Getting Crushed By My Car Payment

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. I'm currently a college student. I'm 19 years old, and my first year of college, I decided I wanted to start a business, and I started selling cologne and perfume. I made enough money for me to, well, I made enough money thinking I could buy a new car, which is what I did. Unfortunately, I fell into that. I succumbed to that, oh, I deserve it. I heard you mention in the previous video, like, no, like, just keep grinding. And I bought a new car. Right now, the car payment is about $759 per month. The insurance is $180. And then my phone bill. So my every month expense is $1,011. I'm currently in the space where I'm trying to figure out whether I should continuously pay this. or voluntarily give the car up. I did complete Baby Step 1. I use the car every day for DoorDash and landscaping, and I also still do my perfume business here in college. But it's causing a lot of stress because I have that feeling where I have to work every single day on top of school. I'm a full-time college student, so it's a little bit stressful, and I'm trying to figure out whether I should continue down this road or pivot now and pursue something else. Yeah, so dude. Hey, I'm so glad you're recognizing this at 19. I didn't recognize this until I was way older than you. So you're ahead of the game, just knowing like, oh, I don't ever want to be in this situation again. And stress is real, man. I've made dumb car purchases too, so I'm right here with you. What's the car worth? I took it to a dealership. They overcharged me about $5,000 on the car because I was young and moving fast. So he said. Uh, I'm about $5,000 in negative equity. He said they were willing to give me about $20,000 for the car. Is this the same dealership you bought it from? No, this was a, uh, same, uh, Honda, but not the same dealership though. So if you, if you're, if, if a dealer is telling you you're five under, my guess is you could walk, you could sell it on Facebook marketplace and basically walk Have you looked up the private party value? Because the dealerships are going to lowball you every time because they've got to make their profit. So if you go to Kelley Blue Book and look at personal sale, and you're a hustler, you know how to sell, dude. That's what you do for a living, so you're good at this. I can almost guarantee you, if they're just telling you you're five under, you can get real close, if not even, Stephen, get somebody to buy this car from you, take it off your hands. You take care of it. I know you do. And you can walk away, man. Okay. So you said Kelley Blue Book. I haven't heard of that. KBB.com. It's basically the one publication that everyone goes to for the price of a used car, a new car. And it's got a little meter on it that says what kind of condition is the car in. And it has a dealer trade-in value, a dealer for sale value, but also has a private sale value. And that's the one you want, because you're going to get more for it, but it's also more hassle, because you've got to sell it yourself instead of just dropping it off at the dealership. But your best way out of this is not a repo, whether it's voluntary or involuntary, because here's what happens, Alonzo. Now, when your car's acting up, you deserve to feel confident that it's going to get fixed right. With Christian Brothers Automotive's digital vehicle inspections, you see exactly what their technicians see. So you get the honest info on what you actually need. And every repair is backed by their Nice Difference Warranty. That's three years or 36,000 miles, whichever benefits you the most. So schedule service today and get 10% off at cbac.com slash Ramsey. Or just click the link in the description. 10% off, up to a $250 value. See store for details. They're not just going to get you out of the loan. You're going to be on the hook for the difference. It's called a deficiency balance. They're going to go sell that car at auction for $10,000, and you're still going to be on the hook for the other $10,000. So it doesn't actually solve your problems. What would solve it is coming up with the difference. So whether that's your savings or even a personal loan from a credit union, if you can come up with the difference to clear the title and get rid of that car, that'll free up that payment, the insurance, and get you breathing again. If you listen to the show very much or seen our videos, you know that one of our main reasons for existing is helping people get out of debt. But I'm okay if you go down to a local credit union and show them how hard you're working. Can all this end? Let's say you are able to find a buyer for $24,000 and you owe $25,000 for getting a small loan for $1,000, the difference. Plus $3,000 so you can buy yourself, dude, just an embarrassing sophomore in college car to get you to and from and always worried