<prompt> Human: So, my girlfriend has a 09 nissan altima. The car is worth around 2500 on a trade in, or 4000 private party. She owes just over 8000 on it. She just found out the transmission is bad and needs to be replaced entirely estimate is around 4000 bucks. Fixing it doesnt make sense, so im thinking we need to get rid of it whil it still has some value trade in. What options do we have to minimize the hit not only up front, but long term? I dont want to push 5-6000 on to a new car loan and be upside down all over again. any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.  <response>: I mean..Its a really tough situation that your girlfriend is in and I feel for her. Its a very unfortunate situation, but theres not a whole lot of options available to her.I know that it doesnt feel like the car is worth much, but to her its worth -8000. So she can leave it broken and owe 8000 on nothing, or spend 4000 to fix it Im sure she can find a better price on this and then she at least continues to owe 8000 on a her mode of transportation - which is better than rolling 6000 into another car loan and being in an EVEN WORSE position 6 or 7 years from now. If you want to get out of a hole, first you have to stop digging. 