Help Dani get back on the road!

Hello everyone, my name is Dani and I am in need of a replacement for my beloved 2003 Honda CR-V that has unfortunately had complications due to an oil leak repair gone wrong.

I purchased this car on April 6th, 2024 as my first vehicle. It was a cheap car that I was able to pay for in full thanks to having some money saved up at the time. Finances have unfortunately been a bit of a struggle for the past year since I depleted most of my savings to purchase this car, which cost less than $3000 and thus I was unable to finance to ease the financial burden of the purchase. Prior to purchasing this car, my partner had to drive me to and from work daily.

Sometime this past fall, friends and family noticed oil dripping onto the ground where my car had been parked. This is something that I was able to see clearly, and I took photos to document at the time. We were not sure how bad the leak was due to inconsistent sightings of oil on the ground, and it took some time before it got to a point where I could clearly see oil dripping from my car leaving a trail behind me in parking lots.

On April 7th, 2025, my parents graceously offered to assist me financially in having the car serviced for the oil leak. I was not in a financial position to have this work done, and they offered to cover the initial oil leak fix. This was estimated to cost $2500-$3500, but afterwards my father refused to inform me of the total cost. I imagine he did not want me to feel guilt for this financial assistance. The leak seemed to have been fixed, and for a few weeks I was able to continue with my life with the thought that this car would last me another year and allow myself to continue to save for a better vehicle when its time finally came.

Well, that time was quite short. I drove into work on April 29th and there was a trail of oil behind me, worse than ever before.

My parents and I rushed to bring the car back to the shop in hopes that the replaced part was just faulty. As I drove my car to the shop, I smelled something akin to burning. I made it safely to the shop, and after some diagnostics at no additional cost, the mechanic informed us that the new oil leak was caused by blowby as a result of the initial leak repair. The scope of this secondary repair was something outside of our wheelhouse. I drove my poor car back home, and again smelled that hint of smoke. My parents and I made the decision to sell my beloved CR-V for scrap, as without these repairs it was a safety hazard to drive due to the nature of the leak.

This leads me to where I am now. My car will be getting towed tomorrow (May 6th), and it will be selling for less than $200. I work full time but unfortunately due to the cost of living in the Seattle area relative to my income, I have struggled to accummulate any savings over the last year. I have very little saved up, and what I do have saved up is reserved for June's rent payment before our lease ends and we move in with my parents to hopefully work on getting our savings back to a safer amount. With our current financial situation, my partner is almost out of money and I am barely able to cover our rent for May and June. I am simply not in a position to purchase another used car at the moment with any sort of down payment, nor am I able to pay my parents back for their assistance in repairs (even though I know they would refuse this repayment). Until I am able to get another car, my partner will be having to make a 40-minute round trip twice daily to drive me to work.

I am hoping to fundraise a small amount of money just to offset the financial strain of purchasing another used car. I would love to be able to put some money down and then make regular payments, and all money raised by this page will go directly to that fund. I am struggling to ask for help and any amount is greatly appreciated.