I feel like such an idiot right now because my 2018 Kia Sportage has been giving me subtle hints about the transmission for months and I just kept brushing them off, telling myself it was nothing or that I'd get it checked out "next time." It started with a slight hesitation when pulling away from traffic lights, then progressed to a occasional harsh downshift when coming to a stop, and finally a whining noise that got louder as I accelerated. I kept putting it off because I was busy with work and didn't want to deal with the hassle of taking it to a garage, but yesterday the car suddenly lost all drive while I was merging onto the highway and I had to coast to the shoulder in neutral. The transmission warning light came on and the car wouldn't move at all, so I had to get it towed to a workshop. The mechanic took one look at the fluid and said the transmission is toast and needs a full replacement because the internal damage is too extensive to rebuild. I'm absolutely kicking myself because if I'd just gotten it checked out when the hesitation first started, I might have been able to fix it with a simple valve body service or fluid flush, but now I'm looking at a massive repair bill that I honestly can't afford. I've been researching car transmission repair options and it seems like I might be able to source a used unit with lower mileage and have it installed for less than a new one, but I'm still looking at thousands of dirhams either way. I've learned my lesson the hard way that you should never ignore transmission issues because they only get worse and more expensive the longer you leave them. If anyone else is reading this and noticing weird behavior from their gearbox, please don't be stupid like me, just get it checked out as soon as possible before it turns into a catastrophic failure. Has anyone else gone through a similar situation and managed to find a reasonably priced solution, or am I just going to have to accept the financial hit and move on?