SF Bay Area dopers! Car help! PLEASE!

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m having a bit of an emergency and am exhausting every single possible option. Background: I’m an idiot. I was driving around without insurance. One night… vrrrroooom… screeeeeech… crunch! There was an accident. Every mechanic I could find was trying to charge me an arm and two legs. I found one dude who would fix my car for relatively cheap. I took my car there.

Now here’s where the guy turns into an asshat. He’s been giving me the runaround for months. Months, I tell ya. I let him jerk me around a little bit, because he was the only guy I could afford. Soon June is approaching. Uh oh. You see, I live in a college dormitory. As soon as the school year is up, they kick me out, and I need to head on back to good ol’ Los Angeles. I phone the guy and tell him that I really don’t have time to wait. I need my car ASAP. This is in the middle of May. He says 2 weeks. 2 weeks? The hell? Fine, so long as I had my car before June 12, I was okay. OKAAAAAY, 2 weeks passes and my car isn’t ready. Now I’m beyond impatient and am downright annoyed. I need to get out of here. Finally he tells me it will be ready June 10, which is today. I pressed him on this, telling him I didn’t have time to wait. This can’t be another one of those “oh, give me to weeks - but not really” things. I really can’t wait any longer. I call him today, and guess what. Ding! Ding! Ding! He hasn’t done jack!

:eek: He won’t even work on it! What?! Apparently there’s a buttload of frame damage that’s going to cost more to fix than my car is worth. What?! WHY DID IT TAKE HIM MONTHS TO FIGURE THIS OUT?! Why didn’t he tell me this a long time ago so that I would have had plenty of time to either a) get a new car or b) plan a way to get to Los Angeles (with all my stuff I planned on loading into my car) way ahead of time. Why did it take TWO DAYS before I have to leave for him to figure this out?! So right now I’m red in the face (my skin is brown, mind you. The meanie don’t redden easily), panicking and am on the verge of tears.

I have very little money. My car is in Berkeley. I’m in Palo Alto. I have no vehicle. Is there any affordable solution that is only going to take 2 days? ANY suggestion would be greatly, greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Screwed

2

EEK!! I am sooooo sorry, meanie. Is there anyway you can stow your stuff? Tons of storage places around.

then BART it to SF, CalTrain down to LA (the new high-speed one is SOOO cool), and try to work a solution from there.

What exactly is wrong with it? Is it something that can be easily fixed? Body work? What?

3

I know of no good cheap mechanics arround here, what make is your car? I can ask arround at the office, see if anyone knows any good places. Oh and if you need a lift, you can email me and I may be able to help, I’m living in Santa Clara, and often go to Paolo Alto.
Cheers, Bippy

4

ps. Are you going to LA on the weekend, and do you need just one way transport? If it can be done without missing work, I would enjoy driving to LA. But have only a small car (VW Golf) so couldn’t transport much stuff.

5

Forgot to mention:
Budget is renting SUV’s and mini-SUV’s (heretofore known as tools of the devil) for quite good daily rates in Fremont…if you absolutely HAVE to move your stuff with you.

6

It’s a '92 Tercel. I’m better off getting a new car, but that doesn’t solve the dilemma of how I’m going to get home or how I’m going to pay for this.

Bippy, I’m headed south for the summer… which reminds me, I’m actually doubly screwed. How am I going to get to my summer job in Orange County without a car? I guess my best option would be to try to find someone who could fix mine up pronto?

Maureen, I considered renting something. Then I remembered that I’m 20 and you need to be 25 to rent a car.

:frowning:

7

Well, there is a way around it. If you have a Sears card, you can rent through them. Or, if you have a friend who is willing and over the age limit, you can pay them the amount of the rental and have you put on as a second driver.

8

No Sears card. I’ll also be needing a car for my long commute to work during the summer.

And Bip, I need to be out of here before 8am Friday morning. You’d have to miss work.

I’m so very screwed. :frowning:

9

MeanOldLady, my take on this is that there is probably no way to fix your current car in two days, even if you had a lot of money to spend on it. So, forget the car I guess. I’ve heard of places that will tow it away and give you some paltry sum for it, but I don’t know of any out here.

