[USER]

Hello! I’m in a predicament. My fiance’s car is essentially totalled. Blown head gasket, quoted at $7,200ish to fix. There is absolutely no way we can afford that.

We just bought this car a year ago and still $8,800 on it.

We cannot pay it off outright and insurance won’t total it unless it’s a car wreck, tree falls on it, etc.

Won’t total due to mechanical issues. We pay $219/mo for that car and my car is $255. How can we afford a new car for her? We work opposite shifts, so sharing a car doesn’t line up.

The loan officer said if we sell it, they will roll over the difference into a personal loan, then combine when we find a new car.

We are finding it impossible to find a car within their parameters that we can afford with the additional loan.

And financing thru a used dealer is bringing 16% interest rates!!! Should we just buy a cheap beater?

And finish paying off the car? The car runs still, but we’re trying to sell it while it runs.

I cannot fathom making payments on a car we can’t even drive.

[Brooke]

Check car-part dot com for a replacement engine instead of a head gasket. Also, get a quote for a used engine with half the miles on you current one.

Head gasket replacement is hard to find and usually is a specialty so that is why it’s high.

It’s better to go the used engine route.

[Emily]

Hi! That seems pretty high for a blown head gasket. Although the repair isn’t cheap, I haven’t known one to be that high.

Maybe shop around and ask other repair shops. You may also have luck listing the vehicle as-is on Facebook Marketplace.

Sometimes you’ll find a mechanic looking for a “mechanic’s special” and will pay you what you owe and you’ll break even or only lose a little bit instead of the whole amount.

[Elizabeth]

Try and get an engine from Auto Zone. I replaced my Nissan Pick Up’s engine that had 250k miles on it with an engine from Auto Zone. Only $2,500 with a 3 year warranty.

My mechanic took out the old one and dropped the new one in for $1,500.

So $4k total, with 3 years warranty. I figured if I bought someone else’s used truck for $6k, I was taking a chance.

I’m glad I went with the engine from Auto Zone.

[Mac]

I have a friend who is going to do mine and has done it before by watching YouTube videos.

Do you know anyone who is decent working on vehicles that would be willing to try.

Even if you help in any way you can.

Another idea is if there is a school like a technical college that teaches mechanics if it is under 15 years old they should be able to work on it and it would be extremely cheaper

[Cate]

I thought tbe car was under warranty when you are paying on it and you can take it back to the dealers they have a shop there everytime that fixes the cars ..

that is way too high for that part.. hmm.

[Tabitha]

I would figure out how to get it fixed because you have to pay for the car either way. There is no way you will get enough money out of it to pay it off with a blown headgasket.

If you buy a beater there is no idea what’s wrong with it and you will be spending money on fixing it.

You cant hardly find anything under the price of fixing it

[Roo]

— total engine replacement might be cheaper, and if your credit is good, you might be able to take out a personal line of credit at a bank or credit union to pay for the work and parts instead, or put in on a credit card if you have one at less than 16% interest.

— If you don’t have good credit, and you *must* have a car, you may have to do a rollover loan and just suck it up about the 16% interest rate.

I know, it sucks, I’ve lived poor for a long time and driven lots of beaters and used cars I could barely afford, been married to a mechanic, and have had to do the rollover thing twice, and it’s why I taught myself to work on cars, but I know you don’t have the luxury of time to learn that and build a set of tools right now, so I’m just telling you what worked to get me by and help me stay employed in the past.

I’m sorry.

The bad news is, you are stuck paying for this car’s repairs or its loan, one way or another, and sometimes, when you’re just barely financially surviving, you gotta take your lumps and work yourself out of the hole for a while.

Having a reliable vehicle for work is a difficult need to fill in other ways, much less to go without, so… do what you gotta do to keep your paycheck steady, and don’t feel bad about it.

Just believe in yourself that with steady work, you can and will improve your situation and eventually not stress about this.

Just remember: fiat money isn’t real, credit scores and the entire credit industry is a scam, and there are worse things in life than eating a high interest rate here or there.

You don’t owe anybody or any financial institution your shame when you’re just trying to survive. Just do what you need to do to pay down debts, make what money you can, and keep your life moving forward, and it will eventually work out.

— If you possibly have a situation where either public transportation, carpooling with coworkers, or Uber or Lyft might help, you can do that for a while while paying off the car loan.

— if you can scrape together all the cash you have for a down payment and use the bad car as a trade in plus that cash, you can possibly “buy down” the loan of the new used car, and the rollover won’t suck *as* much. It’ll still suck, but… less.

–finally, you can ask or beg family or friends to help. That was never an option for me but for some people it is, and if you have a hard time asking for help, I get it, but now is as good a time as any.

I wish you luck. I truly feel for y’all and I hope things work out for you.

[Christine]

I just asked hubby,he’s not a certified mechanic but has replaced several.

He says it’s not a overhead cam it’s easier and less parts,
but even overhead cam it’s not that bad and shouldn’t cost near that much.

Is this the dealer that quoted you that much?
It took him half a day, so maybe 4 – 6 hr job is what a dealer would charge but even at 200 an hr ,(and parts are not that much) it sounds way to high.

Advertise on your local FB page for a reasonable reliable mechanic and people will tell you who to go to.

Then get estimates from them.

[Sheha]

What kind of vehicle does she have? Get multiple estimates. I’m certain you can find it cheaper. You may be able to fix it cheaper than replacing the engine.

Find a used engine, they can be shipped to you rather inexpensive.

When searching for a used engine find one with low miles.

[Courtney]

Perhaps bringing to a local trade school? I know there are several in our area that charge for parts and low fees because it’s kids doing the work under supervision.

Or a tech college?

[Suzanne]

That is a crazy high price, we had to have a new engine out in our Toyota 2 years ago and it cost $4k and it came with a 100k mile warranty.

When our Subaru needed a new head gasket we found a local guy who did it for $700

[Lisa]

Do you have trade school or community college near you that teach mechanics?

They may do the work for cheaper(typically cost f parts and cheaper labor) as it is teaching the students how to fix that issue for that make and model of car.

[Misty]

I understand working opposite shifts, my husband and I are the same and we only have 1 car.

I work overnight so he usually takes the bus or I take him to work or pick him up when I can, even if I get a little less sleep.

Maybe y’all could do that until you figure out another car?

[Cameo]

Baby find a mechanic on FB marketplace! You can also look at local highechools or tech schools to see if they have an automotive program.

Usually you can buy the parts & they work discounted or free for practice

[Krista]

We did a blown head gasket on our Chevy hhr 3 years ago for $1800. At a smaller town dealership. There shop rate was half of the city shop rate we live in.

Call all the dealerships and in small towns around you.

[Lynnette]

Been there done tht with what ur going through. When we started out we had a $400 payment on a car tht was only worth $6,000. We had a car loan on top of a car loan on top of a car loan.

It suxed balls. Say u work opposite shifts. But, is there a way u guys could find a way to make it work with one car?

Tht is what we ultimately did in order to get out of our situation.

It wasn’t fun thts for sure!! Being stuck home without a car was painful!!!

We both worked overtime n we put everything Xtra penny in the bank until we had enough to pay it off.

Took us 2 years.

[Clara]

Have you asked around if you know of anyone that can work on cars? Maybe you can pay them out on payments for labor or be able to swap something or like housecleaning or babysitting or cooking for labor?

[Author]

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