Looks like i'm car shopping!

Long story short- swmbo 2.0 bought a cobalt ls with a slushbox at a shady buy here pay here place. She owes an arm and a leg on the thing and its worth maybe two grand, if it drove. It made it most of the way to vero beach and then it lost reverse. We limped it to a shop. This morning they gave us the bad news, as i suspected. Trans shop wants 2500$ to fix. Lolnope.

So, I'm car shopping. Sadly, she had E36 M3 credit. Im still fighting my ex wife, so I'm not about to try and swing a loan in my name. We're probanly going to end up rolling a E36 M3load of negative equity into the thing. It sucks, but it is what it is.

My tentative plan is to take the carcass over to kia ot Mitsubishi and get a penalty box for as cheap as we can. Good news is swmbo 2.0 can and prefers a manual, so that saves us some bucks. The loan is gonna be ugly. I guess I don't need a whole lot of advice, more just sharing my pain. Unless ine of you cab replace an auto trans on a cobalt for like 100$ lol.

Manual swap.

uh, just don't park where you need reverse.

Trans swap isn't that bad, but you still have a POS 4T40. Those "should" be dime a dozen for $300 used....maybe even have a moveable shell wrapped around it.

I vote for the trans swap idea as well. Trading with negative equity is really bad juju and a good way to dig yourself a bottomless debt hole. I know one woman right now with a $650 a month payment on a car that should be about $400 because she's still paying for her last two automotive mistakes.

Cheaper to keep her (the Cobalt.) Don't substitute one sad choice with another. She needs to pay it off. Even if the Cobalt is a goner, pick up a $500 beater. Don't reward a bad purchase and finance decision with a new car -- it will eventually depreciate to beater status and she'll still be toting this balance, plus interest.

Unfortunately swaps off the table as my tools and such are currently 1500 miles from me. We know the loan is going to be gross. The good news is she makes bank, and any income i make is pure play. We just have to fix her credit.

She just doesnt have the capital right now to drop 2500$ on a transmission, and i can't really afford to go liquid with my ex on my back. Its not a good place.

mndsm wrote: Unfortunately swaps off the table as my tools and such are currently 1500 miles from me. We know the loan is going to be gross. The good news is she makes bank, and any income i make is pure play. We just have to fix her credit. She just doesnt have the capital right now to drop 2500$ on a transmission, and i can't really afford to go liquid with my ex on my back. Its not a good place.

Rent a car for a month and fix it with her next paycheck?

mndsm wrote: Unfortunately swaps off the table as my tools and such are currently 1500 miles from me. We know the loan is going to be gross. The good news is she makes bank, and any income i make is pure play. We just have to fix her credit.

But that doesn't fix the previous mistake and that is bound to repeat. If she "makes bank", she shouldn't be in this shape financially, JMO. I live this everyday with SMWBO.... Yet, I'm the one who has nay money whenever the E36 M3 hits the fan.

Tyler H wrote:

mndsm wrote: Unfortunately swaps off the table as my tools and such are currently 1500 miles from me. We know the loan is going to be gross. The good news is she makes bank, and any income i make is pure play. We just have to fix her credit. She just doesnt have the capital right now to drop 2500$ on a transmission, and i can't really afford to go liquid with my ex on my back. Its not a good place.

Rent a car for a month and fix it with her next paycheck?

We have my car, so there is that. Who knows.

Ranger50 wrote:

mndsm wrote: Unfortunately swaps off the table as my tools and such are currently 1500 miles from me. We know the loan is going to be gross. The good news is she makes bank, and any income i make is pure play. We just have to fix her credit.

But that doesn't fix the previous mistake and that is bound to repeat. If she "makes bank", she shouldn't be in this shape financially, JMO. I live this everyday with SMWBO.... Yet, I'm the one who has nay money whenever the E36 M3 hits the fan.

Its a long story.

Buying the tools needed to fix this thing is cheaper than buying a new car. Plus, then you have spare tools.

If you just want to be rid of the thing, that's another story.

