The Ramsey Show - App - DAVE RANT: Voluntary Repo - A New Car is Not a Human Right (Hour 3)

Episode Date: March 6, 2020

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thanks for joining us.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. All right, up next is going to be, starting off this hour, that is Elijah in Tennessee. Hey, Elijah, how are you? Hey, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Big time fan. Thank you. How can I help? Yes, sir. So I'm calling in regards to a younger sibling of mine. She lives out of state and she is in a financial disaster. The last few years have been pretty tough for both of us. We lost our dad kind of unexpectedly. And then kind of after that, she went through a divorce and is

really kind of just flailing out of control. And my wife and I both have great jobs. We'll be almost entirely debt-free in the next few months, and we're trying to be a good example for her. But she stonewalls us, really won't give us any kind of way to help her out or kind of give her guidance. And in the meantime, she's kind of taking advantage of my mom and other people that live around her. And it just becomes kind of like a vortex and, and, uh, you know, to take advantage of them, uh, for whatever reason. So I'm just trying to

find out a way, you know, how can I get through to her and really, you know, help her out here and really show her, you know, this is not a healthy path for her and, uh, and kind of rise above all of that. Where does she live? Uh, this is in Kansas. Okay. How often are you up there? At least a couple times a year. Well, it sounds like that her out-of-control craziness is being financed. So why would she have a reason to stop it? Yeah, I've talked to my mom about that, you know, to introduce her to the word that you say, no, all the time, and to really stop enabling her. So I've gone through to my mom.

But in terms of other people, I think they're finally coming around to you. And I think she's kind of used this emotional distress as a way to help people. It's very real to her. She's hurting, and everyone should help her. That's where her mind is working. It's very real to her because she is hurting. It's just how she's reacting to the pain that's the question, right?

Right. I know she makes great money. What's great money? What does she make? For her case, she probably makes around $60 to $70 a year. She has kids? Yes. How many? She has two.

Okay. All right. Well, you know, the problem is you cannot, crazy and stupid are not illegal. And so you cannot make people do stuff and it's just it's and i think one of the most painful things as an adult is to watch adult people that you love do things and you can't stop them from doing it like your grown kids are in stupid zone or your you know your brother or your sister in your case is in the stupid zone and uh it's just painful to watch them because you can't stop them uh and so one of the things that happens though is sometimes you use your brother voice on her rather than your friend voice

and so i i've discovered in the few times that it does work, and it doesn't often work, because she really does not want your advice. That's correct. It's very much become apparent to me. Yeah, and so, you know, there's not any, you know, those, my grandmother used to say, those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still. That's why arguing with me on the air is a short call because I'm not here to argue with you. I already know what the correct path is.

It's what I do. It's all I do. I can't help you with brain surgery, but I can help you with your money. And so I'm not going to argue with you here on the air about it because I'm right and you're wrong. So I'll just move on. Okay, so my grandmother used to say those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still. So I don't spend a lot of my energy in my personal life or here on the air trying to

talk people into doing stuff that don't want to do stuff. People that kind of want it, they need help and want help, I'll help you all day. But I'm not going to just walk up to you and go, that's stupid. A friend of mine leased a car the other day and he brought it over to my house to show it to me. Now, that was an interesting transaction, you know, because obviously I tell people leasing cars is stupid. He knows that. And so what was what am I supposed to do? Well, I just said, I love your new car. It's awesome. He really wasn't asking my opinion about leasing a car. He'd already decided what he was going to do.

He was going to be stupid. And so I'm just going, you got you a nice car. I'm happy for you. Good luck with that. You know, hope it works out. It's not going to, but I hope it works out. And so this is what's in my inner head, right? So my point of all of this is that the only times I have had, if I remember that I don't have any family connection, if I act like with family members I don't have family connection, and I treat them like an acquaintance that I need to convince,

that keeps me from using my dad voice or my brother voice or my whatever voice right my family voice instead i'm like i'm sitting down going sweet girl you just can't do this you know i mean this is not and and if you if you don't come off like her brother but instead one of her buddies that you're sitting with and someone that she cares about and respects but but and you just go i'm concerned about you i love you and someone that she cares about and respects. But, but, and you just go, I'm concerned about you. I love you. And this is not working for you. And, you know, I've convinced mom to not let you drain her dry.

