How to get out of a car loan on a broken car
You are trapped making monthly loan and full-coverage insurance payments on a vehicle you cannot drive. The massive cost of major repairs, like an engine replacement or extensive diagnostics, leaves you without the cash to fix the vehicle or trade it for a reliable replacement.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Sourcing a junkyard engine and hiring an independent mechanic for cheaper labor.Did this help you?
- 2Rolling the negative equity into a new vehicle loan.Did this help you?
- 3Taking out a personal loan to cover the repair costs.Did this help you?
- 4Allowing the car to be repossessed or filing for bankruptcy.Did this help you?
- 5Checking if the damage can be claimed under insurance as an act of God.Did this help you?
- 6Trading in the vehicle for a reliable hybrid or compact sedan like a Corolla, Civic, or Mazda 3.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I still owe $15,000 on it, but the engine recently failed, and I've been quoted $11,000 to replace it (By a trustworthy mechanic). I don't have the money for the repair.”source ↗
“So now I'm stuck making loan payments and paying full coverage insurance on a vehicle I can't drive or afford to fix. I have very little cash available.”source ↗
“I have a Cadillac and have gotten two engine lights in the past year. This last repair cost me $1,200 and this new one I’m not sure since they say they need to run more diagnostics which would cost me $300 just to get to the root of the problem.”source ↗
“I owe $15,000 on the car.”source ↗
“What would be the best way to get out of this Cadillac and into a more reliable, inexpensive vehicle?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 5What to do about car loan debt after a totaled car without full coverage
- 11How to get out of a high interest car loan
- 6How do you sell a car when you owe more than it's worth?
- 45How to pay for unexpected expensive car repairs when broke
- 3Why am I in collections when automatic payments failed?
- 2Upside down on car loan and can't afford repairs