+15 votes
by (290 points)
I need some friendly advice :) Since January, my husband and I have paid off about 95% of our debt while throwing as much as we can into our savings. (I know we should pay off 100% of debt before saving a ton, but. we are trying HARD to find our first house to buy and we wanted a cushion) Anyway, we finally reached a comfortable cushion in savings. A week ago the transmission in my car went out. I owe $3, 000 on it still. My husband went to school for mechanics, but without a shop or a lot of experience with transmissions we decided to pay someone to fix it. We got a few quotes and it is ultimately going to cost $3000+ for a new transmission.  I called insurance, just to see if there was something we could do since its going to cost more to fix than my car is worth (2011 Chevy Cruze) and since it was mechanical failure it is our responsibility. Our plan right now: buy a transmission from a salvage yard ($1000) and pay my husband's mechanic friend with a shop to help him. ($300). Then I will drive the car as long as it will go and work on paying it off asap. If this was YOU, what would you do?  we are kinda taking a loss either way.  
I need some friendly advice :) Since January, my husband and I have paid off about 95% of our debt w

14 Answers

+4 votes
by (3.7k points)
If you trust his mechanic friend, do it! Transmissions are so expensive otherwise and when mine went out, my car wasn’t worth the cost to fix it either.  
by (290 points)
@wet709 I trust him, just nervous that we may buy a transmission from a junk yard and it go out real soon too. Hopefully our lucks not THAT bad  
by (3.7k points)
@hail oh gosh, I totally understand! I believe my dad used a junk yard transmission and he’s had good luck. Not sure if there’s a way to know the miles on the transmission before you buy it?!  
by (290 points)
@wet709 the one we are going to buy as long as its still there has 120k on it and my car gas 112k on it! So not much of a difference :)
+4 votes
by (8k points)
I’d just do it. How much is the car actually worth in decent condition? The other option is to pay off the loan and donate it, but then you don’t have a car. I did that when the cost to fix the car was substantially more than the car was worth (but I did own outright already).  
by (290 points)
@vespertilionine I could sell my car private party before my transmission went out for $4500 probably. Trade in value is probably $2000 in working order. Its in overall perfect shape besides the transmission  
+7 votes
by (4.2k points)
My dad is a service advisor and he recommends used transmissions sometimes. It’s like a step in between salvage and new. May last a bit longer
+7 votes
by (2.1k points)
I did something similar. My head gaskets blew and had them repaired by a friend. He said might last a year or 2. Last exactly 2 years and was able to save that money for a new car.  
+5 votes
by (1.9k points)
Ugh transmission issues are the worst. We had gotten a transmission repair on my husband's old car (about $4, 000) when we still had his car loan. We paid off the loan and then of course like a year later the transmission was having issues again  We weighed the pros and cons of having it replaced/repaired vs the KBB value of the car and ended up selling it to CarMax and then using that money towards a down payment on a pre-owned car.  
by (290 points)
@alis819 this is what we are considering! I told my husband last night that we could put the used transmission in it, hopefully drive it another year (or two) and save so that we can buy a new car if it happens again. This is the first big thing that's happened to my car, so I don't want to give up hope! But I also don't want another car payment  
by (1.9k points)
@hail That sounds like a great plan! Having another car payment really hurt  My old little car (no car loan) was having so many issues in 2018 and we had planned to upgrade to an SUV eventually, but decided to do it sooner because the cost of repairs on my old car outweighed the value of the car + we had a baby so it would be a family car we grew into. So that was adding another car payment. Then we paid off my husband's car so down from 2 payments to 1. THEN we had to get my husband's new car last year so now we're back to 2 car payments  We tried being a one-car family for a few months and it just didn't work out for us.  
+1 vote
by (1.3k points)
If it were me. Id fix and sell for as much as you could get out of it then buy a different car.  
by (290 points)
@strati this is what my husband said too! We currently have an open approval through the bank for a home loan, so we have to wait until we find a home to do any sort or auto loan  but this definitely crossed our minds.  
by (1.3k points)
My husband is an experienced mechanic! We actually got rid of our 1 car payment it wasnt a great vehicle anyway. Coming from a money standpoint a lot of 'richer' people i know have shitty cars  we now own all 3 of our vehicles. We bought them in cash! I definitely wouldn't get a new loan IMO. Us owning our cars has helped us a lot (saving up, no monthly payment, cheaper insurance).  
+9 votes
by (4.8k points)
Exactly what my boyfriend did. He bought a salvaged transmission and paid someone to put it in. I think it was $1800? This was back in January, it’s running better than ever. 04 Honda Accord. Then when it goes out he will finally get a new car. He doesn’t owe anything but right now is not really the right time for a new car
+12 votes
by (10.9k points)
I'd buy the used one and have someone help put it in and drive it for as long as it will go and get it paid off :)
+15 votes
by (3.4k points)
Buy another car
+4 votes
by (13.8k points)
Fix it! Did you check prices on rebuilds as well? I've got a Laredo sitting in my yard and it's 1800 to rebuild it and double that to replace it.  
+14 votes
by (5.2k points)
If you finance a car now it can be difficult when wanting to buy a home. I would fix it with salvage transmission, sell it and buy yourself a used car cash.  
+11 votes
by (1.2k points)
My fiancé bought a refurbished (rebuilt, idk what the right term is) transmission for his work van. It was reasonably priced and looked brand new from Advanced Auto. It was about a year ago and has been working wonderfully.  
+2 votes
by (6.8k points)
Those cars are known for transmission issues. But honestly once you have it paid off I would just keep driving it. You've fixed the issue. As long as there isn't anything else
+3 votes
by (4.6k points)
I used to date a mechanic and helped run his shop for like 2 years. I would go with a refurbished one over one from a salvage yard. It's cheaper than a new one and a shop has gone thru it and completely fixed and cleaned it before being put up for sale. It would come with a warranty. You dont know what you're getting from the salvage yard. Could be just as good or worse than the one you got. You're probably better off getting a different car. No point in putting so much money into a car of that age. Cruze are kinda a pos. I know I bought one before he and I started dating.  
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