And you've really need to address this. I know you're scared. I know you're out of control. I know you're flailing. I can watch you do it. And it hurts me to watch you do it. How can I help you? Because I think I could show you some of this stuff, but I know you don't want to listen

to me. And how can I, you know, and you just, but, but it's really difficult. It's really difficult because she's, what it is is she's hurting from all that she's been through and the different things and she's just not thinking and she doesn't want anybody to address the fact that she's not thinking. And I, it's, she may have to get into some pain before she's ready for some help some financial pain yeah that's uh that's kind of what my mom and i addressed that um that's really going to be the rude awakening for the 12 steppers say when you've got like an addiction problem

misbehavior that you have to hit bottom before you listen that's what the 12 steppers say and it's kind of the same thing now you can And there's a high bottom and a low bottom. I mean, you can hit bottom by just going, I'm just disgusted. Or you could lose everything, your job, your family, everything, before you hit bottom. And that's like a real low bottom, right? But what it amounts to is you have to come to yourself. Remember the story of the prodigal son. He took all the money, blew all the money,

and he's laying in a pig pen, right? And the Bible says he came to himself. Like, he had bought them. He realized, hey, this ain't working, you know? I need to change something. And they have to come, people have to come to that usually before they'll listen. I wish I could give you, like, the perfect little formula that you could just go over and sit down and go, this dude, say these three things, and she will magically grow a brain.

But she's not going to. You know, it's just she's hurting. And just love her right where she is. And, you know, what I would do is I'd just lay out an offer and just go, when you're ready, I'm here. When you are ready for some help, when you're ready to get control, when you're ready to be a grown-up, I can show you how. I'm here. When you are ready for some help, when you're ready to get control, when you're ready to be a grown-up, I can show you how. I'm here. I'd love, I'll fly up there and sit down and help you do your budget. When you're ready, I'm here.

That's the minimum you need to do. Hey, thanks for caring about your sister. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Listen, there are some basic things that you should be doing to take care of your family. A roof over their head, food to eat, even if it's rice and beans, a car to get you from A to B, and term life insurance. Term life insurance is an immediate need no matter where you are in the baby steps since your family is at no greater risk than when you're in debt. That's why I tell you to get 10 to 12 times your income in coverage to replace those lost dollars

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or call 800-356-4282 please please get this done it is an absolute necessity picture for a second that you're riding a bicycle up a hill i grew up in tennessee in our neighborhood there was a hill you had to go up to go to go to college to go to go to school if you're riding your bike to school i wasn't college it was elementary school, and little bitty weak legs and you can't get your bike up the hill, what do you do? Well, you could walk it up, right? But in Tennessee, you learn to do switchbacks. You go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and you gradually work your way up the hill and you keep the bike moving. And it's like hustle and grind, hustle and grind, hustle and grind. Now, I'm not really talking about bikes. I'm talking about money. With your investments, it's the same way. You back and forth back and forth back and forth you keep

putting money in you keep pumping you keep pedaling you keep up you don't get out you don't quit and all of a sudden when you get to the top of the hill with your investments we call that the pinnacle point and that's when you put your feet up on the handlebars and you can hear the baseball cards in the spokes of your bike and i had those little streamers you remember those little streamers and then the handlebars and you're riding downhill and the wind is blowing through your hair that's back when i had hair so the pinnacle point is you've worked and worked and worked and worked and worked and now you get to take the ride back down the hill or down the hill the other direction. That's when your investments are big enough that they are making more money than you make.

