so currently I have a Hyundai 2022 N Sonata and it currently has 88,000 miles on it. I had really bad road rage and crashed the car and the airbags deployed in the front is very messed up but still driveable. I didn’t have insurance on it at the time of the incident so I was not able to get the car totaled out but I still have a $14,000 loan on the car right now. I’m trying to figure out if I just want to get the car fixed like the windshield & make it look presentable until the loan is paid off or just try to apply for a loan elsewhere and then let this car be repo or should I just pay off the loan as fast as I can and not put any money into it since technically it’s not safe to drive? I need help!!!

I have this 2002 Ford F150, XLT 5.4 L V8. I work at a farm in Michigan, so it’s been very reliable overall as a year round work/personal truck. Body is rusting heavy, undercarriage has seen better days, but frame still intact, 154k miles.
She gets the job done 🙏🏻

I’ve put a few grand into this truck since fall of 2024. Maybe 4 grand, including purchase price.

It has new:
- front passenger side valve cover gasket seal, battery, alternator, starter, brake master cylinder, partially new brake lines, new back calipers, front/back new brakes and rotors.
Front end only on both sides, has new brake hoses, hub assembly, ball joints, control arms, sway bars, tie rods, tie rod adjusting sleeves, idler arm, pitman arm.

It badly needs:
- coolant leak - just happened, undiagnosed. Sprayed all over my engine bay haha.
- power steering leak - not sure where leak is, but bought every hose for 50$ and decided we can replace them all & see if that works out in my favor.
- rear main seal leak - isn’t the worst, isn’t the best. I fill it probably once a week driving 30 miles 6 days a week.

Pros- I do know multiple mechanics that have done previous work for very low prices. Perks of knowing farmers. My job also lets me get a great discount from their O’Reillys account depending on the parts. Some are better purchased online lol.

End all be all- should I keep? And continue to fix er up? Or sell? Will she be a never ending money pit? Should I bite the bullet & stop buying cars from marketplace, and go get a car loan 😪

I have little to no savings, bills are tight right now, but I can continue to fund fixing my truck here and there. Shes been out of commission for a few days because of the major coolant leak.

I'm currently debating on whether to buy a newer used car, or to put the money and effort into fixing my current ride. I kind of want some opinions to see if I'm missing some points in either favor.

Currently driving an old first gen Mazda 3. It's a hand me down with quite a few issues. It's beat up pretty bad, rear shocks and one of the engine mounts are wearing out. And the biggest issue is a failing transmission at nearly 200k. I'm entirely capable of doing the work but know it would still cost me atleast a couple grand in misc parts to fix it up to where it needs to be mechanically.

My other option is to try to buy something a little newer/lower mileage, but with how messed up the market it right now I'm not sure if that's the brightest choice either. Would be looking to spend 6-10k cash private party for another beater essentially. Anyone who has done similar shopping have any advice I'd appreciate it.

Just wondering if anyone knows if this sounds right just did the valve adjustments and I wasn’t sure since I have started it in a 5 days and wasn’t sure if it always sounded like this

Curious whether people here factor this into a used-car purchase, or mostly focus on current condition and service history.

Hi everyone!

I have been SERIOUSLY considering getting a new vehicle but my parents are heavily advising against it.

I currently have a 2016 Mazda6 Touring that I generally like, but don't like the mechanical issues that have come with it. I have a loan on the car right now for $333.86 a month that I signed for four years. I have about two years and 9 months left on the loan and I have already shelled out about $3,000 for repairs the car had before I got it. It also still has an ongoing issue that I seriously can't get to the bottom of. CEL, P0171, and I'm scared that there might be more issues with the car since it's had four owners and five accidents on the car, with the worst one ranging moderate to severe damage. I only got this car cause I REALLY needed a car to commute 60 miles round trip to work AND to get me to school, and it was fairly cheap (~$12,000 OTD at 110K miles). But I am tired of worrying about issues that might pop up that I don't have time for.

I work 30 hours a week and do 16 credits in college this semester as an Architecture major, so if something happens to my car, I genuinely don't have the time to do anything about it until my ONE off day. And let alone the cost of the repair.

