Help Get Myles Transportation In New Town

I was so excited for the big move to a new town, but right when things were looking up it seemed like everything decided to go against me.

My name is Myles Boomgaarden and I am a 22 year old recently separated veteran that at the beginning of October 2022 moved from Augusta, GA to Athens, GA upon leaving active duty service and starting up a new job. Besides the regular stressors that come with moving, everything was going relatively well up until two days before moving day I decided to get an oil change on my car.

I went to a Walmart Auto Center in Athens, GA on October 9th, 2022 for a supposed oil change on my vehicle. Upon return to my vehicle, the oil monitor had been reset and I paid, and I left with a car I was confident was now full of new oil. Believing everything to be fine and my car in good shape, I start my move driving back and forth from Athens to Augusta multiple times through the next couple of days, which was a couple hundred miles in total.

The first issue occured on Monday, October 10th my engine stalls at a stoplight in Augusta, GA and I had to turn my car off and back on, which fixed the issue. October 13th, on a drive from Athens to Augusta, my car stops accelerating and it repeats the Monday incident but this time in the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant I managed to pull up to. After turning it on and off and getting some help from someone within the store (and getting bit by over a dozen fire ants in the process, just my luck), it turns on and I think I'm okay. I pull out, start for home for about 10 minutes, when suddenly the car makes a popping noise, rumbles, and the check engine light comes on. Deeming it unsafe to go further, I get myself to a Loves gas station to park, where I turn off the car and then back on again, and am greeted with the check engine light, the oil light, and battery light. The oil was supposed to be changed so I didn't understand what or why this was happening.

Upon calling out a mechanic and tow truck and they arrive, they review my oil levels and found that my oil had likely never been changed. The filter was not replaced, and there was some sort of leak, and there was absolutely no oil in my vehicle. This should not be the case, as per my receipt and services, this should have been fixed at the Walmart location only a few days prior. Unable to do anything further as it was after hours, I go home and spend the night in my empty Augusta home, with a promise to hear back from the mechanic in the morning with a diagnosis, though it's not looking good for my cars engine.

Essentially the repair man did a comprehensive check on my car, and said it's the engine that's busted, and it'd be almost $8k to fix it. When I asked what to do when it came to that being worth it, he essentially said "...it's a 2015, needs a new engine, almost 165k miles on it, I wouldn't keep it...". So, from there I need to accept that car is gone and I needed to get a new one, and scraping "Meep" was the only option I had.

"Meep", as I named it, was my first car I ever owned. I taught myself to drive with some coworkers, bought him the day after I got my license in 2019, and he's been with me ever since. Countless drives to see friends and family since I was a military member stationed away from them, many memories made, I even taught my roommate how to drive in him. All of the stickers on the back of him hold memories of moments I had or trips I made, which I lose with him. After only 3 years, suddenly he was gone and I am without transportation in a town I no longer lived or worked in, almost two hours away from where I needed to be.

I called up my insurance, Geico, who couldn't help me. The lady on the phone was so, so kind and tried any sort of claim and help she could, but it came up nothing. Repairs like this were only covered during my first 2 years having the vehicle. And unless Walmart put the wrong oil in my car, I had no claim there. And after researching, it seems getting with Walmart corporate and doing all of the legal stuff seems like it will do more harm than good (Ref. a different person situation similar, but not alike, to mine: https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/what-can-i-do-walmart-auto-damaged-my-car--3651303.html). By the time I put in all the money and time and effort, just potentially for nothing, was not worth it. It's not something I felt I can battle on top of everything that needed to be fixed in my life right now.

As far as my bank, who I have my car loan through when I originally bought it, I have been approved for a debt consolidation loan in order to "pay off" my car so I can receive the title needed to make the car my own and be able to scrap it. Then, even after that, I have to get approved/buy a new car for my regular day to day. I'll have to get a loan, there's no way around that because I can't afford it otherwise. That's where some of the donations will go (specified further).

The day after the incident, I focused on just getting myself and my roommate and our pets out of the empty Augusta house and back to Athens, since that's where we live now. I just finished my last shift at my current job, so I don't have to work again until Sunday, Oct. 23rd. My roommate's (who doesn't own a car but has a license) job are semi-cheap ride shares to and from, that for a short time can be covered. But the new job I start on Oct. 23rd, is almost a 40 minute drive away, is going to be a lot harder and more expensive to tackle transportation for.

In the meantime I had recieved help from a friend who was a fellow service member, she provided me a ride when my car first broke down, and helped us get to Athens with our pets that first night. Additionally, we've received rides from my roommates family, as well as a rental car for one week to help us finish things in Augusta, and get to our jobs for our first weeks in the new town. However, both resources live nearly 2 hours away from us, and we are currently in a town where we know no one or nothing. A car is absolutely vital to our jobs, and right in the middle of the move we have suddenly become without one.

Money is tight because of timing: I just used the money I was saving up during my time in service for this move, not expecting anything like this to happen, and the same goes for my roommate. My new job will pay me more and guarantee me hours I need, but not if I don't have a way to get there anymore. After finding out that my car was done for, and reaching out to my insurance with no luck, and unable to afford to fight Walmart, and desperately trying to get a loan approved through my bank, I've finally had to resort to GoFundMe for some sort of relief and help through all of this as I seemingly have nowhere else to turn to.

I am asking $5,000 to help aid this situation, which I have broken down to be used in the following way:

$2,000 - Down payment on new vehicle, to help reduce monthly costs and improve my chances of buying approval.

$1,600 - Roughly two weeks of Ubers to/from work for my roommate + myself (~$80/day - Myles, ~$40-60/day - Roommate), since our work schedules will not always align so we can both get where we need to be.

$200 - Money for everyone who has helped us with rides, even though they were just doing it out of kindness for us, and wouldn't expect compensation.

Finally, the remaining $1,200 will go towards recovery funds/savings account and any potential unexpected expenses/fees as a result of this situation continuing to play out.

Currently I feel quite devastated, which is another reason I finally turned to GoFundMe to reach out for help because I'm not quite sure how to get through this otherwise. Even just a $10 donation helps get one of us to work, which alone is already so helpful. Any donations at all are heavily appreciated, and will go into any of the aforementioned expenses as needed.

Thank you to anyone who comes across this and donates or shares, I appreciate you more than you could ever know.