When you have a lump sum nest egg so large that it creates more money annually as a return than you create at your job, that's the pinnacle point. Now, for some of you, that could be several million dollars. For some of you, it could be a million dollars. For some of you, it could be less. But that's when your money is making you more money than you are making you. Now, that's a nice goal. That's a good one to reach for. The pinnacle point. Look for that one. If you need some help figuring all this stuff out,

we know that the typical millionaire in America, based on the largest study of millionaires ever done that we did, the typical millionaire uses an investment professional. They sit down with someone not to make their decisions for them, but to give them options and teach them with the heart of a teacher. And that's why we have a group of folks we recommend. They don't work for us. They pay us endorsement fees. We endorse them. They're called SmartVestor Pros. And you click SmartVestor at DaveRamsey.com.

It'll drop down. Fill in your information. It'll drop down a list of the SmartVestor Pros in your area, and you can pick out the one that you want to work with and sit down. And they should have the heart of a teacher, and you're aligned with them on value system and that kind of thing, and you're ready to go. That changes everything, you guys.

You need to do that so my producer james sent me this article today that is really disturbing it's in the wall street journal dealerships give car buyers advice stop paying your loan and just buy a car and repo your current car. Now that's such a dumb idea that I can't believe that people are actually doing it. But they are apparently. The trade-in is where the buyer, this is from the Wall Street Journal, where a buyer hands a car back to the dealership and uses it as credit towards another one is often a crucial step in car buying. But some dealerships are instead telling buyers to give their old cars back to the lender,

a voluntary repossession, and then sell them a new car in a practice known as kicking the trade. Never heard that phrase, kicking the trade. It's difficult to estimate how much, how often this happens. Auto sales veterans say the practice is an open secret in some showrooms. Broadly, vehicles are getting more expensive and Americans are struggling to afford them. Dealerships now make more money arranging financing than selling vehicles, which has been true for 25 years. If the car loan goes bad, it typically isn't the dealership that's on the hook. It is the borrower and the lender. Consumer lawyers say they have seen more of such cases. Five years ago, it happened two or three times a year, says Daniel Blinn, a Connecticut

based attorney who has sued dealerships and auto dealers. Now we're hearing about it once a month, not twice a year. Problems often begin when the consumers who buy cars they can't afford or sign loans they don't understand. Dealerships compound the trouble. So here's the deal, in other words. These unethical dealerships are suggesting to someone, well, we really don't want to take your trade in. Just quit paying the payments on it.

Call your lender and tell them to come get it. That's a repossession. That's a voluntary repossession. Now, if they don't want to take your trade in, it's because you're upside down on the car, meaning you owe more on it than it's worth. Okay, so you owe $22,000 on a car that's worth $17,000. You're $5,000 in the hole. That would be a normal transaction. And this unethical dealership suggests to you that instead of covering the $5,000, the $22,000 that you owe or the $5,000 that you're short, were you to trade it in or sell it?

Instead of doing that, just don't pay the payments anymore and get repoed. Well, obviously, there's a moral component. You signed a piece of paper that said you were going to pay car payments and you didn't pay them. That's a moral component. There's a legal component. You're going to get your butt sued. There's a credit component, and that is you've destroyed your credit. Of course, they sell you a car before the repo actually occurs

and before your credit drops. And so this is someone oftentimes that could be current on their car and instead of just working a traditional trade-in maybe going further in the hole which would be a bad deal too but instead of doing that they do a voluntary repossession well let me tell you what happens when you owe twenty two thousand dollars on a car worth 17 and you get it repoed they don't sell the car for $17,000. You can't get retail or private sale for a car at a repo lot. They auction at a repo auction. So what does a $17,000 car bring at a repo auction? $8,000 or $10,000. Okay, so instead of now owing $5,000 difference, when they come after you for

the difference, because they will sue you for the deficit, the deficit is now $12,000, $14,000 instead of $5,000. And you destroyed your credit. All so you could get another car. Wow. Really stupid on your part. Unbelievably crooked, unethical, horrible. Get sued for it by the dealerships. So this is what happens when things get out of control.

