Generous Benefactor??

The Skelton clan is desperately seeking a generous benefactor. We are not asking for much, just a used car that is SAFE and gets us from point 'A' to point 'B.'

Lets start at the beginning.
Taylor has a 1998 Toyota Camry that is paid for.
I have a 2002 Toyota 4-Runner that is paid for.
Since I have a much longer commute, I now drive the car and he takes the truck. 

The perk? No pesky car note each month.
The downside? Older model cars that cost a small fortune to maintain.

The Camry had an oil leak. We went to a shop and they quoted us $1,200!!
Insert father-in-law super hero - he fixed the oil leak no problem and didn't charge us a cent!

Now to the point of the story.
A few days ago, Tay and I were headed somewhere (sorry for not knowing where, I can barely remember my name sometimes!) and the car started making terrible noises. Like alarms going off throughout the car. We both look at each - "what the hell is that?"

We pulled over, cut the car off, and then cut it back on (you know the Apple method to solving everything) and lo and behold it worked - thank you Steve Jobs.

Cut to a few days later - Tay's heading to the store to grab one thing - the inside alarms blare at him the entire time he's in the car.

So, he finally decided to take a break from studying and go to the Toyota place.
Mistake. Dealerships = huge mistake.

To sum up the dealership experience, we dropped $1,100 to fix the wheel baring along with some other things I do not understand. The dealership also wanted to replace our brakes, but he politely responded with a "um no thanks, you guys charge too much."

We ventured to another place and got the brakes replaced, a brake flush, and lots o other things that I do not understand.

All total, we spent $1,600 to maintain a car that is 11 years old.
Happy Anniversary to us. HA!

Why aren't you taught these things in school? I can remember and use the Pythagorean Theorem, but no one teaches you how to save money in case your car is on the fritz.

The moral of the story - we are tired of driving vehicles that may or may not get us to our destination safely.

I'm tired of working my ass off at two jobs and we can still barely afford to live. Don't get me wrong, we pay our bills on time, have money for groceries, but have no savings to speak of.
Which means that buying a car is not an option.

Ah, adulthood, such a marvelous thing, right? :)