it's going to break down on you. And now you've got $4,000 to pay off and you can hustle up some business because you don't mind grinding. You can do that and be out of this thing in no time. Could you get by without a car for now? Definitely. Oh, cool. That's even better. I definitely can. I do use it. Like, I don't really use it for personal use. You're using it to make money, to pay the payment. Exactly. Which is insane as it sounds, right? Who's the lender? Who do you owe the loan to? So I owe the loan to the executor. Okay. Now, I want to ask a question, because I know you said to sell it. So I put about 22,000 miles on it, and I just got it last year. That's great. That's nothing. Okay. I mean, that's basically a new car. That's great, man. And it's a Honda, you said? It's a Honda. I made sure to get, you know, oil change and everything. Oh, man. Yeah, a Honda with 22,000 miles is a brand-new Honda. That car's going to last somebody for a decade. And great resale value on those cars. Great resale value. So you got this, man. You got the work ethic. Please don't let it repo. Keep making the payments. Keep up with the payments no matter what it takes. But the goal is come up with the difference that's owed, and then you can sell this thing outright. Go to kbb.com. And, Alonzo, can we make a commitment together? Yes, definitely. Like, I hear promise in you, okay? I don't know a lot of 19-year-olds that are going to school full-time and also working multiple side hustles. And the stress you feel opening your eyes before you feed yourself, before you clothe yourself, you owe the world a thousand plus bucks a month, right? That's stress. Let's make a commitment now. You're too valuable to the world that my kids are inheriting, okay? I need guys like you out there grinding, pushing, and changing the world for the better. Make a commitment now. I will never be owned by somebody else again. I'm never going to borrow money again. I would never be on, I'm writing this down, but I would never, ever, ever in this world be owned by somebody else. There you go. Because essentially, like you said, it's not about the money. It's about the time. That's it. And the peace, man. You're 19. And I know this isn't cool to say, I want you to enjoy college too, right? Exactly right. I want you to be able to go on a date and not be having to work seven jobs to pay for the car that just gets you more jobs, right? Exactly. Yeah, get on KBB. Get that thing sold, man. And if you have to borrow a tiny amount of money from a local credit union to cover the difference between what you owe and what they're going to pay you, great. And get that thing paid off ASAP and you be in the control of your life for the rest of your life. It's good. It's an honor to talk to you, brother. I appreciate you guys much, and please keep doing what you guys are doing, and I'll be probably listening to the show later on today. That's all I'm asking. Can I also ask, who's buying perfume? I'm just most impressed that you're able to sell perfume and cologne in 2026, man-to-man. Dude, he's on a college campus. Those guys smell terrible. They don't bathe. It's the best place on earth. I came down here and struck a gold mine. Yes! It's about how you pitch it to the people. Do you buy it wholesale, and then it's just sitting in the trunk of your car? Or do you make it in your bathtub? You know what's so crazy? I have a strategic method of marketing. So I have like a bandana. It looks like an army of bullets, but it's not. People get confused all the time. And they be like, bro, what is that on your chest? And that's how I get them most of the time. I walk around with like a... Oh, you got like a visual cue that gets them talking, and now you got a conversation Dude, you're going to crush in sales, Alonzo. I don't know what you're in school for, but you may want to just drop out and go full-time sales. Go sales, man. You got it. And, yeah, George, few places where you're going to find more people in one area that don't bathe regularly than in a dude's dorm. Desperately looking for a date. Yes. Now Alonzo's smelling good over here. They're going, what are you wearing, dude? Exactly. Well, and they're ready to move away from Axe Body Spray or whatever to... Cologne. That's what's up. What's your favorite, Alonzo, before we go? Give us your best cologne right now. What's the one that's in? The best cologne is Kenneth Cole Black. All right. You can never go wrong. Listen, that's from a cool guy, John. So now I know what to go buy. Here's what's so funny. I can almost guarantee between breaks, George is going to be online buying Kenneth Cole Black. Your boy's going to be Googling. I might buy from Alonzo at this point. I feel like he deserves the sale. Way to go, man. You got this. Call us back if you need anything else. Create your free every dollar budget today. The simplest way to budget for your life.