Of course, anytime someone's writing an article placed like the Wall Street Journal, they have to say, well, cars are so expensive people can't afford them. Not really. New cars are so expensive that you can't afford them if you're a broke person, which has always been the case, by the way. Broke people have never been able to afford things. They're broke people. When I was broke people, I couldn't afford a new car. I've been broke people.

I know what broke people looks like. You can't afford a dadgum car. What's happened in the U.S. is not that cars have gone up so much that people can't afford a nice car. What's happened is that we've raised a whole generation or three of children who refuse to grow up and refuse to tell themselves no. And so they go buy cars they can't afford. And then when I want another car and someone says buy cars they can't afford and then when i want another car and someone says i still can't afford it and a matter of fact i don't even want your trade in we say me and you throw a fit like a little baby child on the cereal aisle who's spoiled rotten

and can't get a box of cereal like you're freaking four years old you're red-faced and you have your little fists balled up and you stomp your little foot and i'm entitled to a new car because i breathe air and i'm an american you're not entitled to nothing you're broke you're entitled what you've saved up the money and got the money for that's all you're entitled to driving a new car is not a human right that's dumber than crap and people act like it is. You know, Americans just can't afford a new car. Americans have never been able to afford a new car, except the ones that had money. And all we've done is finance people into stuff that they can't afford. The average car payment in America right now, according to Experian, is $554 over 84 months.

That's the average car payment in America today. Which some of you are sitting on $700 car payments and you feel like superior right now. No, you ought to feel more dumb, more stupid than the $554. And if you think you're superior because you got 354, no, you're still stupid. You have a car payment. Get rid of the car payment. Pay cash for things. That way you'll have some money.

This is really not rocket science, you guys. Don't let some crooked dealership talk you into a voluntary repo. Oh, my goodness. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I love talking about companies that know how to do business right. You've heard of Grip6 belts, right? Well, if you haven't, it's the only belt you can get online with no holes, no flap, and no bulk. I'm talking weightless.

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Check out this month's special offers from my listeners at Grip6.com. Stormy is with us in South Carolina. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Stormy is with us in South Carolina. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Stormy. Hey, Dave. It's an honor to talk to you. You too. What's up? So I was hoping that you could settle a dispute between me and my husband.

We started FTU a couple weeks ago, so we're really just now about a month into our budget. I've been listening to you for a few months and finally got him on the bandwagon. So we're trying to go. And now I kind of feel like he might be a little bit more headstrong about this than I am. So to make a long story short, we have a son and we ended up winning a lottery drawing at the White House for the Easter egg roll, which is the day after Easter. And so my thought was that before I started your program, I used to have a separate, well, I still have a separate account that money went into every month to save for Christmas. Essentially, it was just a Christmas account. And so when we started your program, it's got basically the amount that we need for the trip. And so I told him that I felt

like this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that, you know, maybe we should take the money out of that account and go on the trip and then use and budget now add to our budget for Christmas. And he thinks that, nope, we need to keep on our baby steps and keep going. And so I feel like I agree with him, but I also feel like this is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I just don't know what to do. What is an Easter egg roll? We got invited to the White House with our son. How old is your son?

He's seven. Okay. And so he'll go and roll the Easter egg on the White House lawn, and I think it's kind of like a race, I think, to see who rolls their Easter eggs the fastest. Oh, I got it. But it's just an opportunity. Okay. And so obviously I wanted to do lots of educational stuff while we were there.

And so I found flights and hotel for a thousand dollars today. And so I was, and then I budgeted maybe another thousand for food and transportation and museums, which is just about the amount I have in there for Christmas for next year. And how are you going to pay for Christmas? Budget it for the rest of the year. Okay. So two grand. Yes.

