I Tried to Sell the Car

Poor people aren't stupid, they are lacking in financial security.  There is a difference.  Its not always bad decisions that lead to financial insecurity, sometimes, bad things happen, and cannot be avoided.

I went to try to sell the car today.  We've been talking about it, since we know we have equity, and if someone gave us the minimum of what is worth, then we'd be able to buy a different, cheaper car without payments.  I was honest and up front about why I wanted to sell my car, and preferably trade down for something else.  I clomped around the car dealership looking for cars that the saleswoman couldn't find.  I waited as she looked for keys to cars that apparently weren't even on the lot.

But let me back up.  Before I took this step, I looked at all the major appraising sites to figure out about how much the car is worth.  I knew that I would be lowballed on value, so I wanted to be prepared.  I knew what number I was looking for.  I know what the car is worth.

Back to the dealership, where the saleswoman talked to the trade-in guy, who then test drove the car, and looked it over.  With all the information of the vehicle available he came back with a greasy smile on his face, telling me that the good news is that I'm not upside-down in the car.  I started with surprise.  I told him I knew I wasn't upside-down and that I have equity.  He told me I was right and that he could offer me $2500 more than we currently owe on the car.  I told him that was much too low.  I had looked at the appraising sites before coming.  I was sure the car was worth well more than $6000 over what we owe.  Oh no, I was wrong, that's if I were to sell private party.  I pointed out private party made the car $8000 more, according to the sites.  He insisted that I was mistaken.

I left.

I'm not stupid.

I know what the car is worth.  I was hoping to avoid extra taxes and maybe just have something go easy for once since my life became one big mess.

This is our only car.  When we bought it, I negotiated a very good deal, and the payments weren't prohibitive since we had a good income with the promise that everything would only get better.  Had we known that we wouldn't be able to afford the car at any point, we wouldn't have bought it.  But the world was full of promise just three short years ago.

And now its not.