“We just got to figure out how to get her a cash car,” Yusef Benallal urged a client in a recent call. He’s a car dealer and auto finance consultant based outside Atlanta, Georgia. The driver still owes $9,000 on a Hyundai with two missed payments. The car was stolen – not once, but twice – and the insurance company isn’t going to cover the $9K gap between its current market value and her remaining loan balance, citing two late payments. She’s looking to move from the Hyundai into a high-interest used BMW note.

The independent used vehicle salesman often shares his conversations with customers looking to get in (or out) of certain cars. In this case, he’s trying to convince someone that their situation is just too full of red flags to proceed with a deal they want to make on the Beemer. “I don’t want to set her up for failure,” he tells them. “The payment is not a problem,” the other client advocating for the driver responds.

But her financial profile says otherwise.

From what we can gather, the car she wants is listed for around $10,000. As such, we can assume the vehicle in question has some age, and therefore longevity risks. You can bet she’ll face BMW-level repairs and maintenance costs in the next few years if she adopts it. The seller wants $2,500 down.

The driver only has about $700 cash. She says she brings in $800 a week net, so will get the rest of the downpayment as time passes. While the proposed payment on the Beemer is indeed on the lower side, $260 a month, it includes an eye-watering 29% interest rate…over four years. “She’s going to end up paying $22,000…” Benallal laments.

Moreover, she might still have that $9,000 gap on her former Hyundai to pay. “If she wants to do it, she’s grown, cool,” the dealer says, but he emphasizes his opinion on the matter: Between bad credit, low cash, and the open auto claim on the Hyundai, she needs a reliable cash car…not an old BMW with near-30% interest.

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