Your household income is what? $200, a little over. Okay. Well, there's zero mathematical mathematical impact. Right. In ratio to your income. It's more the emotional thing of and the relational thing of. You know, it's slippery slope once you get off the baby steps and once you decide you're going to just start doing Ramsey-ish, right, then you're going to, you know, where are you going to go from there? So what Sharon and I probably would do in this situation back in the day, we weren't making 200K when we were trying to do this stuff, but would be we would say if we're going to do this we have to cut something else that we weren't going to cut um like this is going to be

a lot of our christmas we're just going to do it at easter right so christmas is not gonna it's not it's not gonna not happen it's going to, this is Christmas present. Right. So you're not going to get a big Christmas present. You're going to get a small Christmas present or something like that. Something else we had because we had to learn that we can't just do everything we want to do because you can rationalize the crap out of anything. Right. You know, and part of what you're saying is accurate

yeah it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing but part of it is so what you know that's what he would say it doesn't really change your kid's life you know he probably he may not even remember it you know um you will uh and and it is a you know not not many people get to do this that's a funny thing but you know how many of us never saw um i mean i got a friend of mine's going to new york city next week's first time he's ever seen new york city he's 40 years old so he lived through it he didn't need counseling because of that you know so um you know your kid's gonna be okay is the point it's just like that's kind of a nice thing 200 grand two grand out of 200 grand is not that big a deal um it's really not but you really

need to somehow we had to stop ourselves from just buying crap you know and so you gotta somehow it's so good that you two are arguing about it in other words yeah i wanted to say thank you because we did not communicate before nearly as much money period the fact that this irrelevant amount of the fact that this irrelevant amount of money out of 200k is causing you guys stress is really good because that means you're dealing with the people in your mirrors. You know what I'm saying? And so I wouldn't not do the deal because of $2,000 out of $200,000. That's fine.

It's not going to keep you from hitting your financial goals, okay? It's not like you make $20,000 a year and you're spending $10,000 to go on a cruise, okay? I would just tell you you're insane and don't do that. Okay, but this is a small one. It's like most people buying a biscuit, right? I mean, it doesn't even show up. But what you do need to deal with is all the different things that makes you able to do this emotionally. And you need to deal with the conflict.

If you got all of that, if you get what you're supposed to get out of this discussion then i probably would go but if you're just like well i just want to go and i'm going then i would go well that you're destined for financial hell then right because you're going to you're going to rationalize yourself into everything for the rest of your life and you're never going to break the curse off your family right you know that kind of thing you see what i'm saying so the emotional part of this and the the the the arguing with yourself part of this and arguing with your husband part of this is the value here that's where the value is it's not the money so if you can get the value out of this conflict then i probably would go okay is that logical to you understand what i'm saying yes very okay absolutely cool hey thank you for calling it's a good discussion open phones at Okay. Is that logical to you? You understand what I'm saying? Yes, very. Okay.

Cool. Hey, thank you for calling. It's a good discussion. Open phones at 888-825-5225. It's like my guys, you know, I've got a social media team, and I don't hang out on Twitter anymore. It's just full of trolls. I look at my Instagram. I glance at Twitter occasionally.

I look at Instagram. I've got 2 million people on Instagram. I see what we're putting. I put some stuff on Instagram. I used to tweet every day. I used to be on Twitter back when Twitter was cool, but Twitter's just not cool anymore. It's just full of trolls. And so I don't fool with anymore. But we tweeted the other day and posted, I think, on Instagram, too, something I say all the time. You shouldn't see the inside of a restaurant. If you're getting out of the time you shouldn't see the inside of a restaurant if you're getting out of debt you shouldn't see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there

