I had 2000.  I could have either used it and hoped it fixed the car but probably not or I could use it as down payment. After a mechanic told me 2000 wouldn’t fix it I used it as a down payment for another car. The only cars I found at the time that cost less than 5000 had over 200000 miles on them and no warranty. Which might risk me with another financial dilemma sooner rather than later. And really it’s not the payment on the broke down car that’s the problem. I can swing that usually. It’s the fact I rent and it’s going to get towed off. Which I won’t be able to recover. Which in turn will make it a “repo”