I am a single mom of 2, I am also caring for my mother who has early on-set Alzheimer’s and who was also a single mother to me and my 3 sisters.
I have been without a car for several months now. The car I had previously was a 99 Lexus LS400 that the owner gave me a deal on around income tax return time several years ago. When my alternator went out a few months ago I took it to a shop and a kid there did okay with replacing that but then he put in a new battery and hooked it up to the posts wrong. Blew all the wiring and chips. Instead of admitting that he replaced all the chips and hoped I wouldn’t notice that everything was only sporadically working. The car finally completely died and the repair was astronomically priced. I just sold it to a junkyard and have been walking and taking a taxi as needed.
That is until last week.
Last week I walked to a local car lot “just to look” and I drove home that night in a 2013 VW Passat after only paying for auto insurance. They told me I could pay out my down payment and not have an actual first payment until Oct. 5th. I had only saved $500. They wanted $1000 total down. My boss (Single mother of 1) gave me a Christmas bonus early, which I don’t think is a thing. We are a small two-person non-profit office for the homeless. Pretty sure she just gave me $500 herself. Especially because I didn’t get a bonus last year at Christmas.
Today, after a week of driving it, the lot called me and said that their lender decided not to accept the contract. That my income wasn’t high enough and my credit was bad. They tried to bully me into signing for a much higher payment I couldn’t have handled with a higher interest rate or to add a co-signer. I have no one. I can’t magically double my income. So I gave them the keys and walked home.
Eventually, I’ll get partial reimbursement for my insurance payment but I really want to be able to give my boss back the $500 she gave me. I feel sick that it was literally for nothing. Anything more than that will be saved and go towards another car if I can ever work up the nerve to try to get another. All help is greatly appreciated!
