2013 Hyundai Sonata hybrid, bought as a CPO with around 30,000 miles 3 years ago. 130,000ish miles now.

Wife also purchased an extended warranty without talking to me...which is out.

Transmission went out about a year ago, replaced under factory warranty (quite a pain in the ass).

Engine is now out and needs replacing. Out of warranty. Known issue, but they have declined to cover it.

Replace with used engine, plus labor = $4,100
New engine plus labor = $10,000+
Vehicle value (running) = MAYBE $4,000
Owed on loan = $6,000

Since it’s a hybrid, I don’t even know if an independent shop will touch it.

MFer. Any other ideas?

________________________________________________________________

3/31

Been working on this most of the day. Corporate Hyundai shut us down. No ability to appeal. They had extended the warranty on this engine to 120,000 due to a class action suite about them. Well, ours was at 126,000. That was enough to tell us to pound sand.

We found out from their customer service that the dealership actually did us a solid and pushed pretty hard for us, but corporate gave us the hard no.

Called an independent shop. They said they could beat the dealership's price to replace by a couple of hundred, but gave me the honest answer that $4,100 for a motor with 60,000 miles and a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty was a pretty dang good deal.

Called a junk yard. $175...maybe.

Waiting to hear a trade value from the dealership where it sits. I'll be surprised if it's more than $500.

Looking around a guess for trade value for a working car is $4,000. Private sell for a working car is $5,000ish.

But who wants to buy a car that has had a transmission and engine replaced already? I know there's an argument that them being new should help...but I'd pass if I was looking.


Pretty definite we're going to eat the $6k owed. None of the other realistic math puts us in a positive.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chongosuerte,

Not an ideal situation, but there's a way out with some work:

1. Get a loan to pay off the $6k. Work with something like a credit union to get the lowest interest rate possible.

2. Sell the broke down car for parts/salvage to get a couple grand in cash.

3. Use salvage cash to buy a cheap but reliable beater outright for a few grand. (Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, etc.) It helps if you have a buddy who's a mechanic who can help you find a mechanically reliable beater car.

4. Drive beater for X months until $6k loan is paid off, while working overtime and cutting corners to pay extra towards getting the loan paid off ASAP.

5. Keep driving the beater until the wheels fall off, setting back your usual car/loan payment each month towards a newer and better car. Don't touch this savings for anything else.

6. Once the wheels fall off, or you've saved up a big chunk towards a newer car, get something better.

What would the ramifications of dropping it and the keys off at the company that holds the loan be? Who signed the loan?

I think our current plan is to pay cash to fix it, then pay the stupid thing off as fast as we can and then either keep it until it goes tits up, or trade/sell it whenever we decide to get a new one.

Luckily my wife only has a 5 mile commute now, and I have a take home car. So we can deal with it, just so irritated with that stupid car.

I’m sorry for being nosy, but what are you doing where you put 30k miles n a car in a year?

Have you gotten other estimates on a used engine replacement? I’m not saying the price is unreasonable. But you might be able to do better.

It seems to me that if you are putting 30k miles a year on a car then an extended warranty is a good idea.

Here's a different spin, especially given the state of the auto industry right now. Lot's of manufacturers are offering big rebates on new vehicles right now and dealers want to deal since business is so slow.

Knowing your budget and the type of vehicle you want, do a little research to see who is offering the biggest incentives right now. Pick the car you want and can afford, then of course negotiate your best price on top of all the rebates and cash back. Trade in the Hyundai (you'll get nothing on the car but that's not the point) and lease the new car. You'll bury the $6,000 in negative equity in the new lease, which you'll now pay off over time while driving a brand new car with a factory warranty.

Assuming your credit is strong enough to get you the extra advance on the lease (which with all the rebates, won't be that bad) this is a great way to dig yourself out of that hole. At the end of the lease term, you drove a brand new car with no worries for 3+ years and walk away from it owing nothing to anyone.

Leasing won’t work for someone driving 30k miles a year.

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:
Leasing won’t work for someone driving 30k miles a year.

Chongo stated he has a take home car and that his Wife's commute is now only 5 miles.

quote:

Originally posted by LBAR15:
Here's a different spin, especially given the state of the auto industry right now. Lot's of manufacturers are offering big rebates on new vehicles right now and dealers want to deal since business is so slow.

Knowing your budget and the type of vehicle you want, do a little research to see who is offering the biggest incentives right now. Pick the car you want and can afford, then of course negotiate your best price on top of all the rebates and cash back. Trade in the Hyundai (you'll get nothing on the car but that's not the point) and lease the new car. You'll bury the $6,000 in negative equity in the new lease, which you'll now pay off over time while driving a brand new car with a factory warranty.

Assuming your credit is strong enough to get you the extra advance on the lease (which with all the rebates, won't be that bad) this is a great way to dig yourself out of that hole. At the end of the lease term, you drove a brand new car with no worries for 3+ years and walk away from it owing nothing to anyone.

This is what I did 1 1/2 years ago.

Bob

What were the terms of the extended warranty? An extended warranty that does not cover more than 30k miles sounds like quite the rip off.