If fixing it is completely off the table, don't forget to pay a visit to Nissan. Don't even go new unless they're giving it away. I'll bet you can find a base model CPO Versa hatch for peanuts, and it's a much better car than the Mirage.

I too agree to try to fix.
Maybe open CL and see if you can find someone who does car repair at their home.
Offer to help to keep it cheap.
Use your car and your time to source a jy trans.

Brett_Murphy wrote: Buying the tools needed to fix this thing is cheaper than buying a new car. Plus, then you have spare tools. If you just want to be rid of the thing, that's another story.

Between you me and a fencepost, i want it gone. But...her car. I know better.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/SjV0iO-6vK8

In reply to Brokeback:

That might just be the most brilliant piece of redneck engineering I've ever seen.

In reply to Brokeback:

I'm in shock and awe. Sheer brilliance.

Honda/Toyota resale value will be your friend down the road. With only about $1k down and smart shopping, my wife and I, we stayed in positive equity for the entire life of loans. When we payed off her accord earlier this year it was still worth about $4k at 12 years and 200k. When my civic is payed off it will be10 years old with approximately 125k and should be worth $8-9k.

Good luck with whatever happens.

mndsm wrote: The good news is she makes bank, and any income i make is pure play.

Gotta say, this doesn't really match the situation you describe. If she really 'makes bank' then the rest of your story doesn't add up.

NOTE: I'm not trying to be hard on you, but what solution makes the most sense is kinda dependent on which part is more accurate. If she makes bank, but spends bank^2, it doesn't matter at all that she makes bank. If not, then I don't understand how you are where you are. If you don't want a crappy loan, use sad 'bank' to fix the car or to buy a beater for now while her credit recovers (if it won't recover you're back to making bank not being relevant)

Situations like this are always crappy because there is no easy palatable answer.

Ignore what the car is "worth". Look at how much is owed on it. That much money is going to be paid out whether the car is worth $5000 or $50. Furthermore if you take a negative equity hit, you're going to be buying a new set of problems while still paying for the old one.

Fixing makes the most sense. $2500 is pretty steep even if it's worth it (locally that'd be $1800-2000ish) but that sounds like a rebuild rather than a swap. There are some junkyards around here that swap in used transmissions for a fixed fee, pretty cheap. You get what you pay for but we're not talking about a massively trouble prone trans so the odds of getting a good used one are good.

Now, mind you, with that route you would be dealing with things like cut and spliced trans lines instead of actually bothering to disconnect/reconnect them, but you're in a bind and it wouldn't be a bind if it was a pretty situation.

Maybe the car should not be your focus.

keethrax wrote:

mndsm wrote: The good news is she makes bank, and any income i make is pure play.

Gotta say, this doesn't really match the situation you describe. If she really 'makes bank' then the rest of your story doesn't add up.

Short version, shes management at disney. Ex ruined her. She makes excellent $$$ but with a kid and trying to dig out from that, shes tight right now. Car was bought as a credit repair plan. I had no say in it because i wasnt around. Car clearly is sketchy, dealer is sketchy. Its been hit at least once. Even if we take a bath on a rio or a versa with a decent warranty, its going to be a better plan. Plus, once my divorce war settles, i can always redo the loan in my name if i have to. I could give two E36 M3s about a decent car, i have miyuki. She needs one for her and her daughter.

wow these transmissions are cheap.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/08-09-10-CHEVY-COBALT-HHR-G5-VUE-REBUILT-AUTOMATIC-TRANSMISSION-2-4L-/161925649527?hash=item25b3855477:g:QHwAAOSwHQ9WZPYV&vxp=mtr

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: wow these transmissions are cheap. http://www.ebay.com/itm/08-09-10-CHEVY-COBALT-HHR-G5-VUE-REBUILT-AUTOMATIC-TRANSMISSION-2-4L-/161925649527?hash=item25b3855477:g:QHwAAOSwHQ9WZPYV&vxp=mtr

Ebay is even touting a $35 a month for 12 month payment plan if you love the idea of payments.