Hello all,
I currently own a 2012 VW Jetta GLI with 59,000 miles on it--I drive about 20k miles/yr due to my job and am required to have a "decent" car (no actual specs, but I drive clients around and such). I bought it before I discovered MMM--easily my worst financial decision. I put a cool $0 down and have a $500/mo payment. I have 24 payments remaining and the balance of the payoff is $11800ish at 0.9% interest. So far I have made $18,000 in payments over the past 3 years.
There is a nice 6 inch wide dent in the rear driver's side fender and a huge scrape in one of the rims from when my car was hit while I was parked. I never had it repaired. I also have a few small scratches on my rear bumper which I would classify under "normal wear and tear". According to Kelly Blue Book I have $41 equity in the car if you take the dealer trade in "fair condition (which I believe my car falls in due to the dent damage).
I have had the following issues:
1) Fuel pump failed at 35,000 miles -- repaired under warranty
2) Intake manifold failed at 57,000 miles -- repaired under warranty
3) Sludge build up in engine (apparently common in this model) -- $316.00 to clean and possibly cause for the manifold failure.
4) Timing belt snapped at 59,000 -- currently being repaired under warranty
5) I have had more tires develop bubbles in them (low profile tires) than I care to remember--at least 10 tires. Fortunately I purchased the tire insurance when I bought the car ($800 upfront) and therefore had no out of pocket on this. I put 1 new tire on the car (the lucky one which never had a problem) out of pocket -- $230.
All this to say...the car comes out of warranty at 60,000 miles. Had I not been "lucky" enough to have a timing belt failure now and not a month from now after I hit 60k I would have been out another $1100 or so for that repair.
I don't want to dig myself into a deeper hole, however I feel like there have been a lot of "issues" and when the warranty comes up I don't want to be paying for repairs on top of sending $500 a month to Volkswagen every month. I've considered selling the car and replacing with something else to reduce my loan burden, but when I'm honest with myself I know I would never go and buy a $4,000 car. So that leaves me moving lateral/down when you consider I'd need to pay taxes, etc. on the new-to-me car. I guess my question is, Mustachians, what should I do?