I was driving my tan 2004 Mercury Sable Wagon (oh, it was a beauty) to the

Car Care Auto Center in Bourbonnais a few years back. On my way, I felt

that jolt that you never want to feel. The transmission was clearly going

out, and there was nothing I could do about it. Aside from it being pretty

dangerous to be on the road with that thing, I was immediately flooded with

anxiety. I didn’t have enough money to go buy another car, and Google told

me fixing a transmission was anywhere from $3-8,000 dollars.

Not going to happen.