Hello all. I’m in a huge pickle. A little over a year ago i bought a 2016 Nissan Versa Note for 11k. I still owe my bank just under 10k and my payments are 215 a month but i can’t afford anything higher than that. My credit is 730 and i’ve never missed a payment/been late. This week the transmission started slipping and currently me and my partner are flushing out the transmission fluid and replacing the filter to try and save it. After some research we found out this car apparently needs that every 30k miles. He’s handy with cars so i’m hoping it will save it as I caught it right away. If it does and it’s drivable, my plan is to get rid of it.
My questions are, should I sell it to a dealership and get as much as I can for it, pay off a chunk of my loan, and get a beater car for the meantime? Or should I trade it in? If I trade it in how does that work given my circumstance? Would i be able to get a different car without having to increase my monthly payment? Should i go back to the same dealership i got it from?
If the transmission can’t be fixed and it’s toast, am I screwed? I’m thinking in that case I would find a beater car and continue to pay off the loan? is there any other option?
I’m also right in the middle of moving from one apartment to another, so everything I have saved needs to go towards that 😭 it’s a really unfortunate time for all of this to be happening. I’m 23 and still trying to learn how to make financial decisions like this, unfortunately i’m learning some lessons the hard way 🥲 If there is any advice to be given it would be greatly appreciated as i’m freaking out a little bit
EDIT: it has just over 100k miles on it, no accidents i believe, and no other issues
original posted by anon_56722 to r/personalfinance on Thu, 18 Apr 2024 15:25:00 GMT.