My Car Broke Down How Do I Get to Work

We have all had this moment of sheer panic. You get into your car, ready to go to work, you turn the key in the ignition, and nothing happens. No matter how many times you try, your car won't start, but your panic does. You don't have another vehicle or the money to repair the one you do have.

It doesn't do me any good to say don't freak out because you will. (Been there.) So give yourself a few minutes to work through your dismay. After that, you need to get busy with solutions. The only way out of this problem is to solve it. So here goes.

First, you need to find out what's wrong with your car and how much a repair will cost. If you have roadside assistance, they send someone to tow your car for free with certain limitations. Then you must pay the service department to give you an estimate of the needed repairs. If that's not within your budget, start calling friends to find out who knows a mechanic. You need that estimate.

Okay, so you know how much it's going to cost to repair your car, but you don't have the money right now. And you still need to get to work. Let's run down a list of options, not all of which will be applicable to you. Most likely, some will even be less than palatable, but everything on it is doable.

1. Contact your coworkers to do find out if you can get a ride back and forth to work until you can get your car repaired.
2. Ask a neighbor for a few rides. Of course, you'll also offer gas money.
3. Shuffle funds to enable you to take a taxi to work. This might require you to shut off the cable television for a few weeks, cancel some streaming services, or even cut the grocery budget even lower. But it's an option if none of the others pan out.
4. Check into the bus route or subway. If you live in a city, there is public transportation. It might not be ideal, but it could tide you over until you can get your car repaired.
5. If you live less than five miles from work, walk part way and meet a colleague en route so they don't have to go out of their way to pick you up.
6. Borrow a car from a relative or friend.
7. Take a bicycle to work. You can usually find a used one fairly cheaply, or you can borrow one from a relative or friend.
8. Barter, barter, barter. Trade rides to work for yard work, babysitting, laundry, or even running errands. Once upon a time, I didn't have a car. My neighbor would let me take hers as long as I ran all of her errands. There were a lot of them, but I had a way to get to work. That's what mattered.
9. If all else fails, get a job closer to home. Unless you're working in a professional or highly-skilled position, you'll likely be able to find a similar job that is closer in. This might mean leaving a job you love, but you have to be able to get to work to continue to work there.

After every storm the sun will smile; for every problem there is a solution, and the soul's indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer. William R. Alger

I've previously gone over ways to make extra money that will help in times of need, but when your car breaks down, you have to determine if the repairs are worth the car. If you have a car with a resale value of $500, does it make sense to put $400 into its repair? Or would it be better to continue these steps until you can save more money to buy a better car?

Whichever way you choose, remember that while a car breaking down can be detrimental, it doesn't have to destroy you. As William Alger said, "for every problem there is a solution."

My Car Broke Down How Do I Get to Work

Source: https://ajourneyoffives.com/what-to-do-if-your-car-has-broken-down-and-youre-broke/

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