I had this exact same problem myself, at the end of my freshman year at Berkeley. I’m in S.F., it’s 11pm, my sister’s car is at the mechanic (after breaking down on the Bay Bridge in frickin’ rush hour traffic), and I’ll be locked out of my dorm room the next day at noon, with all my stuff inside. Life sucks right now, but you’ll get through this.

Issue #1: your stuff

I’d try to get it into a storage space. There are places (Public Storage?) that will also come pick up your stuff for a fee, or you can try to do it yourself. I’ve rented spaces from Public Storage in Daly City, right off 280, but never farther down the peninsula. Do you have any friends you can borrow cars from for a few hours? Acquaintances? IME, people will usually help you if they can, in situations like this.

Issue #2: getting to L.A.

There’s usually lots of people driving down to S. Cal at the end of the school year – maybe put up fliers asking for a ride and offer to split the gas costs? Alternatively, you could try Caltrain, like Maureen suggested.

Issue #3: getting to your job, once you’re in L.A.

With all the shit you have to worry about right now, I’d maybe focus on #1 and #2 exclusively right now. Once you’re down there, buying a cheap piece of shit to get you to your job won’t seem so insurmountable. Can you borrow money from parents, or cash advance your credit card?

Sorry I can’t be more help. I know what you’re going through – just solve one problem at a time, and try not to go crazy. :slight_smile:

P.S. I clicked on your www button. Is that your website? That is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read.

10

Oh God, this is overwhelming. No credit card. Ask my parents? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at that. My folks are paupers. There’s no way in the unholy heck I’m going to be able to afford another car. Thanks for all the suggestions, people. I think I’ll throw myself out of the window now.

11

OK, we clearly need more ideas – can you go to the financial aid office and ask for an emergency loan? Berkeley had short term loans for students in sudden financial trouble.

12

Hmm, perhaps. I’ll have wait before I ask though. It’s time to go now and take my final final. It’s just one thing after another…

13

MeanOldLady , STAY AWAY FROM THAT CLOCK TOWER!! Thank godess you’re near a good trauma center. I just found out that Stanford offers low-cost storage for returning students. Can you find out if it’s full? Also; try the credit union. It’s on campus. They have great rates on student loans. And please: get some insurance. I drive 101 every day. It’s too dangerous to be without it around here.

14

Good luck! :slight_smile:

15

HAHAHA! Yes! You would not believe how many people and bicycles I’ve seen mangled by that thing! It’s only a matter of time before I lose my arm over there.

People, there is a God and he’s not mad at me anymore! 'Bout time he dropped that grudge. Okay, so I’m about to be late to my final (it’s a language final, so who cares?), but I felt the need to share my joy. I just got off the phone with some dude who told me there was no way in heck he’d be able to fix my car by Thursday, but what he could do was let me borrow some other car for the summer. When I get back, my car will be fixed, I give back the Mazda, everybody goes home happy. Yay! ::dances a jig::

16

Huzzah!! I am much relieved for you.

17

Excellent! That really and truly rocks. Great news.

18

Great news, get in touch if the borrowed car falls through (an excuse to take a Friday off isn’t that difficult to come by).

19

Heh, we’re going to pretend like I just aced that final. Thanks, all. :slight_smile:

20

MeanOldLady, I’m glad that a car has magically appeared for you.

Maureen, no offense meant here, but have you ever tried doing what you are suggesting?

  1. BART does not run from Palo Alto (MeanOldLady’s current location) to SF. Caltrain does.

  2. Caltrain does not run from the SF Bay Area to LA. Amtrak does.

  3. “(The new high-speed one is SOOO cool)”. High Speed Rail from SF to LA? Did I fall asleep and miss a few years, or am I being whooshed? Sure it’s a plan, but according to the Bay Rail Alliance, “If all goes well, the entire line could be ready in 16 years, with some segments of the system functioning well before then”. That’s probably too long for MeanOldLady to wait. Oh, and the state of California would still need to get about US$27 billion to pay for it.:frowning: