Depreciation

westernrvparkowner wrote:

toedtoes wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

toedtoes wrote:

D.E.Bishop wrote:
How come with a very high credit score a down of 15 to 20 percent is suggested and yet folks still owe more than the used vehicle sales prices after two years. I am thinking I should make at least 25 to 50 percent down not 3 percent like guys have said they were allowed to put down.

So it's just like pre-housing bust, no down for folks with really bad credit and then they find out they can't continue to pay and want a prospective buyer to bail them out.

My dad wanted a big 5th wheel. He already had a TH, but wanted to upgrade for his warped reasons. This was right after the stock drop and housing fiasco so he didn't have a lot of cash on hand. But his credit was excellent. He used the TH as a down payment and got $300/month payments. After about 1-1/2 years, he couldn't drive the big massive truck anymore, so decided to sell the 5er. He couldn't sell it for what he owed. He traded the truck in for a used dakota and sent the 5er to a consignment shop. They sat on it for over 6 months. I kept telling him to talk to a laywer and default on the loan. Finally, he said "stop making the payments" so I cancelled them for him. Two weeks later he died.

My siblings decided that they were going to default on the loan after his death. I had to explain to them that they couldn't do that. When they found out from the estate attorney that I was telling them the truth, they finally (after a good year plus) got off their butts and got the 5er sold at a loss.

I think my dad was convinced that he could enjoy this thing for the rest of his life and then the balance due would be taken out of the estate. Unfortunately for him, he lost enough in the stocks that he didn't have the monthly dividends to afford those payments anymore and got in a bind.

I suspect the salesman and RV finance guys push this idea. And few people can see down the road far enough to realize "but"...

So are you saying his poor decisions are all the fault of the RV salesman and finance man? Did they drag him off the street, kicking and screaming and force him to sign those papers?
Actually, it worked out exactly like he thought. He got to use the RV, and all the balances due did come out of his estate. He apparently had the net worth to pay off his obligations on time as he agreed, but was unwilling to actually sell some of those stocks that were no longer throwing off adequate dividends.
Personally, I find it to be morally repugnant when someone refuses to pay debts they freely incurred because it is no longer convenient. Not paying debts because you do not have the money is one thing, not paying them because you don't want to part with the money is far different.

That is NOT what I said. I explained how my dad became underwater with his RV. Had his health not deteriorated, his plan would have worked. But his health was eating away at what principal he still had. As long as he was alive, his medical needs took priority and that was going to put him under within a year.

My comment about the salesmen and finance people stands - they will encourage and push unhealthy finance deals to make the sale. My dad had the intelligence but not the willingness to see through it for his own selfish reasons. But there are people who do not have the intelligence to understand the numbers and they rely on the "experts" to properly explain it to them. And they get in a bad deal when those "experts" fail in that.

I guess you could always take the salespeople and finance people to court. I suspect you will have a tough task convincing a judge and jury that a RV salesperson is a financial expert upon who's advice your late father based his decisions.
There is a very select group of professionals who are legally responsible for the advice they give. Lawyers, physicians, CPAs and licensed financial brokers are among the most common. Vehicle salespeople. not so much. What would you have suggested the salesperson do in your father's situation? Gather a complete set financial statements? Require him to get a doctor's certification and approval to purchase, since it was his health that ultimately failed? Even you said that at the time of purchase his investments were generating adequate returns to satisfy the financial costs of his purchase. Why would the salesperson have greater knowledge than your father of the fact that your father's investments would falter? And you also have not claimed he had diminished capacity at the time he made the purchase, and if that was the case, shame on his immediate family for not intervening and taking steps to prevent him from squandering his wealth. That pretty much means the fact of the matter is your father either made a bad decision, or a decision he later regretted and there really is no one to blame but him.

Again, you are reading your own biases into my comments. I do not and have not blamed anyone other than my father (and my siblings) for his predicament.

However, there are people out there who do not understand finances, etc. They DO depend on the "finance guy" when making a big purchase to advise them of ALL the particulars of the loan. When the "finance guy" purposely lies and/or omits important information knowing the buyer doesn't understand, then one should put some of the blame on that "finance guy". In those situations they are simply con artists - benefiting by purposely hurting others.