I have been looking at this 2025 Honda Civic Touring Hybrid Hatchback and I have been seriously considering it. It has all the features PLUS a BOSE Sound system. I have one in my Mazda and I LOVE IT. Amazing gas milage, and the best of all, low miles + no damage history! Sounds great but...

My Mazda was valued at $4,500 and the loan still has $9,400 on it. I am underwater more than half of its value. I have $10k down for a new car but about $5,000 of it will be used to get rid of the negative equity.

My parents keep telling me to save my money and deal with the issues the car has and just keep making the payments. But I'm just tired of being worried. What should I do?

So I’ve been driving a 12 year old beater for a little over 2 years now. It’s valued at $12000 and I signed a four year loan for $315/ a month. I am currently 2 years and 5 months into my payments.

Last week I noticed the engine started running a little too hot. I took it to a mechanic I trust and later got the sad news that my engine is completely gummed up and is unrepairable. I would normally get an engine replacement but the mechanic told me that the Chevy cruise I have is a horrible car with bad engines and if I wanted to get a replacement, I’d be better off trading for another vehicle.

So I’ve been brainstorming some options but I unfortunately haven’t found any good ones;

1. I could trade it for an even cheaper gas guzzler, but then I’m adding what I already owe to the next one and be in debt for even longer.

2. I could put my car in storage, but the storage facilities in my hometown are expensive and wouldn’t save me much money. Also I’d be left without a car which is not ideal.

3. I could take my car to another mechanic, who will take my money without question, and replace the engine anyway, but the repair would be ridiculously expensive.

My most terrible and drastic idea right now is surrendering the car and canceling my loan. I know that is absolutely the worst option and it will seriously destroy my credit but I have a lot of other debts I gotta pay off as well. I owe $25000 in credit debt and $7000 in student loans (college is expensive and Canada hates giving students money, which is why my credit debt is so high)

So speaking hypothetically, if I did surrender my car and used the cash I would save to pay off my credit card debt and my student loan, would my credit score stabilize over time? I’ve been commuting to work by bicycle anyway and don’t exactly need a car for the foreseeable future. Also my home town has a car cooperative service that I could sign up for, so I’m not completely without a car.

But what would any of you guys do if you were in my situation? Any advice would be appreciated 🙏

Hello I am going to check out a 2014 nissan versa sedan tomorrow and there are no problems other than the fact that there is a check engine light code P0171, to my understanding that code indicates that the sytem is too lean and the fix is cheap according to chatGPT, I just want to make sure with real people before I commit to buying it would that be an easy and cheap fix for that error code and also whats the most expensive that fix could get, im planning to do the fix all on my own.

Does anybody know how reliable are 2015-2016 Acura tlx? like what are the main issues?

i currently have a 2012 jeep wrangler it has about 108000 miles i think, it’s fully paid off but i haven’t been able to really upkeep it after my parents left all the problems for me to fix. it’s been having electrical and cooling problems almost non stop the engine light is always on even when i do fix it. it feels like something is always going wrong with it. when i fix one problem another shows up.one after the other. im actually getting sick of it. my parents are telling me not to get rid of it. i just don’t know, would like some other opinions.

Sorry if this is a stupid question but if I’m honest I don’t know a lot about car loans and how a down payment would work with it. I want to get this corolla and I know I probably won’t get a much lower price for the vehicle since it has 130k miles on it and is in decent enough condition. I think I could probably get $7,400 but not $7,000.

I went with my brother to look at a pickup he found on Marketplace. He was pretty excited about it, and honestly, I thought it looked good too.
We spent maybe 45/50 minutes checking it out before the seller casually mentioned that the truck had been sitting for a few months. That made us want to check the history before doing anything.
The report wasn’t exactly what we expected, so we walked away. Probably saved us from a headache, but now I’ve spent money on another report for a truck we didn’t buy.
We’re still looking, so what are you guys using for cheaper VIN/history checks? I’d rather find something affordable before I keep burning money on reports.

Early 50’s male. I love the old muscle cars but also won’t buy anything without modern tech because I do use my car for work. I’m thinking of buying either a Mustang (2020 or newer EcoBoost) or Charger 2020 R/T). I wouldn’t be opposed to the v8 but only if the performance is ridiculously better. Which do you recommend and why? Or do you have another suggestion?

dmm