How should I go about fixing my 2010 Honda Accord? (More details below)

Jimbo_PCH

I owe $4,924 on a 2010 Accord worth $4,000 on KBB (w/ a “Good” rating and 123,000 miles). There are minor cosmetic damages from a hit and run case that was never settled. My insurance has a $500 deductible to fix them. I want to trade it in for a new car.

Aside from cosmetics, the car burns oil like nothing I’ve ever seen before; I have to top it off every 2,200 miles. And from what I’ve read, ‘08–12 Accords have that problem. I’ve spent the past two and a half years doing all I can to fix the issue with no positive results. Additionally, the front axle's cracked and the timing belt’s dry. All these things have been around since I purchased the car from a private seller in April 2016. The symptoms just didn’t show up till it was too late.

I couldn’t care less about the cosmetics of the car. I only bring it up because I don’t know whether it would be better to have my insurance pay for it (+ my deductible), the dealership I trade it into pay for it (along with the mechanical issues), or I bring it into a shop myself to avoid having an accident report on the vehicle.

And lastly, my bank is the one who gave me the loan for the car, and they treat me pretty well. So having a dealership deduct the car’s value from what I owe, paying off my existing loan and taxing the difference on to a loan for a new car is something I’m prepared to do.

kyfdx

One quart of oil every 2200 miles is not much of an issue. Just top it off, before you have it appraised. No one would consider that a defect, on a car with 123K miles

Jimbo_PCH

kyfdx said:

One quart of oil every 2200 miles is not much of an issue. Just top it off, before you have it appraised. No one would consider that a defect, on a car with 123K miles

At 2200 miles, the oil level is depleted, it doesn't even read on the dipstick.

Mr_Shiftright

Well the dealer isn't going to fix a car like that--it's going to auction to be picked up by "buy here, pay here" small used car lots with "mouse-house" financing.

So if you trade it in, I doubt you'll see $4,000 unless they jack up the price on the newer car. A trade in quote is meaningless unless you know what the best selling price is on the new, or newer car. So if you trade, you're going to have to really be on your game to catch all the numbers juggling that's going to occur.

If you trade it in and pay off the loan, I'd guess you'll have to eat around $1500--$1700; or, you could roll the negative equity into the new loan, but that means you'll be seriously upside down on the new car you buy right out of the driveway.

With the deductible + body damage + axle + timing belt, by fixing the car you'll probably end up paying just as much as if you just ate the negative equity--even if you get more in trade.

Frankly, I'm not seeing any really attractive way out of this for you, other than to just keep driving it until it blows up--hopefully after you've paid it off.