Should I voluntarily repo my car?

So i was recently in the hospital and due to my stay there I lost my position at my job and I lost my job. I found another one, but it's no where near as much pay. I sold my home because I no longer was able to afford it, but the tricky part is now getting rid of my car. I made some dumb decisions in my past and I ended up with a bunch of trade ins so I'm 20k upside down on a 2017 prius. It was financed by toyota! I think I can pay the difference because I have a paid off 1997 beater honda that works that I can use. I just can't pay the $750 a month plus $600 insurance. Would this be viable? What would happen to my credit? WOuld gap insurance cover the rest?

A "voluntary repossession" is STILL a repossession, and it WILL effect your credit for 7-10 years into the future. If you can't sell the car, leave it in a rough part of town with the keys in it. Then, when some bad guy takes it, you can report it stolen and claim it on your insurance.

You are going to voluntarily surrender that car. The creditor will take it to an auto auction to sell it and then come after you for the difference. The creditor is under no obligation to get as high a value from the sale as they can. If you are owing 20k and they sell it at auction for 7k then they will sue you to get the 13 back. Bankruptcy is the only way out of this.

Here's the catch - even if you "voluntarily" let your car get repossessed, it still destroys your credit and you will still owe the remaining loan balance. It's a short-term fix to a long term problem. Gap insurance only pays if your car is a total loss and your insurance doesn't cover the loan balance.

50 years or so ago in Massachusetts you could pay some guy in the local Mafia $500 to steal and burn your car. You could then collect the insurance. The major disadvantage to doing business with the Mafia was that they might ask you to do a favor, later. That's the "offer you can't refuse" you may have heard of.

Sorry, I don't have any good advice for you. Talk to the lender. Find yourself a better job. Borrow from relatives. (All easy to say, but not really helpful.)

Talk to the lender about changing the monthly payments. They do not want to repo the car. They had much rather you pay for it.

Here's the problem with that. Even when you voluntarily surrender the vehicle, the debt doesn't go away. What they will do is auction off the vehicle, and at auction it goes for far less than retail value. For a 2017 Prius, expect 10% less than the lowest trade-in value. They do this because they don't want it and need to dispose of it quickly. What they get for it at auction will be subtracted from what you owe, and then they will add on a repo fee as well as any late payment penalties. And, because of the loan default, you'll probably pay the highest legal interest amount on the balance.

Example: Lets say you paid $28k MSRP with a $3k down payment, and with taxes and fees your loan was for $28,000. Maybe over the last 18 months you made $7500 in payments, of which $5000 went against the principal, so let's say you still owe $23,000. At auction, it might go for $16k. After a repo you'd still owe $7,000, plus fees and penalties, which could add up to $1000 or more. In big round numbers, you'd still have to pay off $8000 of that loan to get out of debt. If you don't have the cash, then expect to pay 25% interest. That would result in a $320 per month payment for 36 months.

The only way to get out of that would be to declare bankruptcy after the repo is finalized.

Voluntarily repoing your car will wrecjk your credit for a long time. Look at it as a last option.