Hello - I purchased my 2004 Volvo XC-90 in 2008 with 55K miles. Within a month it needed a transmission (luckily covered by the warrantly I purchased). Now (at 110K miles) it needs another transmission and I’m looking at between $4500 - $6500 to fix it (warrantly expired). I still owe $15K and the best I can get in a trade is $3K. It’s sitting in my driveway now and I simply don’t know if I should invest thousands of dollars to fix a relatively “old” vehicle…Any feedback/opinion would be appreciated…
See if you can locate a “used” (not new, not rebuilt, just a used transmission from a wrecked car) and get it installed for $2-3K. Salvage yards have part locator services and some can even do the switch. What is the trade value for the car with a working transmission? Your real problem is being so much in debt still on this vehicle.
You need to unload this car and figure out the finances to do it. An '04 Volvo XC-90 is just going to get more expensive to repair. It seems you are really stuck in between the rock and hard place. This is going to be a tough lesson, but buying a 4 year old luxury car with little money down and a big loan is a receipe for financial disaster.
If the car is an All Wheel Drive the transmission problem could be the tires. If you buy two new tires and put them on the front, and say the rear tires are half worn. The front tires will have a larger circumference, therefore covering a greater distance per revolution then the rear tires. This will destroy a transmission. For AWD vehicles it is important to buy four tires at a time and rotate them regularly for even wear. A good site to search for a used transmission is www.car-part.com. Good luck.
I think I’d trade it in for a more reliable car – get one of those cars Consumer’s Reports say is one of the most reliable – and just grin-and-bear the cost of paying off the $15K loan. Consider it a lesson learned. It will be less expensive in the long run I think.
The only other option I think is to see if you can swing a deal with the shop that did the first xmission job for you, back in 2008. It seems like a rebuilt xmission should do better than 50K if the rebuild was done correctly. Play to their sense of fairness and the value they should provide to their customers. Put on a bit of a show for them. Offer up some quotes from Lee Iacocca or something. At least make them an offer. Say to them: “I’ll be sure to recommend your shop to my friends and co-workers if you’ll make good on your original rebuild job for and extra $2,500. If you trust them, offer to pay half up front maybe.”
If you don’t mind a constructive comment here, if in 2012 you still owe $15,000 on a car purchased in 2008, then you bought a car that was well beyond your means. If you end up getting another car now, it would be best to pick something more in line with your current finances.
Yeah I don’t get it eather, how can you still owe 15000 after 4 years??? Honestly you have two choices, suck it up and get the car fixed… Or take a huge hit to your credit and let the car get repo’ed. I know that neather is a good choice but they are the only ones you have. You can’t roll over $12,000 in negative equity into a new car, even if you could it would be a horrible mistake.
For what it’s worth I would also go back to shop one and see if they will help with the repairs.
Thanks everyone for the great feedback - lesson learned for sure both mechanically and financially!