Submitted by MuchPrinciple4618 t3_zk1h36 in personalfinance
Husband and I made the terrible choice of buying a used 2010 Nissan Sentra in 2019 as a secondary vehicle. We recently found out it needs over $3,000 in repairs in order to pass inspection. We currently owe about $4,500 on the loan. We hardly use the car anyway and have recently been very strapped for cash like many others at this time.
It is currently uninsured as husband didn’t see the point in paying for insurance when it is not drivable. Our landlord wants any unregistered/uninsured cars out of their parking lot, which isn’t unreasonable.
What would be the best way to get rid of this car without wrecking our credit/digging a deeper financial hole? We really can’t afford to pay for the repairs when we still owe $4,500 on the loan. Most dealerships we’ve checked out aren’t offering much for it, which isn’t surprising.
Edit:
Thank you to all the commenters and your useful information! Jumping in here to answer some questions and clear some things up. I will definitely be getting the car reinsured asap.
A. We bought the car from a dealership in July 2019 for just under $8,000 and 70,000 miles on it. Now there’s about 80,000 miles on it. I think the car may have been used as a beater by the previous owner. I wasn’t keen on buying it but my husband wanted a second vehicle for his lengthy commute to work. I wish I had put my foot down, followed my gut instinct and not agreed to buy it. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say….
B. We are in the state of Maine.
C. I noticed some people saying they aren’t sure how we are owing so much still on a 2010 model. We purchased the car for $8,000. We have never missed a payment. And yes it did pass inspection when we bought it but no it was not in amazing condition
D. We got the $3,000 cost estimate from an auto shop near us but haven’t gone to a dealership or anywhere else for a second opinion yet.
E. These are the repairs we know of (and were told by this auto shop) that the car needs to pass the Maine State Inspection: New battery, wheel bearings, brake lines, rear brakes, CV axle, sway bar, new exhaust system