[hackeraccount]

I've never checked but I don't think I've ever been underwater on a car loan - I finance but not 100% of the price - it's more like 50% - whatever the value of the trade plus at least a little bit of cash that I bring to the table.

That said I tend to agree that "underwater" isn't really the right concept for a car loan. Unless of course you total a car right after you get it. Sucks to be putting $ towards a car note with nothing behind it.

[derision]

Yeah, you're definitely the exception. The vast majority of people are not putting 50% down on a car..

[seminatl]

That’s just time-shifting. You paid in opportunity cost to move those payments backwards in time. This may have been rational for you, since it lowers the risk of the loan I.e. you can always walk away from such a loan when it is backed by a sufficiently valuable asset. But this doesn’t change the fundamental equation.