well somehow that got on some kind of crazy but liberal thread somewhere and all these left-winger dingers are are hammering me for three days about how i hate poor people because it's the only joy that they have is going out to eat. And so Dave hates poor people. Well, you dumb butts. That wasn't even what we were talking about. We're talking about if you're going to pay a price, you have to change and you can't go out to eat all the time. You can't go on vacation while you're getting out of debt. You can't go out to eat all the time while you're getting out of debt it's one of life's little pleasures it was like it was a human right and i took it away from him the whining of the

snowflake snowflakes was astronomical i mean it was like a blizzard of snowflakes it was crazy because i because i dared say don't go out to dinner and spend money in a restaurant while you're getting out of debt you should get out of debt because that's what got you into debt doofus is all this stuff right so again on and on and on and on and on now are you going to hell if you go out to dinner no but if you really think that going out to eat is a human right. You're going to struggle financially because you're stupid. You really are going to struggle. Going out to eat is called a luxury, you doofus.

It's a luxury. Going on vacation is a luxury. That's what Stormy is arguing with herself about and her husband about. It's a really healthy good argument do we do this luxury while we're trying to get out of debt that's her question and generally the answer would be no because you're trying to get out of debt generally that's your answer you could just go ahead and tell yourself no because when you learn to tell yourself no later you get to tell yourself yes and you get to tell other people yes called outrageous generosity our scripture of the day first peter 4 10 as each has received a gift

use it to serve one another as good stewards of god's varied grace john f kennedy said leadership and learning are indispensable to each other open phones at 888-825-5225 you jump in we'll talk about your life your money steven is with us in indiana hi steven how are you well all right did i do that right steven are you with i think i just messed it up all right i'm gonna put him on hold and then you guys figure this out open phones at 888-825-5225 let's try heather in idaho hi heather how are you hi dave i'm grateful how are you doing better than i deserve what's up so i'm on baby step two and we're trying to come

in line with your plan and I have a rental that's not local. I know all the red flags. It's in a small military community and I want to sell it. I have a property manager and it's a year-to-year contract, automatic renewal, and they have a renter there, and obviously the two are not going to align. So how do I sell it and gracefully exit out of this rental? Okay. Is there a lease on the property with the renter? Yes. When is it up?

In August or September. And the property management lease is up in june okay well just let the property manager know that you're not going to renew and if they want to work for you month to month through august they can it's up to them but you can collect rent from june and you can collect July and August rent on your own, right? Yeah. Okay. So I'll just go ahead and let the property manager know now. The other thing that I have, what do you owe on the home?

So I owe about $92,000 on the home, and it's worth $105,000. Good. Okay. And then the other thing I would do is in a couple months, I would start contacting endorsed local providers in that area and have some of them come review the property. Most of the time, your lease gives you the right to inspect the property ever so often, once a month or with a certain amount of notice or whatever.

And so you're going to have your new real estate agent that's going to list the property inspect the property, meaning they need to go look at it and try to figure out, okay, like in June, they need to start having a plan for putting it on the market when the tenant moves out in August. Or you could actually put it on the market a month early if it's in decent condition and start trying to sell it with a tenant in it knowing that they're going to be moving in August. So you put it on the market in June or July. You just can't give the new buyer possession until the tenant moves out, right? Right. The last thing you could do is the tenant might be willing to move if you gave them a little money. And so I have done this. In addition,

what we just described is the minimum. You can do what we just described without a doubt. That's easy. Okay. Now, if you want to get a little bit more aggressive which i don't know that you need to but if you want to you can um i have on rental properties in the past years past when i wanted to sell them i would just go sit down with a tenant in your case it'd be a phone call with the tenant and say hey i'm going to sell the property in august if you'd like to make a little money between now and august i'd like to pay you to do two things three things one keep the property really really clean to keep it really accessible so people can come look at it and the third thing is be willing to you and i to work out a deal where i write you a check if it sells to move early and break the lease. And so, you know, like what's the rent on the property?

