<prompt> Human: Just a warning this is pretty long.So heres the situation. I got a Ford Focus 2013 from a Karl Malone dealership in June 2016 for 12,000. The bank I went through was Deseret Credit Union. So I was 19 and didnt really know what I was doing, my mom was there too but she didnt know what she was doing either. I didnt know that you HAD to have full coverage on a leased car, and I dont remember the salesman mentioning it either. He did say we couldnt leave the lot without insurance but he let my mom put down her insurance policy so that he could let us leave. Now I did get insurance the day after, it just wasnt full coverage because again, I didnt know and it was too expensive for me at the time. Or maybe he did mention it, but I didnt realize just how important it was or what not having it would mean. I honestly cant remember. Skip to 2017 in November. I try to trade in my car for something else because after doing research it turns out Ford focuses have a ton of problems. Theyre almost guaranteed to have transmission and clutch problems Besides that there were just things we didnt like about the car. I go to a Larry H Miller dealership and they check my credit and tell me that my loan balance is over 13,000! Ive been paying 235 every month for over a year, never missed a single payment so this was a shock to me. They appraised the vehicle and said it was worth only 9,000 so I cannot trade it in due to my loan balance being higher than what my car is worth. I finally call the bank and find out its because of not having full coverage. They charged me every month for their own insurance premium which was eating up all my payments and then some. Okay, so I get full coverage. At this point I put off thinking about it because it stressed me out so much. I wanted to call and ask if they could waive the fees from not having full coverage but Im scared to see what they have to say so i avoid calling for way too long and just keep making payments.I finally called this month August 2018 and naturally they tell me theres nothing they can do. Unless I can prove that I was fully covered for the first year and a half they cant remove those fees. Obviously I wasnt so I cant. So Im obviously fucked. In the 26 months Ive had the car Ive paid around 6,000 in payments and my loan balance is still at around 12,000. Slowly been going down since I got full coverage. To make matters worse our check engine light came on because of issues with the fuel pump. And yesterday the fuel gauge stopped working correctly. These repairs will cost me thousands! I obviously dont want to end up putting 18,000 into this car in the long run plus repair costs for fixing these issues so Im at a loss at what my best course of action is. If I voluntarily surrender the car, especially as is with the problems its having, they might sell the car for like 8,000 IF that. Probably less. And then Ill be on the hook for the other 4,000 still remaining on the loan balance. If I do this I will still have to get another car. I dont have a few thousand to buy a car outright so I will have to go the loan route again. But obviously after giving this car up my credit will be horrible and I will be making payments on the remaining balance on my loan.I realize these events are ultimately my own doing. I could really use some advice right now because I am freaking out about what i should do. I need to figure it out fast before my car ends up breaking down. TL;DR: Loan balance of car is at 12,000, car is only worth 9,000 or less. This happened because of fees from not having full coverage for the first year and a half. Cant trade it in because of this. Car is now having problems, I really dont want to keep this car and keep making payments for another 5 years. Resulting in me spending 18,000 total not including repairs on whats turning out to be a crappy car that will most likely have clutch and transmission problems in the future. Whats my best course of action?  <response>: The pattern of avoidance is understandable as youre young and inexperienced with financial responsibility. However, this is going to ruin you financially if you dont get it in check. For anything else you ever pay for monthly and have a balance, you should absolutely be checking every month to see what the remaining balance is. There are apps like Mint and Personal Capital that let you see bank and credit accounts in one place, including loans, so you can just open the app and do a quick check. Also, you should absolutely not carry a balance month to month with a credit card until you have learned how to check your balance responsibly. In general, you should NOT carry a balance, but its warranted if making a big purchase on a 0 APR promo for X number of months. But if you go past X months without paying it down in full, you will get hit with ALL of the interest charges.I know your immediate problem is the car loan and Im sure youll get advice on that, but what you also need is to create strong financial habits so you dont miss a problem for multiple years again, costing you thousands. 