Should I just pay off my truck with a personal loan?

I know this isn’t a finance forum but should I pay off my truck with a personal loan or just refinance it?

I have 54 more payments left since I’m at 21500

I had 13k before and I would have finished it by now but I had to sell my truck due to transmission issue and I had spent 8.3k that I will never get back to get the transmission so called fixed by ammco but they never fixed it right so I had to sell it to Toyota and I bought it back. Yes stupid me but I love this truck and since I bought it back in March of 2023 it’s been fine.

realistically I had this truck since November of 2020 if you don’t count me selling back and buying my truck back.

I’m just wondering if I should get a personal loan because then I would get the title in my name instead of refinancing the auto loan.

 

I cant even follow what the timeline or story of the truck is, but for a loan, you want the lowest interest rate available.

if finances are super tight maybe the truck is too expensive?

 

If I am understanding you correctly you are going to have 2 loans on the truck?

Secondly, what the is interest rate on the initial loan(again if I am understanding you correctly) and what would be the interest rate on the personal loan/refinance?

Truthfully, from a financial standpoint it sounds like a lose lose situation. If you were to do this I would aggressively attack the highest interest rate loan first with as much extra money as I could. NO mods, heck even skip spending money on non necessary things to pay these loans off quicker.

More information would help though…

 

It all depends on the interest rate. I doubt you will be able to get a personal loan (not requiring collateral) for a lower rate than a vehicle loan (which requires your title as collateral). What's the big deal of owning the title if you are paying more for the loan?

 

Just encase I wanna sell my truck later to a private party.

it’s not that I can’t afford the payments or I’m on a budget.

like I mentioned I bought my truck back by finance but I had put a down payment on it and when I financed an Avalon that I wasn’t happy with I had also put a down payment also that I traded for the tundra. I had my truck since 2020 if you don’t count my selling and buying it back.

If you count how much money I spent since the whole transmission issue it’s probably close to 14k since all the down payments etc for the Avalon and to buy my truck back.

 

I'm not sure I understand why you had to sell it back to Toyota? What year is the truck?

 

Ammco never fixed the issue correctly and charged me 8.2k and I thought I’ll just sell the truck but I missed the truck and I asked the Toyota dealership if they fixed the issue correctly and they said yeah and it being fixed by Toyota i had a glimpse of hope that they fixed it right so here goes another down payment and me selling the Avalon I had for 2 weeks.

I’m not smart when it comes to money but being single and making good money does help.

my truck is 2012 tundra CM rock warrior 5.7 4wd

 

I say if you're making good money, the truck is now in great shape (what are the age/miles on her?) pay it off as quickly as possible and get this all behind you.

 

Short answer is no.

A personal loan is for personal expense generally with no backing but a credit score. They tend to be at a higher interest rate for this reason.

An auto loan is backed by the value of the vehicle. For example if you owe $20,000 and the truck is worth $30,000 if you just quit making payments the bank will take the vehicle and sell it. This guarantees they get there money back. A personal loan and more risk for the bank, less guarantee they get paid back so it has more of a "fee"/higher interest.

If you do anything go to your local credit union (hopefully you have a good relationship with them) and refinance the auto loan for a lower interest rate.

This should generally give you an idea of the differences, assuming you auto loan now is at like 8.00%, the personal loan would probably be over 10% if not more. Every 1% higher is like another $550 on the total loan. You could go from paying around $4,000 in interest to over $6,000. The personal loan would just cost you more money.



If you truly do make "good" money start paying 1.5x payments a month or double payments. The loan will start to disappear quickly and in 2 years you will own it, not 4.

I am currently paying a 48 month loan off in less than 1 year and its going to save me thousands of $$$ in interest.

 

What's the big deal about the having the title? What you should be asking yourself is how do I save money with or without car payments. If the interest rate on the personal loan is higher than your current loan, just to "pay off" the truck and get the title, then no, don't do it. Considering it doesn't seem like you want to sell the truck again, getting the title does nothing for you. Minimize your interest rate and/ or monthly payment. That's the goal (for now).

 

If the above is true, get the lowest interest rate possible while keeping as close to the remaining number of payments you currently have. As "extra" money becomes available, add extra to your payments, but make sure you tell them to have the extra apply to the principle balance. This will lower the balance that's accruing interest, but you'll still be on the hook for your regular monthly payments. In the long term, it will save you money.

 

I make extra payments when I can.

I just hate ammco for ruining what was supposed to be fixed for 8.2k. Ammco of Gaithersburg, MD sucks but the past is the past.

 

You gave someone money for a job and they didn’t do a satisfactory job. Why did you let them get away with that? No warranty or guarantee of any kind?

 

I tried so many things and I finally gave up. I tried calling the Ammco corporate and I kept getting the same lady over and over and she was worst as is and I tried BBB and I gave them the worst review possible but nothing. They refused to honor their 18k/18 months warranty.

 

And then what? Buy an overpriced, new(er) truck w/ higher car payments and insurance and be further away from actually owning his truck? That's not sound financial advice.

 

Am i the only one who cannot follow at all what OP is asking? Theres a purchase, a loan, a buy back?, a trans repair(what does that have to do with the truck loan), and avalon?

 

Did you pay with a credit card? You could dispute the charge. I don’t understand how they failed to fix it and they also refused to honor the warranty. Lot of missing information here.

 

When I got the truck back I noticed my check engine light came back on and my transmission was still slipping according to 2 different mechanics.

They told me take it back to ammco and I did and they simply refused to fix their work/honor the warranty.

 

I looked up your previous thread, as this one appears AI generated. But here is my question.
You had the transmission issue. So you traded your truck in.

You then bought back the same exact truck you knew had the bad transmission repair? Sorry that sounds nuts

 

I bought it back because I sold my truck to a Toyota dealership and I bought it back from that same dealership for 23.4k with financing including my down payment because I had hope that Toyota would fix it right and they did. Next time if something like that happens I’m going through Toyota, even if my truck needs a new engine it will be through Toyota or a shop I trust.

Can’t even trust big chain 3rd party shop to get the job done right.

 

Can’t buy a car,
I do work with my truck which includes hauling a trailer etc… a car won’t let me anything that I need it to do like my truck can.

 

Nobody needs a degree in finance to be smart about money. People either choose to be or not to be. If you read the thread, OP is not interested in selling the truck, especially considering he bought it back from Toyota after they completed the repair correctly, and he already has a sedan (Avalon).

EDIT: I do have a BS in Business and I'm a program/ project manager so I do know a lot about how to spend/ save time and money.

 

You had the amco repair done before or after you traded the truck in for the avalon?

 

How much did you trade the truck in for and how much did you pay to repurchase it?

 

OP. I highly recommend the dave ramsey show

 

I think I got 10k for my truck so I had to buy it back for like around 23k

At this point there is only v6 trucks or trucks that don’t even have 4wd which is very important for what I do. I would get stuck in most of my jobs if I don’t have 4wd. V6 is okay but it will still get almost the same gas mileage and not any better in power.

ammco repair was before I got the Avalon.