
Help Restore a Vehicle and Renew Hope
Donation protected
A few months ago, my Mom and I started our trip to visit my family in South Florida for my nieces 10th birthday party. Excited that I had just gotten my car back after months without it due to a mechanical issue, I of course offered to drive my Mother and I. I worked my full time job and two part time ones to save up to fix my car. During this process my insurance had lapsed, to which I found out later that starting a new policy without an existing one would be astronomically more expensive. So I reinstated mine, which ended up being three months premiums paid within six weeks. However, before our trip, I neglected to double check my coverage, and most unfortunately as we were leaving town we were struck by a large deer which in turn severed its abdomen and split my windshield from the roof of my car and then exploded its actual intestines and everything in them all over the interior, and worse, all over my Mother and I. I panicked and called the police, which did not come, because no property or other vehicles were involved. I called my insurance and to my terror discovered my plan was not active until the following day. They wouldn’t even tow the car back to my apartment. For weeks I tried to find a mitigation company to come help clean and remove guts and fecal material from the interior. One of the only companies to come give me a quote, originally wanted just over $1,000 for the work. The next day they came and within 30-45 minutes discovered so much more intestinal material shoved in between the headliner and roof that they would need to write a new quote. That figure was looking more like $6,700!! Clearly I told them not to do anything else. A few weeks go by and I had finally determined that I had to physically do the work. With the help of a mechanic friend, he and I started remove all of the interior components of my car. Unfortunately, it’s summer in Florida and now the inside of the car had grown a new issue…mold. My mechanic contacted a detailed friend of his and he was able to do a sanitizing solution and reverse shop-vac all of the seating material that we took out of my car. This was almost a $1,000 detail to which one of my family members had to cover for me. It’s taken me months now to find someone who can repair and replace the windshield and to track down all the parts and components it will need to be fixed. New replacement parts would cost upwards of $4,000! I have found most everything from junk yards and you-pull-it salvage yards for about half the cost. This entire situation has limited my ability to work and has hindered me from procuring another job to save to fix my car. This whole situation made me fall back into a rather dark depression and I have struggled to be able to get back on track. I appreciate anything that someone can help with.
Organizer
Russell Owen Wells
Organizer
Gainesville, FL