FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Can't Make Your Car Payment? Follow Edmunds.com's Advice
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — February 10, 2009 — Consumers facing economic hardship may find themselves struggling to make their car payments.
Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive information, provides some helpful insight in a new article entitled "What to Do When You Can't Make Your Monthly Car Payments."
- Be upfront about your situation with the lender and see how they can help — it is in their best interest to keep you as a customer.
- Ask the lender if you can defer a payment; they may say yes, depending on your payment history and other factors.
- Refinance your car loan to bring down the monthly payment (but be aware that you might end up paying a higher interest rate over a longer period of time.)
- Do whatever you can to avoid letting the car be repossessed. It will severely damage your credit, and you will still owe the remaining balance on a vehicle you no longer have.
- Compare the amount owed on the loan to the car's True Market Value®. If the TMV® is higher than the balance on the loan, you can sell the car and pay it off with the cash.
"The most important thing a consumer can do in this difficult situation is contact their lender as early as possible and ask for help," said Edmunds.com Senior Features Editor Joanne Helperin "If you avoid the lender and let the car be repossessed, there will be serious consequences for your credit rating."
For more advice on how to deal with an unmanageable auto loan, please see "What to Do When You Can't Make Your Monthly Car Payments".
About Edmunds
Edmunds.com publishes three Web sites that empower, engage and educate automotive consumers and enthusiasts. Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive consumer information, launched in 1995 as the first automotive information Web site. Its most popular feature, the Edmunds.com True Market Value® , is relied upon by millions of people seeking current transaction prices for new and used vehicles. Edmunds.com was named "Best Car Research Site" by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "Most Useful Web Site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM), was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites by The Wall Street Journal and was rated "#1" in Keynote's study of third-party automotive Web sites. Inside Line launched in January 2005 and is the most-read automotive enthusiast Web site. CarSpace launched in February 2006 and is an automotive social networking Web site and home to the oldest and most established automotive community. AutoObserver.com launched in 2007 and provides insightful automotive industry commentary and analysis. Edmunds is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit.