$800. Okay. So it might, you don't need to do this, but if you wanted to get more aggressive, it would sound like, hey, I'll drop the rent to $750, and for $50 you keep it clean and accessible to buyers, and I'll agree to give you $1,000 to move early. And I'll give you at least one month's notice to move. Okay?

And then you can break the lease. And they can stay in it and pay you and stay there with 30 days' notice until you sell it. Now, that's if you really were pushing super hard to sell it, okay? That's the way to pull that all off. However, you know, you're not, you don't have to do any of that. You could just take the money and put it on the market and just not close it and put it on the market in June and just tell the real estate agent, obviously we can't give possession until the tenant is gone, whatever it is, the 1st of August, end of August, whatever that is. And you can just work that part out.

So, you know, that makes you, that way you're not going to pay the tenant something. But you can work with a tenant. If they don't want to do any of that, they just say, no, we're staying until August and we don't want a discount, and no, we won't accept money for breaking the lease, then you can't make them do it. Then you'd have to wait. But a lot of times, tenants like the extra money because they know they got to move anyway. And so it's not a bad deal for them at all. Hope that helps. Stephen is with us. Stephen is in Indiana. Hi, Stephen. How are you? I'm great, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, I've got a car that I'm upside down in, and now it needs a major repair. I'm about to sell a

house. My question is, do I just pay it off, take the super tax, and learn from the mistake? Okay, the house you're selling is your home? No, I've moved already, and I'm going to sell the house. We've got some equity. And so I owe $5,000 on the car. It needs about a $4,000 repair. And I know what you say about the difference in that. And so I really hate to take the scrap on it because that's so cheap.

Is there something else I could do with the car? Well, let's just say the car was paid for, for a minute. I wouldn't spend $4,000 on a $5,000 car. Right. What's wrong with it? The design, the radiator came apart. It's an older car. And then the coolant got into the transmission so it needs both of those and it's about four grand yeah but that's fine that's fine either rebuilt or new i'd put a used transmission from a salvage yard in it

okay and a rebuilt radiator instead of a new one. If I'm still doing that, though, is it still worth it, though? Because the way you – I can't think of what you call it when you put more than the car's worth. Yeah, you don't want to spend more on the car than salvage plus the repair equals – Right. If salvage plus the repair equals more than the value of the car after you're done, you spent too much on it, which would be the case here. Okay, you're not spending $4,000 on this car. There's no way.

Okay, so if you can get the cost down to $2,000 and the car is worth $1,000 the way it is, then you would spend the $2,000 on it to make it worth more than $1,000, and instead it's going to be worth $5,000. That's a good return on the $2,000. Then I would fix the car and pay it off. And then, of course, I'd pay it off and I'd pay the repairs what i'm trying to say right and if the math doesn't work out that way if the math is four thousand sell it for salvage and pay it off okay if the if the repair can get down to two thousand fix it and sell it or fix it and drive it whatever you want to do and pay it off gotcha

that makes sense hey lots of sense thanks for what you do thank you sir appreciate you joining us open phones at 888-825-5225 one of the benefits it's probably the only benefit other than it's paid for and you don't have car payments of driving driving a piece of crap car, a hoopty, is it's kind of, they're kind of disposable. If it breaks, you just take it over the junkyard and sell it for $750,000, right? Salvage yard. I don't think we call them junkyards anymore. It's politically incorrect. But either way, whatever you call them, recycle bins, I don't know what you call them, but

anyway, junkyards is what we call them when you're a kid, right? And so, yeah, if you're driving a $2,000 car and it needs a $2,000 repair, you don't fix this car. You just go sell it and you go get you another $2,000 car. That's the only benefit of driving a Hooptie. Now, we don't drive Hoopties very long. We drive like no one else, so later we can drive like no one else. That's the whole point of this. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show and the books. Thanks to James Childs, our producer, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer and phone screener. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. We'll be back before you know it. In the meantime,

remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. You can now listen to The Dave Ramsey Show on Spotify, Pandora, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at DaveRamsey.com slash show.