I have a predicament that is directly related to my pre-MMM education. I bought a used truck a few years ago, mostly because I always wanted one. It was my daily driver until I found out my wife was pregnant. In an attempt to save money overall, through saving gas and having a more reliable, family friendly vehicle, I traded it in for a 2009 Nissan Cube. I "traded" it before it was paid off, so they paid my truck loan and added it to the final price of the car. Currently I am all in at 10 grand on my car.
Today I took it in for service because I've been having some very slow acceleration. Turns out I need transmission repair because the CVT has a step motor that needs replaced. The cost of repair is $3200.
Nissan extended the CVT warranty to 120,000 miles. Of course, my car is at 127,358. The value of the car currently sits at about 6 grand. So I'm already underwater on the car.
My question is, is my only option to bite the bullet and get the repairs done? I've considered all options so far. If I turned the car in I would probably still owe money. If I just keep making the payments and not get it repaired, it would be worthless to me. If I sold it and paid down the loan, I would still owe and still need a car. If I "traded" again I could have a working car with a warranty, but it would just add a ton to my debt. $3200 seems to be my cheapest option, but is there any way out of the mess that my younger, dumber self got me into?
