1. I feel sick to my stomach whenever I think about this, but I sold a customer who was about $10,000 underwater a new Ecosport and due to her credit the interest rate was well into the 20%’s. She bought everything in the finance office and left with payments just over $1000/m for 84 months. The car was ~$24,000 (with rebates), her negative equity and taxes brought it to ~$37,000 and then bought about $4000 in back end products. I have no idea how the deal ever got funded but AFAIK all the back end stuff stuck.
Paying $85,000 for an Ecosport just makes me physically ill.
2.Told this several times but in 2015 sold a F-450 Platinum trading a F-350 King Ranch. Financed $112k at 84 months at ~$2,000/mo at ~ 12% through FMC. Did a front to back so lost $18,000 on front and made $24,000 on back to make real make sense.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
3. Guy was $40k flipped on an X5 M. Got him into a new one with a $3200 payment. Selling cars that are $120k you see $2k plus payments daily.
4. $1200 on a 200k 10 year old lifted Ram. Traded in a 2 year old fusion he was upside down on and HAD to have this truck. Crazy he even got approved.
5. 2018 charger Hellcat. $64k. Trading a positive equity 2021 Scat Pack Challenger. 84 months was $1200. He signed the commitment, banks said “aww hellll no”.
6. We regularly have customers who leave with payments in the $2500-$3500 range.
Just a few days ago we had someone buy a 2021 G560 (G Wagon). Put $40k down and has a payment of $3,002 for 72m at 5.59%
But I actually have a better story that happened at another store in our group couple months ago.
Customer comes in and trades in his free and clear vehicle (don’t remember what the trade was) for a used Panamera. Apparently when he got home his wife told him he either goes back and gets his vehicle back, or she’s divorcing him. So he comes back the next day. GM wouldn’t unwind the deal, so the guy traded the Panamera back in on the vehicle he traded in the previous day.
Guy traded in a free and clear vehicle and left with it the next day with nearly a $50k loan on it….
7. I had a guy that had a 60 month LEASE on a Cadillac Escalade. His total of payments would have been about 90% of what financing would have been. He ended up trading it in rolling $10,000 negative on a new Yukon Denali. Went from a $950 to $1550.
8. Not quite as high but worst deal i’ve been part of was shortly after i got in the business had a customer who was flipped almost 10k in a truck…traded them into a 2005 dodge neon, 84 months at 825 per month, only time in my career i’ve said to someone, “this is a bad idea, i don’t recommend this but this is what i can do for you” they signed for it and i never heard from them again.
9. I had a guy trade a 2020 toyota tundra with a 15k negative equity for a new 2022 1794 tundra listed at 63k. His monthly payment ended up being $1500 per month for 84 months because his credit was not the best.
10. Highest payment I’ve ever put together was on a lease buyout for an R8. There was a lender offering 12 months, 0% financing and he was all over it. Payment was over $13k per month, but he was happy as hell to hang on to the $150k instead of writing a cheque.
Also had a guy roll $35k negative equity from a straw deal on a BMW into a demo A4 we had. Payments were $1200 per month for 84 months, and somehow it got bought.
11. Sold a 2015 Tahoe LT last year, I think it was listed for $35k. He put $8k down and was paying $830 a month for 75 months(gap and service contract included). Not the highest payment deal I’ve had by any means but one of the most stupid. He actually was unemployed at the time and reported he was employed on the app. Found out a week later when the bank didn’t fund his deal and we had to refinance. Got him approved for like $10 more a month. A good special Fi manager is a God send.
12. Had a customer finance a $27k vehicle at the state maximum interest rate and the finance charge worked out to be $30k. I was the F&I manager on the deal and definitely buried her in it. I still don’t feel good about it a year later.
13. Worst I’ve ever seen was 2 friends come in to buy a truck. One friend can’t buy so his friend buys it for him he trades in his older Silverado to help with the down payment. They work on the oil rig, so they didn’t really care about anything as long as they could leave with the new truck. Bought everything on the backend. Ended up with $1,650 payments for 84 months. On a 2012 Dodge Ram 3500 mega cab with about 98k on it and we were able to sell it for 140% above retail call because he owed 15k on a 5k truck. This was in 2017. Thank banks didn’t care and neither did the customers. LOL!!!
14. 2022 Kia Soul $20,925 $1500 down $716 for 72months. The guy had really bad credit and his interest rate was around 26%
Theodore Lee is the editor of Caveman Circus. He strives for self-improvement in all areas of his life, except his candy consumption, where he remains a champion gummy worm enthusiast. When not writing about mindfulness or living in integrity, you can find him hiding giant bags of sour patch kids under the bed.