I’m $41k In Debt After Buying An Offroad Toy I Regret. What Are My Options?

One of the biggest challenges in personal finance is what to do when you buy something only to have buyer’s remorse shortly thereafter. This is an all-too-common scenario that plays out for both the rich and not-so-rich, and it’s something just about everyone will have to navigate at some point in their lives.

In the case of one Redditor posting in r/personalfinance, they find themselves in a situation where they recently purchased an “SXS” off-road vehicle and now have buyer’s remorse. Taking out a loan to buy this vehicle at $457 per month, there is now a question of what to do with something they don’t want.  

Unfortunately, this is not a unique scenario as it regularly pops up in the personal finance subreddit, hopefully providing the right advice so others can avoid similar situations in the future. 

The Situation 

With this Redditor, we have some interesting math that plays into deciding what to do with this off-road vehicle. First and foremost, there is $35,000 in a Roth and SEP retirement account while the original poster is also sitting on $41,000 in debt. 

Of this debt, $27,000 is related directly to this “side-by-side” utility vehicle. Another $6,000 is a personal loan, with the remaining $8,000 outstanding related to regular spending. 

In the case of the $6,000 loan, the original poster doesn’t plan on paying this off “anytime soon,” as the payment is only $173 monthly. The $8,000 is expected to be paid off in the next few months, which means the SXS (side-by-side), which sits at $457 per month and is eating away at the Redditor as the “elephant in the room,” as they like to call it is the big issue. 

So, the question is what to do now and whether or not they should keep the SXS or pay it off. The challenge is that they know selling a financed vehicle won’t be easy, especially without a title, so they are concerned about it sitting for months before anyone makes an offer. 

Revisiting Bad Decisions

Ultimately, we need to quickly move past the idea that purchasing the SXS was a bad idea, as the original poster knows it and wants to move past it. In many ways, their options are few, but most of the comment section agrees that they need to sell the vehicle and just take the loss, having chalked it up as a bad purchase decision. 

The very first commenter in this post makes the best possible argument that the Redditor should sell the vehicle or cut their expenses so they can pay it off faster. Better yet, they issue a strong reminder that the original poster shouldn’t make another big purchase until the SXS is dealt with, whatever this might look like. 

The reality here is that any thought around taking money out of the retirement account to help with payments would be a giant mistake. This Redditor should absolutely not “steal future gains” just to pay for a bad decision. 

Instead of making excuses about how long this SXS might sell on a place like Facebook Marketplace, they should have already listed it. They should also revisit the dealer and see the balance if they sold it back, at least to have that information. 

Setting Clear Goals

This Redditor went wrong because they didn’t set a clear goal for where they wanted to be financially in five or ten years. This left them open to making a bad purchase that will keep them in debt for the foreseeable future, unless they can get rid of some of the debt by selling the SXS at a loss. 

Let this remind everyone to think long-term about all big purchases. While this won’t mean not buying anything, you have to really consider how much you are going to use something and whether or not it truly fits in your life. For example, investing in a 529 account doesn’t have an immediate impact, but it will make things easier for your family and children down the road. Sometimes, seeing the long-term play makes it okay to spend or save money now.

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