Car Struggles: How a Blown Engine Turned into a Positive

For the sake of variety, I know I need to circulate topics and not be so deep all of the time.  I'm sure this post may potentially turn into something deeper than intended but I am taking a momentary break from the thought provoking broad topics.

Update

This last week was fairly rough for me in many aspects.  While certain things I will choose not to publicly discuss, the crux of the difficulties came on Monday.  On my way back to Cincinnati after a brief weekend trip home, my car engine went KABOOM! I knew the car didn't have much time left, but I had been hoping I could squeeze out another few months from it (at least until I got myself established).  I had recently just gotten new tires and my dad just got a new hubcap on one to solve a air leaking problem.  The car was riding as smoothly as it had in months until around Bowling Green.  Suddenly, smoke start seeping out of my car's hood and emergency lights were blazing.  I knew something was going terribly wrong, but I tried to stay positive and reach the nearest exit.  Problematically, the nearest exit was 3+ miles away.  Eventually, I knew that reaching the exit was not plausible so I pulled off to the side of the road--right near a cornfield.  Talk about frustration.  I can smell the smoke inside my car, I'm not mechanically inclined, and I'm pretty much freaking out.  Fast forward, I find out my engine overheated and the price to replace it exceeding the value of the car.  I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere!  To top that off, I just put $50 of gas into it no more than twenty miles before the mishap.  As a recent college grad who is financially independent, this event and prognosis was tough to swallow.  I'm trying to save money so I can pay off loans, and now I knew I was going to be forced to spend money to find a new means of transportation.  The timing was not ideal.

Finding a car

Stuck with the task of finding a new (and by new I mean used and inexpensive) car, my week became very stressful.  From constant searches to failed calls to questions about legitimacy of vehicles, the week really wore on me and my family.  I realized a sad truth: it's really hard to trust anyone anymore.  I mean, eventually you have to dive in and trust things will work out, but deep down I felt apprehensive with each situation.

How was I supposed to truly know if a car was worth the price or not? Are people trying to rip me off because I'm young? Questions like these arose often. It's really tough to find a quality used car at an affordable price.

And then, there are scams.  Desperate, I took to Craig's list in hopes of possibly finding a deal.  Miraculously, I found two cars (both 2006 Honda's) for under $2,000 dollars.  They were clean, had pictures, had all the information necessary.  I thought I struck gold.  Quickly, I contacted both sellers in hopes to purchase one of the vehicles as soon as possible.  The first seller contacted me and gave me all of the information I was looking for (like why she was selling the car).  I was super pleased and beyond excited because it looked like things were going to work out.  The catch: the seller recently moved out of the country and had to ship the car. This brought skepticism but I didn't want to lose all hope, so I responded by asking about the shipping process.  She responded fairly quickly to tell me she wanted to do it through Ebay Motors (a legitimate site) so we had a neutral third party and could get a fair, square deal.  My apprehension began to wane as I read the email, which detailed out the process that including her not getting my money if I disapproved of the car.  DREAM COME TRUE! All I needed to do was wait for Ebay to start the process.  About an hour later, I received two emails from Ebay Motors to start the deal.  I was happy, my family was happy--how blessed.  Now, if you don't know this already, I can be pretty meticulous and skeptical.  So, although I was ecstatic, I wanted to maintain a level head and make sure everything checked out before proceeding.  As I mentioned before, Ebay Motors is a real thing.  They have a certified protection plan and everything.  However, the gif of Ebay Motors on the email I received seemed oddly pixelated.  Furthermore, the email address was Ebaymotors@xxxxxx and not @ebay.  So, I decided to do some research.  That's when I found out, unfortunately, about a scam run through Craig's List.  The email asked me to start the transaction by wiring the money to an agent at Western Union, which Ebay overtly states is not associated with their site and should never be used.  Heartbroken, I emailed the "seller" and told her I could not proceed with the transaction and good luck scamming others.  Momma didn't raise no fool!

Bigger Picture

To recap, this whole situation had many, many lows.  Many stressful moments.  Many uncertainties. Many negatives. It casted a shadow of darkness that attempted to circumscribe my world.  Interestingly, as they say, you need the darkness to see the light.  I have to admit through the rough patches (which admittedly in the grand scheme of things were trivial) I was continuously surprised by the positives that could be found from the situation.  Dazed and confused on the freeway, a state trooper with mechanical expertise stopped and helped diagnose my vehicle.  He then recommended a towing service. The towing service ended up being a blessing.  The place looked straight out of a Andy Griffith episode.  They told me that my car was down for the count, but didn't try to persuade me to spend money fixing it.  They offered suggestions for finding vehicles; they let me keep the car there free of charge and are currently looking to salvage it and will send me the money; they were genuinely caring and kind people.  It was amazing goodness among the badness.

Yes, the process was difficult, but so many people willingly helped.  Aunts, uncles, cousins, friends all reached out to me and willingly offered help in any way possible.  My dad called, searched, and researched every step of the way.  My brother asked work mates and attempted to find the best solution.  My mom came straight from work to pick me up in Ohio, and then asked around for help and worried constantly for me.  My sister offered her ears.  People were constantly trying to help and it was awe-inspiring.  Truly.  I even had family members who are more mechanically inclined offer to come check out cars with me to ensure I got the best car possible.  Plus, a mechanic who was making no money off of it offered his advice on various cars I looked at.  People really stepped up and genuinely tried to help.

Final Thoughts

I could spend much more space relaying the various ways people aided me in this process, but I think the point is profound and made.   It's interesting how profound this help seemed because I'm inclined to believe that this help is always there.  We just sometimes don't notice it because we either take it for granted or don't necessarily feel we need it.  At the end of the day, people can be trusted, they do care, and they are willing.  We shouldn't take advantage of others' generosity but we should realize that people are innately good.  Instead, we should concentrate on realizing, recognizing, and appreciating the innate goodness of those surrounding us.  Yes, there are bad people out there, but not everyone is bad. The darkness illuminates this light, but the light remains regardless of the situation.  Cherish this goodness and spread it.

Thank you everyone who helped me though this situation.  It is recognized and truly appreciated.  Life happens; it is comforting to know that people are there to help along the way.

--Robert L. Lisiecki