Risk it.

“I don’t have that kind of money and I’m driving to L.A. today” she said, “Well it’s your car, and you can take it if you want, but that problem’s not going to go away. It might make it and it might not, but it’s going to fail on you” he replied. Claire thanked him for checking and drove home, packed her bags and hit the road.

About an hour in to the journey the worrying noise from her engine gets worse and soon there's smoke coming out from the hood. Claire has **** but to pull over to the side of the road, as predicted the Exhaust manifold has failed, now she's stranded on the interstate with all of her possessions in the back of the car.

Wondering what to do, she decides she should probably call for a tow truck to take it to another garage, but she does briefly fantasise about just leaving her old life behind her, forgetting it all and just hitching a lift instead.