Reaffirmed car just died (permanently). Any thoughts or wisdom?

[nceguyfromne]

I am married and filed Chapter 7 individually last year. Both of our vehicles were purchased in my name so I reaffirmed both. As our horrible luck would have it, one just died. We owe about another 11 or 12 payments before it is paid off and to add insult to injury, it took us $500 worth of work at the dealership before they were able to make that call (they were upfront about this in advance so I am not blaming them -- but it still stinks).

As far as I know I am pretty much stuck with the car. It doesn't really make sense to let the bank repossess it as I would be on the hook for the balance with no hopes of escaping it, so as of right now our plan is to tow it back, store it until it's paid off and then sell it as a fixer-upper or for parts early next year. It's a sporty, entry-level luxury brand and I think it would be popular with the younger gear heads and sports car enthusiasts. At worst it has a premium sound system, newer tires and plenty else I can strip off it.

I guess I mostly just wanted to vent, unless anyone has ideas I might not have considered?

[lovemybugs10]

They can't fix it? Since you have so few payments on it, could you sell it for what you owe? Could you trade it in? How much would it cost to fix it?

[nceguyfromne]

It would cost $6K to replace the engine at the dealership. Might be able to do it for a little less elsewhere but regardless it would exceed or or at least be very close to the vehicle's ~$4K current value in drivable condition. With all the other work it needs in the near future, including new brakes (which run around $800-1000 for this car) and a windshield, we just can't justify fixing it. We only have $2-3k to spend and that needs to pay to buy a replacement vehicle as well as tow our disabled vehicle back from the dealership.

I am not sure what the vehicle is worth as-is but was thinking of asking for somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,500. I helped a friend sell a Toyota Celica a few years back for $1,000 with a blown engine and that was much older and not a German import. So maybe in another 6 months or so, when the balance is fairly close to what I think I can sell it for, I can sell it and pay off the loan then.

We have about $3k in payments remaining.

[lovemybugs10]

Geez, that stinks. I'm sorry. I don't see anything else you can do but try to sell it when you can sell it for what you owe.

[nceguyfromne]

Now that I do the math, it's actually closer to 15 or 16 payments. The payoff date got a little skewed after a couple deferments and the reaffirmation. Anyway, all that aside, we need to probably make another 6 to 8 payments before the balance is down in the range where we could expect to sell the car for enough money to break even or only have to chip in a reasonable amount beyond the selling price to finish paying it off.