Venmo: NixHunter CashApp: $DoktorNix

Terana and I went to Florida for our shared birthday week and as an anniversary trip for our 3 year anniversary.

On my birthday, we drove from Orlando to Melbourne to visit my mother and old friends. On the way back from dinner, the brakes went out on my 4runner.

We tried calling AAA for a tow, but after 3 hours of waiting, we realized no tow trucks were available that late at night. So my mother agreed to come pick us up and take us to her house so we could try again in the morning.

On the way to my mom's house, her car stopped getting gas and eventually gave out entirely. We had to leave it on the side of the highway and get another ride to her house from a friend.

The next morning, we got an Uber to the 4runner and had AAA tow it to a mechanic. The mechanic informed us the ABS unit had gone out and it would be $2k and a week's time to fix.

Later, when a friend was available to drive us, we went to my mother's car to have it towed. Again, no tow trucks were available with her road side assistance after 5pm. We went back to the house. The sticker on the car from highway patrol said she had 48hrs to move the car, so we would come back in the morning.

Terana and I took an uber back to our hotel in Orlando ($100 uber ;_; ) because we needed to do a timeshare sales pitch at the hotel or our stay would double in cost.

After the time share meeting, I called my mom to see if she got her car to the mechanic. I found out she went back and found her car had been towed and impounded. The tow service said that highway counted as "low access" (whatever that means) and meant she only had 6 hrs to move it.

Meanwhile, we had to find a way back to Asheville, NC before work on Monday.

We put out a call for help and managed to get the money together for the trip. We tried to rent a car (since we had a lot of luggage) but found that there were no cars in the county that were rentable to go out of state.

So, despite my hate/fear of flying, we booked a last minute flight. But the cheapest option meant also adding a day to our hotel stay. ($600 altogether plus another expensive Uber to the airport)

We are now home and safe, but need to get back to Florida to pick up the car and bring it home now that it is repaired.

As for my mother's car, it has racked up over $500 in impound fees and seems to have a busted timing chain which would be another $500 to fix (if nothing else is wrong) and my mom's car only cost $1000 to buy.

She is planning to sign the title over to the impound yard but she will need a new car. She lives on social security and already needs about $500 a month from us to pay her bills.

I will need to somehow help her get another car/ pay the impound yard.

This is coming right at the time of year when we need to pay about $1000 for our heating fuel for the house and $500 for the insurance on our cars.

Any help at all is appreciated as I am panicking hard over money right now. Thanks if you even just read all of this!

Total stranger who is totally broke chiming in with maybe knowledge-help?? if you don't already know about this, anyway

Some parts yards like Pick And Pull sometimes fix busted cars if they have the parts and it seems worth the trouble, and sell them, iirc for not terrible prices, might be worth a look if a new car ends up the better bet

at the very least a car from them has known a Mechanic's touch recently, unlike a lot of craigslist-type cars

also wtf 6 hours when the sticker said 48?? if it had a different rule for being where it was they should have used a different sticker or a sharpie, idk if it's something you can contest or not though

seems like Not 'legal notice'

and maybe a tow yard extorting some cash

Yeah. I would fight that. 48 and 6 are VERY different numbers, and if there's that much of a difference in the time for certain areas, then it should be noted on the damn sticker... and not "assumed".

Giving you a sticker that says "48" for a zone that's supposed to be "6" is really shady... or claiming an area is "6" when the sticker has "48" on it. Raise hell.

Of course, again, same as above, just a stranger looking at this from the outside offering up an opinion.