to get more money out of it. Here are what i have installed. How much more do you think I can get vs selling them separately?

- Eibach springs
- HID projector retrofitted
- Homelink w/ auto dim & compass rear view mirror
- TC special edition 18" wheels (super 7)
- Weapon R throttle controller
- TWM short shifter
- Stainless steel custom shift knob
- My own LED - Corolla door sills
- Complete 4-6 snowboards / ski roof rack
- Intermittent wiper
- TRD rear sway

I think that's all. If I decided to part the car I'll post these on here. Again, thank you everyone for your responses

I wouldn't expect a private party (depends on who it is) to say every one of those adds value. To some, it may. I have no experience with what it will do.

Now, can we see a quick pic of these door sills? Or are they around here somewhere?

[TootsieRoll7]

DIY - LED OEM Doorsills connected to door switch circuit

[bazingax3]

Sweet thanks!

[emptyminded42]

Originally Posted by TootsieRoll7

Thank you everyone for your response. It makes a lot of sense to sell the car. Just looked up the car on KBB and it's worth 12k-14k (Trade in - private party). I am going to try to sell it with all of the mods to get more money out of it. Here are what i have installed. How much more do you think I can get vs selling them separately?

- Eibach springs
- HID projector retrofitted
- Homelink w/ auto dim & compass rear view mirror
- TC special edition 18" wheels (super 7)
- Weapon R throttle controller
- TWM short shifter
- Stainless steel custom shift knob
- My own LED - Corolla door sills
- Complete 4-6 snowboards / ski roof rack
- Intermittent wiper
- TRD rear sway

I think that's all. If I decided to part the car I'll post these on here. Again, thank you everyone for your responses

Thank you for serving - my best friend is active Army over at a FOB in Afghanistan. I hope you and he come back healthy!

I agree with the above - don't pay interest on a depreciating asset especially if you aren't using it. Save the money you make while active and throw down for a house and/or car when you return.

coughcoughpartitoutIwanttheintermittentwipercoughc ough

[SuperchargedMR2]

Originally Posted by TootsieRoll7

Thank you everyone for your response. It makes a lot of sense to sell the car. Just looked up the car on KBB and it's worth 12k-14k (Trade in - private party). I am going to try to sell it with all of the mods to get more money out of it. Here are what i have installed. How much more do you think I can get vs selling them separately?

- Eibach springs
- HID projector retrofitted
- Homelink w/ auto dim & compass rear view mirror
- TC special edition 18" wheels (super 7)
- Weapon R throttle controller
- TWM short shifter
- Stainless steel custom shift knob
- My own LED - Corolla door sills
- Complete 4-6 snowboards / ski roof rack
- Intermittent wiper
- TRD rear sway

I think that's all. If I decided to part the car I'll post these on here. Again, thank you everyone for your responses

I think that you would get much more by selling these parts on their own & putting the stock parts back on. The car isn't worth any more with these mods & many people will think the car is worth less. You could leave the int wiper on, door sills, rear view mirror if you didn't want to screw with those.

That price seems to be a little low for your car, are you sure you did that correctly? What condition is that? Isn't you car in the VG to excellent range?

[PhatRoyale]

Part the car out and sell it stock. You'll get more money that way.

Most regular Corolla buyers would not like the idea of it being modified.