2021 Dodge Charger Scat Pack driver owes twice its trade-in value, dealer tells him to list it on Facebook
Yusuf Benallal is a car dealer and auto loan consultant operating out of Legacy Motorcars near Atlanta, GA. He often shares calls he has with clients looking to untangle themselves from bad car loans. In this one, a 2021 Dodge Charger Scat Pack owner wants out of his $1,500 per month overhead. It turns out he still owes twice the car’s trade-in value, limiting his options.
While he says he can afford it, the driver wants to spend his money on his kids, not a performance car
The caller’s credit score is about 680. His monthly income is $5,000. The car loan itself is $1,200, and insurance is $300 a month. All told, he shells out about $1,500 per month to drive the Charger.
The driver has three kids now and wants to get out of his car loan. He says the Charger payment isn’t “weighing on him.” Still, though, he doesn’t want to put money down on a different vehicle. Ultimately, he says he’d rather take half his overhead on the Scat Pack and use it for his family.
Unfortunately, the Dodge Charger’s payoff is more than $45,000
The Scat Pack’s trade-in value is only $27,500.
This means that the driver would either need to come up with the payoff difference in cash, which he doesn’t seem to have. Otherwise, he’d have to roll over his negative equity into a new loan on a cheaper car. This would likely leave him underwater on the next loan, with an inflated payment to boot.
“If you keep rolling over this negative equity, you’re going to be in the same situation,” Benallal warns. He tells the caller he’ll take his money…or the driver can just list the car on Facebook Marketplace. On MotorBiscuit’s car buying tool, it looks like 2021 Dodge Charger Scat Packs list for anywhere from about $33K to nearly $45K.
In other words, the caller would be better off saving up, paying down, and then finally selling the Charger privately and coming up with the loan payoff difference himself.