I would certainly shop around for that price. Plenty of independent places around here work on Hybrids.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
What would the ramifications of dropping it and the keys off at the company that holds the loan be? Who signed the loan?

Wouldn't that be the same as a repo? I don't know how repos work but my fiancé's daughter had a car repoed and they still come after her for paying off the loan. I don't know details but I assume it's anything on the loan they don't get back from the vehicle. So it wouldn't help.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
What would the ramifications of dropping it and the keys off at the company that holds the loan be? Who signed the loan?

Wouldn't that be the same as a repo? I don't know how repos work but my fiancé's daughter had a car repoed and they still come after her for paying off the loan. I don't know details but I assume it's anything on the loan they don't get back from the vehicle. So it wouldn't help.

Yes, it would be considered a voluntary repossession which from the banks standpoint really isn't much better than a regular repo. From a credit standpoint, it's just as damaging to your FICO score.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
What would the ramifications of dropping it and the keys off at the company that holds the loan be? Who signed the loan?

Wouldn't that be the same as a repo? I don't know how repos work but my fiancé's daughter had a car repoed and they still come after her for paying off the loan. I don't know details but I assume it's anything on the loan they don't get back from the vehicle. So it wouldn't help.

That’s right. Just because it secures the loan usually doesn’t limit claim to just the car to satisfy debt if it won’t. Read the terrible fine print on loan to be sure.

Assuming that’s true I’d be hesitant to take the credit hit AND ultimately still be on the hook for the loan shortfall.

Roque’s advice will suck but is probably best path if you don’t have or want to use the funds to just pay and put this behind you. Might be tempting to repair and keep driving but it sounds chronically unreliable.

quote:

Replace with used engine, plus labor = $4,100

Plus labor? So what is the total cost? (With labor would make it around $6K.) Or did you mean to say including labor? Is the value you stated in its present condition, or after it is fixed? Whichever, the used engine - provided it is a good one - is the least bad option. The next least bad is simply trading it in and eating the considerable negative equity. If you stop making payments and let the car be repossessed, or voluntarily surrender it - which is functionally the same - your credit will go in the shitter and you may still be on the hook for $6K.

The wife used to have a long commute, plus several hundred miles a month picking the kids up from my ex and traveling to see family 200+ miles away.

We’ve thankfully reduced that drastically.

We’ll work on some other quotes. Maybe talk about the lease.

We’re just exhausted right now...100mph since the kids got out of school, me working every night for a week straight and unable to really help...no time to even slow down and discuss.

The extended warranty ended at 100k. I haven’t read it, but she said she contacted them and that’s what they said, and she read it and verified. I’m not very happy about that whole decision, but it’s a little late to be mad at her about that.

NOT paying the note is not an option.

And the $4k is the quote for the used motor, labor included, with a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty on parts and labor. Or something like that.

The idea of leasing and rolling the negative into it is interesting. Would they even take the busted car? I understand it’s worthless for trade value.

Not worth fixing, pay off loan, sell for scrap. Lease a new reliable economy car for $200 a month since your wife only has a 5 mile commute. While you have a payment every month still, you also have a warranty bumper to bumper.

quote:

The extended warranty ended at 100k. I haven’t read it, but she said she contacted them and that’s what they said, and she read it and verified. I’m not very happy about that whole decision, but it’s a little late to be mad at her about that.

I would look into this further.
The Hyundai factory power train warranty covers 10 years/100k miles. An extended warranty that ends at the same mileage as the factory warranty seems quite strange.

I'd replace the engine. Coupled with a year old tranny you should have nothing but basic wear items for a very long time. Long after the $6k + $4k is paid off. Way better option than getting buried in negative equity on a new car IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

The extended warranty ended at 100k. I haven’t read it, but she said she contacted them and that’s what they said, and she read it and verified. I’m not very happy about that whole decision, but it’s a little late to be mad at her about that.

I would look into this further.
The Hyundai factory power train warranty covers 10 years/100k miles. An extended warranty that ends at the same mileage as the factory warranty seems quite strange.

I believe the extended warranty covers the rest of the vehicle up to 100,000 miles which is normally only covered to 60,000 miles. I just purchased a used 2018 Sonata with 40,000 miles and that is what they told me. I didn't buy the warranty.

Car-part.com, at least in Michigan shows a lot of used engines in the 15 hundred dollar range.

I’d shop that 4100 dollar figure around. If your department maintains their own cars or you have a regular shop that does it’s work ask around. While maybe your “guys” have enough work possibly one of their friends may want a side job especially if they are off due to the pandemic. Another thing, if the salvage yard has a shop and they are reputable maybe they do installs also, again ask around.

I’m not a fan of rolling over negative equity though it may be the only solution presently viable.

Leasing, well at 30k a year unless you have a high mileage which comes at a higher price you better be mindful of the fact that you will tend to use the newer car more “just this time” and before long you find out that you have hit the mileage limit for two years during the first year of driving. One of my ex-coworkers did that at least twice. He should have known better, we both worked in car dealerships.

Watch the “what if” scenarios if you decide to lease. Such as if the leased car is crashed and totaled you are going to be liable for the money you rolled over into the lease if my thought process is correct.