About two weeks ago, my husband's car broke down for the 357th time (rough estimate, this may or may not actually be accurate). The belt had snapped again, the third one in as many months. So he comes to the conclusion that is time to change the pulley. Surely that must be the problem for why the belt keeps breaking. New pulley purchased, put on the car, another new belt added, and now the car won't start. Weird. Changing out the pulley shouldn't have had any effect on the car starting. Connections get check, sensors and fuses get replaced, still nothing. An uncle comes over with a tow dolly, and off they go to a local auto shop. Minor sticker shock when they say it'll cost $130 to hook it up to the diagnostic machine and run a bunch of tests, but since it's almost pay day, and we desperately need to get the car fix, we give them the go ahead.
The day passes quickly with no news, then like a kick to gut we learn that the engine is shot. Something about the crankshaft and the pistons, but I honestly stopped listening and started freaking out the moment the lady on the phone said it was the engine. Now I may not know a lot about cars, but even I know an engine is not cheap. Add on the labor for a mechanic doing the work, and I'm sure you can forgive me for becoming hysterical pretty quickly. I still had no idea what the cost was going to be when I was forced to swallow my pride last night and beg my friends and family on Facebook for money.
An hour into my work day, and I received the call. Four-thousand-three-hundred dollars. Not only was this nowhere near what I could have ever guessed the cost would be, but it was also nowhere near the amount of money I knew my friends and family would be willing to donate to us. I was already emotionally tapped out from having to set up the GoFundMe account. There was just no way I could go back and add more to our goal, and it would be silly to spend that kind of money on a 15-year-old car that isn't even worth the refinancing that's already on it.
Now we sit and wait, wondering what to do. We're obviously not replacing the engine, but we also can't sell the car with the lien on it. For the time being, our plan is to pay off the loan, sell the car to a salvage yard, and buy a new to us mini van.
I've never been more scared or depressed in my life, but I've also never been more humbled or grateful than I was when the donations trickled in. Within an hour, an old high school classmate had donated $100. By morning, we were up to $200 thanks to family. Lunch time saw a boost to $500 thanks to a college classmate and then $630 by the time I had eaten and gotten back to my desk thanks to more family. I've never been good at asking for help, but having people reach out so quickly without a second thought was beyond anything I could have ever hoped for.
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