Years ago I was upside down on a car loan. Don't recall how much, but I'd say a couple grand or so. I got out from under it by purchasing a brand new car that had heavy incentives. All the incentives took care of the negative equity plus brought the car down below MSRP. I learned my lesson after that. I don't think I've been upside down on a car since. As someon above stated, if you are sure you will keep the car for the life of the loan being in the negative the first couple years probably isn't fatal, unless the car gets stolen or totaled and you can't recover enough from insurance to pay off the note. But that never happens
