Someone I was sharing my sob story with at a party last Friday shrugged and offered to loan me the lease buyout amount. ?!?! While I was a little wary of being financially beholden to a friend, I decided that a little awkwardness was definitely worth being able to keep the car.
We secured the loan two days ago, and I got the buyout paperwork from Toyota today. All I have to do now is mail it all to them, and then the happy tasks of paying all my parking tickets (which stretch from Somerville to Waterville), reregistering everything in my name, and getting another inspection (which was due anyway).
So, to my Mysterious Benefactor: Wow, man. Thanks! (I'm actually not keeping the person's identity all that secret, but, mm, this is not the venue to blab overmuch about such things.)
Noncontractual car tasks that are nonetheless seriously overdue include giving the thing a good inside-out clean-up -- it's horrible enough that I think I really ought to leave it to professionals -- and christening it with a better name than Car. The obvious thing that occurs to me now would involve honoring Mysterious Benefactor in this way, but I'm in no hurry and will entertain suggestions.
