Help Kira Get a Reasonable and Reliable Car for Teaching

Hey y'all,

I know there are things that matter more on many levels in this world, but this matters a LOT to me and I would really appreciate any help you could offer.

The short story is that my car is on its way out and I'm trying to come up with a down payment to buy another (used but new enough to be reliable) car, in order to ease the loan burden a little bit.

Anything helps.

The long story is this:

I recently moved across the country to work with Teach For America, which means I'm teaching in a Title I (under-resourced) high school in rural Arkansas. They actually pay me a decent teacher salary, but because Teach For America is kind of designed to work for fresh college graduates who haven't put down roots yet and have a lot of family financial support, this entire experience has cost me a ton of money --- I had to pay rent on my apartment in Salt Lake for two and a half months after leaving because I couldn't get out of the lease (which I had signed when I was planning to be an engineering student for the next year or so and definitely stay in Salt Lake), I got rid of all possessions that I couldn't fit in my car to save by not having to get a moving truck, and I was doing full-time unpaid training during a lot of the summer, and therefore unable to work. In addition to all of the expenses of getting across the country, all of my regular bills from Salt Lake continued for two months after I left (the apartment complex wouldn't even let me out of the internet bill, despite me not being there!) I also had to pay to live in an extended stay hotel in Jackson, Mississippi for a month to attend trainings.

All of that to say, Teach For America does provide some stipends, but they are designed for people with far fewer moving expenses, coming from closer to where they're going, not having to break a lease, etc. I have essentially emptied out my savings getting here, and our first paycheck was not until September. Anyone who's been in a similar situation of finally getting a regular paycheck after not getting one for months or of having to get rid of a lot of things and start over from scratch knows that it takes a while to rebuild savings, pantry items, etc.

My car is currently on its way out: The air conditioning has been totally broken since part way through my journey across the country (if you've never driven a car without air conditioning across Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi in May, June, July, and August, I cannot stress enough that you should avoid this experience if at all possible). The AC being out means that the car just blows hot engine air at me if I turn the air on at all, so I have to drive with the windows down all the time in order to see out the windshield, even if it's pouring rain (yippee!). It also means the dashboard is warping because my car is so humid all the time since there is not air circulation in the way intended in cars. The driver side window is going out (it often takes a few minutes to coax it into opening), which is a huge problem since I need the windows down to drive the car. There is a broken door sensor, so I have to keep the light that comes on when you get in/out of the car off since the car thinks a door is open all the time, which means I'm getting in and out of my car in the dark in the middle of nowhere all the time, which freaks me out. The gas cap is broken and requires that I pinch the closing mechanism and then slam it shut at just the right angle to close it --- this usually takes three or four attempts, and means I'm scared to get gas at night because I'm just out of the car and not paying attention to my surroundings for long enough that it makes me nervous. I was recently in a fender bender that broke the hood clasp and bent the hood --- it's currently attached with a sort of bungee cable, but I can't drive on the highway with the hood attached that way, so it needs a new hood and hood clasp. I also recently got a flat tire that cannot be patched. I'm currently on a donut spare, and my quest to find a used tire to put on the car as a stopgap measure has been thus far unsuccessful (apparently my tires are a weird size here?), and all car people I have spoken with (like five different people, some of whom do not even sell tires) have said my tires are in bad shape and I really should replace them all, especially with the colder wetter seasons coming up. On my way to Wal-Mart to try to get two cheaper tires to put on as a stop-gap measure yesterday, the car started smelling like it was burning coolant, which makes me suspect potentially something wrong with the radiator. I'm planning to get a mechanic to look at it this week (ASAP) and a friend/coworker has graciously offered to get me to and from work in the meantime, but this is a whole mess and I'm exhausted.

All of the things wrong with my car (that I know about) are fixable, but they add up really quickly (tires and hood alone is going to run over $1000, and that's the quote for a used hood that's not the right color for the car. Those are both non-negotiable to make it safe to drive at reasonable speeds). I think the air conditioning is a compressor problem, because I've tried a frion recharge and it did nothing, so it would be expensive to fix. I cannot keep driving everywhere with the windows down, and I definitely cannot deal with another Arkansas/Mississippi summer with no AC in my car.

The car has over 220,000 miles on it and is theoretically worth about $1500. I spent about $3000 keeping it running last year and I am EXHAUSTED.

I've decided I really don't want to dump any more money into this car --- it's time to cut my losses. However, I don't have really any savings (currently working on building them back up from getting out to Arkansas to teach) and buying a car purely on loan feels very risky and frightening to me. I will do it if I have to, but I would really rather not.

Teaching, as much as I love each and every one of my kids and I've wanted to be a teacher since I was a teenager, is exhausting work. I am asking for help to come up with some money to put down on a reasonable car so I can save my limited energy for teaching and stop using it on trying to keep a nightmare car running and cope with said nightmare car.

I'm trying to get a used, but new enough to secure a car loan and be reliable, car. The prices of used cars are truly ridiculous right now, unfortunately.

If you can spare anything, I would really appreciate it.

Love,

Kira