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Debt • Finances & Money

Still a market for SUVs

August 15, 2008
By Cleverdude
- Leave a Comment

J. Money (formerly J. Savings) proved this week that there’s still a market, however small, for SUVs. He sold his Toyota Highlander for a loss after having it up for sale for weeks. The interesting part was the buyer paid $19,000 in cold, hard cash! I can’t imagine walking into a bank with a bag full of Benjamins like that.

Why did he sell? Read the article for the full story (he’s a good storyteller), but basically he wants to shed the expensive car payment and use that money to save towards paying a future car in cash. Same reason I still consider selling my Honda Ridgeline, but now I don’t have a fallback car since we’re selling the old Pontiac.

Congratulations J!

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About Cleverdude

Mike founded CleverDude.com in June 2006 while working as a technical analyst in the Washington, D.C. area. A Penn State graduate, he built the site as a side project alongside a white-collar career that included earning a master’s degree and multiple promotions.

In five years he wrote nearly 1,300 articles on personal finance and life lessons drawn from his own experience. The blog grew from a hobby into a recognized early voice in the personal-finance community and generated meaningful revenue. He sold the site in 2010, continued as a guest contributor through 2015, and returned in 2023 after further career advances, paying off his home, and extensive travel.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. tom says

    August 15, 2008 at 10:02 am

    Dude,

    Quality used cars are still in abundance… why not put that Ridgeline up for sale and see what happens?

    Reply
  2. Clever Dude says

    August 15, 2008 at 10:06 am

    @Tom, because I’d be too tempted to get something I didn’t need. Most of it is just self-control and forcing myself to practice what I preach.

    As a note, I’ve already taken pictures if I wanted to sell. It’s not out of the question yet.

    Reply
  3. Tye says

    August 15, 2008 at 11:13 am

    Better yet, sell the ridgeline, get an unsecured loan for the difference (I assume you’re upside down) and drive the pontiac until you’ve paid off the SUV and saved up enough money to buy a quality used car for cash.

    Reply
  4. Clever Dude says

    August 15, 2008 at 11:15 am

    @Tye, already thought of that, but I ran into resistance from the wife. She really likes having the truck, even though she’s not the one driving it. I’m not upside-down on it right now (my payments are keeping up with depreciation), but I won’t really know what the market on it is like until I put it up for sale.

    Reply
  5. J. Money says

    August 15, 2008 at 12:59 pm

    I was wondering why my stats exploded a bit 😉 Thx for the shout out, and Congrats to you too of course! Perhaps I owe you a nice lunch now? I’ll swing by in the Caddy……awww yeahhhhh.

    Reply
  6. L says

    August 15, 2008 at 9:20 pm

    I saw a car commercial today with Chuck Norris and the Honda Ridgeline. I thought it was hilarious. Thought of you, Clever Dude!

    Reply

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