[PHOTOSTORY 5: STRUGGLE] Car Troubles

 By: Kyra Dorsey 

A rusted front grille sits outside of a car shop. The shop was where senior mechanical engineering major Eli Gerrells had his car repaired after it unexpectedly broke down.

Gerrells looks down at his dashboard after his car sputters. No lights or signals came on and his car sputtered quite often, so he didn’t think anything of it. 

Hannah Adams, Gerrells’ girlfriend, glances over at the dash after the car sputters again. The car then proceeded to drive perfectly normal for another 5 miles. 

Gerrells puts his hand on his head in worry after his car would no longer accelerates. He was able to briefly put the car in neutral and turned the car onto a nearby road.

Adams gets out of the car while Gerrells tries to figure out what is wrong. He suspected that it was something with his battery terminals because they were rusted and had caused problems in the past.

Gerrells gets out of the car and tries to push the car farther out of traffic. They ended up stopping in what they thought was an alley, but it turned out to be a road that led to an apartment complex. 

Gerrells attempts to push and steer the car on his own. He quickly realized that was not the best idea.

Gerrells tells Adams where to steer the car. After she saw how much he was struggling, she decided to steer while he pushed.

Adams looks back and waits for Gerrells to start pushing the car. They had to keep pausing because of the traffic. 

Gerrells stands near the car after pushing it to a safer spot. It went completely dead shortly after and would not change gears at first. 

Gerrells walks to the gas station. He suspected that maybe he just ran out of gas and that's why the car went completely dead. 

Gerrells uses a jerrycan to pour into his tank. It turned out that the car in fact did not need gas and Gerrells ended up having it towed. 

Gerrells looks anxiously at his computer screen after receiving the estimate from the shop. The car broke down on Friday, so he had to wait until Monday to speak to the mechanic. 

Gerrells sits and waits for his car at the shop. The car ended up needing a new fuel pump. 

An old car sits in the car shop after getting new tires. The shops specialized in older cars, but Gerrells' 2009 model still required a new part that cost extra. 

Gerrells pulls out his debit card to pay. The grand total ended up being $1,213 for the part and repairs.

A road leads to the other cars, including Gerrells, that the shop was working on. A mechanic pulled his car around about 20 minutes after he paid, which made Gerrells late to his class.

Gerrell's car sits at the front of the shop. He was happy to have it back. 

Gerrells walks around his car, inspecting it a little before leaving the shop. “This is the best my car has driven since I first got it,” Gerrells said. 

The invoice and receipt sit on his table in his apartment. “I’m going to be eating ramen noodles for the rest of the semester,” Gerrells said.